CONWAY – The Coastal Carolina women's basketball team will host the Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic starting on Friday, Nov. 29 going through to Sunday, Dec. 1 at the HTC Center located on the campus of Coastal Carolina University. The other teams participating in the two-day tournament will be the Richmond Spiders, George Mason Patriots, and Bradley Braves.
The opening day will have the Chanticleers taking on the Spiders (2 p.m. ET) which will be followed by Bradley against the Patriots (4 p.m. ET). After a rest day, Richmond will play the Braves (11:30 a.m. ET) in the first game on Sunday with the final game being CCU versus George Mason (2 p.m. ET).
Coastal will play the Spiders and Patriots for the first time in the history of the program.
COASTAL CAROLINA
The Chants enter the Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Classic with a perfect4-0 and tying head coach
Jaida Williams best start at CCU.
Coastal is averaging 70.8 points per game with junior transfer
Zacharyia Esmon leading three Chant players in double-figures with 15.5 points per game. Sophomore forward
Aja Blount is second on the team averaging 14.0 points per game followed by senior guard
DJ Williams who is scoring at a 12.5 points per game clip.
Defensively, CCU is allowing 59.8 points per game and grabbing 42.5 rebounds per game. Williams leads the team with 28 boards in the four contests while her classmate
Naheria Hamilton has pulled down 27 rebounds.
COASTAL CAROLINA LAST TIME OUT
The Chanticleers defeated Western Carolina 66-43 in its last game to drop WCU to 1-7 for the year.
Blount scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Coastal offensive attack. She was aided in scoring by Esmon who chipped in with 11 points, and
Torrie Cash who recorded 10 points.
On the defensive end, CCU held the Catamounts below their season average of 48.7 points per game by forcing 16 turnovers and turning them into 22 points. The Chants also out-rebounded WCU holding a slight advantage at 47-42.
RICHMOND
Richmond enters the weekend with a 4-2 record on the season and is averaging 60.8 points per game while giving up 62.5 points per game.
The Spiders are led offensively by Jaide Hinds-Clarke who is averaging 12.2 points per game and Boston College transfer Kate Klimklewicz with 11.0 points per game.
RICHMOND LAST TIME OUT
On Nov. 24, Richmond fell 58-52 on the road to Drexel snapping a three-game winning streak.
Emma Squires led the Spiders offense with 14 points and was aided in scoring by Aniyah Carpenter and Hinds-Clarke each with 10 points apiece. Richmond turned the ball over 23 times and to allow the Dragons to score 22 points off the Spider miscues.
GEORGE MASON
George Mason will come in with a 4-2 record on the year, putting up 69.0 points per game while holding its opponents to 64.5 points per game.
The Patriots are led by Nicole Cardaño-Hillary and Jacy Bolton with 19.3 points per game and 12.4 points per game, respectively. Cardaño-Hillary poured in a season and career-high 41 points against Penn State. Mason has scored 91 points off of forced 101 turnovers.
GEORGE MASON LAST TIME OUT
The Patriots had three players score in double figures in the 64-58 losing effort to Kansas City. Bolton recorded her 11th career double-double with 14 points and a season-high 16 rebounds while Sarah Kaminski added a season-high 15 points. Camarie Gatling totaled 12 points.
George Mason gave up 27 points to the UMKC in the fourth quarter come-from-behind victory to snap its three-game winning streak.
For complete coverage of CCU women's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
