 |
 Freshman Chevon Keith battles for the loose basketball in Friday afternoon's dramatic semifinal win over the Davidson Wildcats. |
 |
March 5, 2005
Chattanooga, Tenn. - The sixth-seeded Western Carolina Lady Catamounts will face the fifth-seed Georgia Southern Eagles in the championship game of the 2005 Kyocera Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday afternoon at The McKenzie Arena. The tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 pm with the winner earning the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA women's basketball tournament.
Fans wanting to make the trip to back the Cats can purchase tickets for the championship game in the designated Western Carolina seating area by meeting WCU Assistant Athletic Director for External Affairs Steven Herren outside of Gate 2 at McKenzie Arena on Saturday afternoon. Everyone is encouraged to wear their purple and gold to the arena!
For those fans who can't make it to Chattanooga for the final, there are several different options for following the Lady Catamounts as they strive to bring home the school's first championship.
First, the game will be televised live on Carolinas Sports Entertainment Television (C-SET, www.c-set.tv) and on Comcast/Charter Spoort Southeast (CSS), which is available in Haywood and Buncombe Counties. Check local listings for the availability in your area.
A live radio broadcast will be carried by 680 AM, WRGC in Sylva and on Western Carolina's campus station, WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 following the completion of the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera. However, WWCU-FM will carry the game in its entirety via streaming audio on its web site, www.WWCUFM.com.
Fans can also follow the action by visiting www.SoConSports.com and following the live stats and Internet feeds provided by the conference office.
A reminder to those fans making the trip to Chattanooga -- the Catamount Club will hold a special reception for all Western fans at the T-Bone's Restaurant on Chestnut Street in downtown Chattanooga from 1:00 pm until 2:30 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Additional tournament notes:
* This is Western Carolina's second-consecutive trip to the conference tournament championship game -- WCU fell last year to top-seeded Chattanooga;
* Statistically speaking: Western has an all-time record of 10-21 in the Southern Conference Women's Basketball tournament -- but the Lady Catamounts have gone 6-1 in tourney play over the past two seasons, reaching the tournament finals each season;
* Western Carolina is the only team to have played all four days since the tournament expanded back in 1998 ... the Lady Catamounts have done it twice -- last year's run to the championship as well as this season's trek; * No team that had to play on the first day of the tournament has gone on to win the Southern Conference Tournament title;
* The sixth-seeded team has advanced to the SoCon championship three times in the tournament's 22-year history; Appalachian State won the tourney as number six back in 1999 -- the other two occasions were by Western Carolina in each of the past two seasons;
* Kellie Harper, Western's head coach, is trying to become the first head coach in conference history to win the tournament in her inaugural season at the helm ... Harper has already become Western's winningest first-year head coach with 17 wins and counting;
* Including her time on the bench as an assistant at Chattanooga, Harper is a perfect 12-0 in Southern Conference Tournament play over the past four seasons;
* WCU senior Jennifer Gardner is averaging just a hair over 20 points per game in Western's tournament run to date;
* Of the 21 previous tournament finals, only five -- now six -- have not featured the #1 seed ... Ten of the 21, however, have been #1 vs. #2;
* Georgia Southern is the first five-seed to advance to the Southern Conference tournament final ever ... prior to this season, that slot had only been victorious in three games -- now five total entering this evening's game;
|
|
 |
