Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

Women's Basketball Team Set To Chase GSAC's Automatic Qualification To NCAA Tournament

After graduating zero seniors from a year ago the 2006-2007 Piedmont College women's basketball team enters the year with aspirations of winning the Great South Athletic Conference championship and claiming the conference's first-ever automatic bid into the NCAA Division-III postseason.

The schedule features 21 of the 23 games against NCAA Division-III South Region opponents. Last year the women went 16-6 against in-region opponents and finished with 20 wins for the fourth consecutive year since becoming full-fledged Division-III. The schedule is highlighted by a season-opening trip to the suburbs of Boston, MA for the Amherst College Tip-Off Classic.

The Lady Lions return eight players from last season who accumulated an impressive 84% of the team's scoring offense. On the season PC finished 13th nationally in the final NCAA Division-III national statistics in scoring offense with a season average of 76.1 points per game. The women also finished 13th in both scoring margin (17.7) and field-goal percentage (45.3).

Kayla Duncan, the reigning GSAC Freshman of the Year, returns as the Lady Lions' top scorer from a year ago with a season average of 12.4 points per game. Duncan also ranked fifth nationally in field-goal percentage at 62.4%. Nikki Sosebee (pictured right) finished with a season average of 10.8 points per game and a team-leading 6.8 rebounds per game and was named to the GSAC All-Conference team while point guard Beth Adcock tallied 10.9 points per game and 4.0 assists per game en route to earning 2nd team All-Conference and All-Freshman honors.

On the defensive side, the team finished 15th nationally in rebound margin (9.0) and 25th in field-goal percentage defense (33.2). PC was led by Sheena Trimiar who notched 76 steals and Duncan who recorded 49 blocks.

The 2006-07 roster features nine returning letter-winners and seven new faces with the newcomers mixed between freshman and junior college transfers.

Piedmont will kick off the season on Saturday, November 18th versus Middlebury College.