Women's Basketball at UNC Jan 14 at 6 PM

The Lady Hokies play Thursday at 6 PM at UNC. The game is on the ACCN. UNC is 7-3, 2-3 in ACC play.

They lost to Miami twice, split with Wake Forest and beat Syracuse. To paraphrase John Madden, or Yogi Berra, they lose when they don't score. In their wins, they scored over 90 points 5 times, 81 once and 77 in OT at WF. In their three losses, they scored 54, 63 and 59 points.

The starting line up seems to change each game. Seven player have averaged 20+ min/game 4 freshman, a senior and 2 grad students. Five other players have played around 10 min/game and average 2-3 ppg.

#44 Janelle Bailey 6'4, Senior Center. 14.6 ppg, 9.4 rebounds per game in 25.3 min. 53.5% shooter

#2 Petra Holesinska 5'10, grad Guard. 12.8 ppg in 26.9 min. 27 Assists, 16 TO, 8 Stl, 35.4% from 3

#25 Deja Kelly 5'8 Freshman Guard. 11.9 ppg, 2.4 rebunds in 28.1 min

#1 Alyssa Ustby 6'1 Freshman Guard. 10.4 ppg on 59.5% and 33.3% from 3 in 25.1 min. Also 5 rebounds.

# 21 Malu Tshitenge 6'3 Sophomore Forward. Started the last game against Miami but only played 15 min.

#31 Anya Poole 6'2 Freshman Forward 7.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg in 20.2 min. Shoots 48.4% and 2 for 2 from three.

#5 Stephanie Watts 5'11 Grad Guard. 7.4 ppg in 22.6 min.

#3 Kennedy Todd-Williams 5'11 Freshman Guard. 7.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg in 20.6 minutes

Janelle Bailey is going to be a hand ful. She has a double-double in her last two games. Petra Holesinska is the primary threat to shoot from beyond the arc.

UNC played Wake on Dec 20, winning in OT. They then had a series of cancellations and lost to Miami on Jan 10. They were probably rusty against Miami. They may still be getting back into game shape against the Hokies. UNC has been a high scoring team at home and has not played well on the road. And they did not play well against Miami; but that may be in part due to the long lay off.

Stats:

If UNC plays like they did against Miami, we should be ok. If UNC finds their game from before Christmas, this game will be a challenge. And I have no idea what to expect from the Ladies. Bailey is the type of big, physical player who can give the Hokies problems in the paint. If the refs call a tight game against us, we could have foul problems. This would be a great game for Kitley to be more aggressive underneath and for the rest of the team to be more active when Kitley has the ball to give her more passing options. I would also like to see her take some more shots away from the basket. If she can get some foul calls against Bailey, that could have a big effect in this game.

I don't know what to expect. If the Hokies play their typical sloppy game with bad passes leading to easy lay ups, this game could get out of hand. On the other hand, if the Ladies play like they did in the second half against Louisville for the full game, we could come out with a win

Go Hokies!