Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball to Contend for Christmas City Championship
12/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball to Contend for Christmas City Championship
12/29/2003
BETHLEHEM, Pa. ? The Marshall women?s basketball team will go for school win No. 450 and get its final tune-up before league play begins when it participates in the Christmas City Classic, hosted by Lehigh University, beginning with Tuesday?s game versus the host Mountain Hawks at 3:30 p.m. The Thundering Herd will then take on either Ole Miss or Mt. St. Mary?s in the consolation/championship game on Wednesday at 1/3:30 p.m.
Marshall (7-1) is off to its best start since the 1986-87 team began the year 11-1, and can reach the 450 win milestone with its next victory. The program?s current record stands at 449-446 in the 35th year of women?s basketball at Marshall.
Head coach Royce Chadwick has not tweaked his starting lineup since sending two freshmen, Teyonka Hodge (Washington, D.C.) and KaShawna Curry (Huntington, W.Va.), two seniors, Catie Knable (Floyd Knobs, Ind.) and Amy Smith (Ramstein, Germany) and sophomore Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Texas) onto the floor in the season-opener on Nov. 21 against Morgan State. Though it?s the Herd?s overall balance that has the team sitting atop the MAC standings.
Junior guard Kim Griffin (Valdosta, Ga.) and Mary Pat Statler (New Cumberland, W.Va.) have provided depth from Chadwick?s bench, including leading the team in scoring in their Dec. 21 road victory over Texas A&M with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Griffin is fifth in the MAC in steals per game (2.50) and leads the non-starters in minutes (19.6/game), rebounds (4.3/game) and assists (2.8/game) and is second in points with 5.9 per game. Statler is the top scoring threat off the bench, averaging 8.0 points per game to go along with the sixth best three-point field goal percentage in the league at 47.6 percent.
The spreading of minutes and the ball has kept last season?s leading scorer, Shepard-Hall, to 9.9 points per game, down from her 15.0 ppg (eighth in MAC) a year ago. But the guard?s explosiveness has been seen throughout the young season, with a team season-high 23 points in a win over High Point to go along with two other double-digit point outputs.
Marshall will have to contend with dangerous scorer Jessica DePalo and her 14.3 points per game when the Herd meets Lehigh (1-7) on Tuesday. The junior forward is also the Mountain Hawks? leading rebounder at 8.1 boards per game. LU dropped the season?s first four games by an average of 18.5 points per game, but lost its last two games by seven points apiece.
Marshall and Lehigh have never met prior to Tuesday?s matchup.
The Herd may get a chance to avenge last season?s loss to Ole Miss in the Sun Splash Shootout on Dec. 22, 2002, if the two squads hook up on day two of the Christmas City Classic. The Lady Rebels downed the Herd 61-55 in the two school?s first ever meeting, despite a 16-point, four-rebound performance from Shepard-Hall.
Marshall is 2-0 lifetime against Mt. St. Mary?s, including an 83-52 win in 1991.
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