MONTICELLO, Ark. – The University of Arkansas at Monticello women's basketball team will start its 2019-20 campaign on Friday and Saturday when it hosts the Central Region Challenge at the Steelman Field House in Monticello, Arkansas. The Blossoms will play Upper Iowa University on Friday at 7 p.m. and Lincoln University of Missouri on Saturday at 3 p.m.
LIVE COVERAGE LINKS
LINK TO CENTRAL REGION CHALLENGE PAGE
LINK TO PREVIEW VIDEO
UAM VS.
UPPER IOWA – 11/8 – 7 P.M. –
LIVE STATS,
LIVE VIDEO
UAM VS.
LINCOLN – 11/9 – 3 P.M. –
LIVE STATS,
LIVE VIDEO
GAME ONE DETAILS
Opponent: Upper Iowa
Date: November 8, 2019
Location: Monticello, Arkansas – Steelman Field House
In-Game Updates: Twitter (@UAMsports)
Last Played: N/A
UAM PRIMER
2018-19 Record: 8-19
2018-19 GAC Record: 7-15
2018-19 GAC Finish: Ninth Place
2019-20 GAC Preseason Poll: 12th Place
Head Coach: Greg Long, First Season
SCOUTING THE BLOSSOMS
Last year, UAM was 11th in the Great American Conference in scoring averaging 62.2 points per contest. On defense, the Blossoms were fifth surrendering 65.1 points per game.
A key to their solid defense a year ago was defensive rebounding. UAM was fourth in the league in defensive boards averaging 35.4 per contest.
The Blossoms also had a positive turnover margin ranking fourth in the conference with a +1.8.
A pair of key returners for the Blossoms are
Berniezha Tidwell and
Nina Kizzee. Tidwell averaged 12.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game, while Kizzee averaged 5.0 points, 3.4 boards and 1.4 steals per contest.
UAM also brings back
Dezirae King and
Pamela Bethel. King played in 24 games and averaged 3.5 points per contest off the bench, while Bethel played in nine games and averaged 1.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest
Joining them will be newcomers in senior
Lynah Bontiff, juniors
Kayla Bradley,
Jaida Muhammad,
Mackenzie Tillman,
Mekaylan Hicks,
Brandashia Hargraves and freshmen
Kyiah Julian and
Shania Smith.
UIU PRIMER
2018-19 Record: 3-28
2018-19 UIU Record: 0-22
2018-19 UIU Finish: 17th place
Head Coach: Nate Oakland, First Season
SCOUTING THE PEACOCKS
UIU returns three key players to their offense from a season ago in Natalie Dinius, Savannah Domeyer and Bekka Pierson.
Ninius averaged 8.5 points, Domeyer tallied 8.1 points and Pierson averaged 7.9 points per game.
Upper Iowa is aiming to make major strides forward struggling a season ago with a 3-28 overall record. For that, they added Nate Oakland, who is in his first season coming from Dakota State University serving as an assistant coach.
GAME TWO DETAILS
Opponent: Lincoln (Mo.)
Date: November 9, 2019
Location: Monticello, Arkansas – Steelman Field House
In-Game Updates: Twitter (@UAMsports)
Last Played: 2018-19 – Lincoln won, 57-33.
LU PRIMER
2018-19 Record: 10-18
2018-19 UIU Record: 2-17
2018-19 UIU Finish: 14th place
Head Coach: Ayana McWilliams, Fourth Season (19-62)
SCOUTING THE BLUE TIGERS
The Blue Tigers have five returners on their squad including key athletes like Faith Brintle (10.4 ppg, 2017-18), Kaloni Pryear (9.6 ppg) and Alecia Gulledge (6.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg).
This will be the third straight season UAM and LU will square off in the within the first two games of a season.
UAM currently leads the all-time series, 2-1.
UP NEXT
UAM will hit the road to play at Mississippi College at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday November 12th.
