Salisbury, N.C. —- The 17th-ranked Catawba College women's basketball team earned the number one seed in the NCAA Division II women's basketball Southeast Regional and will host the tourney at Goodman Gymnasium. The regional will begin with the quarterfinal round on Friday, then the semifinal round on Saturday and the regional championship game on Monday night. The Catawba Indians open regional play Friday, facing 8-seed UNC Pembroke at 5 p.m.
Catawba earns its third consecutive NCAA Tournament bid following a successful 25-5 campaign that saw the Catawba Indians win the Piedmont Division of the South Atlantic Conference with a 16-2 conference mark. Catawba fell in the SAC Semifinals to Lenoir-Rhyne, but their overall body of work earned them the number one seed for the first time in program history.
The team claimed two of the major SAC awards, as senior guard Lyrik Thorne earned SAC Player of the Year and Terence McCutcheon received SAC Coach of the Year recognition. The team reached as high as #17 in the WBCA Coaches' poll, matching their highest-ever ranking.
Catawba's calling card is its pressure defense, which led the SAC and ranked top-20 in the nation with 11.6 steals per game. The Catawba Indians also utilize a driving offense that forces its opponent's defenses to send them to the free throw line – Catawba led the conference with over 20 free throw attempts per game.
The team is led in scoring by Thorne, who averages 19.5 points per game, 4.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds and a conference-leading 2.6 steals per game. The High Point, N.C. native reached the 1,000-point milestone earlier this season and currently ranks ninth all-time on the Catawba scoring list.
Catawba's other all-conference performers are senior forwards Janiya Downs and Sara McIntosh. Downs earned second team all-conference recognition following the regular season after posting 12.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting just under 40 percent from three-point range. McIntosh, a third team selection, averages 11.6 points on 48.6 percent shooting from the field and a team-high 6.4 boards per game.
Jada Porter and Mercedes Wampler are the other regular starters, averaging 6.8 and 5.4 points, respectively. Porter is the team's second three-point shooter with 1.5 triples a game, while Wampler has started each of Catawba's 30 games this year.
Key role players off the bench include Mary Spry, Janiya Foskey, Lauren Ford, Nala Baker and Miyah Dubose with the latter three averaging at least 15 minutes per game.
UNC Pembroke won the Conference Carolinas Tournament as the number three seed to reach the Regional Tournament, and enter with a 22-9 overall record and 16-4 in Conference Carolinas. The Braves defeated top-seed Francis Marion in the conference semifinals in overtime before upending 25th-ranked Belmont Abbey 56-46 to punch their ticket.
Pembroke's strength is its top-10 nationally ranked defense, allowing just 53.9 points per game while keeping its opponents to 33.5 percent shooting from the field, good for second-lowest in the country.
UNCP also takes care of the basketball, leading Conference Carolinas with just 14.4 turnovers per game. Head coach John Haskins will look to keep that number low against Catawba's ramped-up defense.
The Braves are led in scoring by Courtney Smith, UNCP's lone all-conference selection as a second-teamer, averaging 12.2 point per game on 43 percent shooting from the field. She's joined by Zaria Clark as the Braves' other double-digit scorer, averaging 11.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
All Southeast Regional quarterfinal games will be streamed live on FloSports. For those wishing to attend in person, adult tickets are $12, students with ID, senior citizens and children 5-12 are $8 and children 4 and under are free. Visit www.catawbaathletics.com/tickets or download the Hometown Tickets app to purchase.
