By: Urbana Athletic Communications
GAME COVERAGE
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Stats: https://senatornation.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
Records: Urbana – 12-8 (8-6 MEC) / Davis & Elkins – 6-14 (5-9 MEC)
URBANA, Ohio – The Urbana women's basketball team will play its fifth road game in six outings when it travels to Davis & Elkins for Wednesday's conference matchup with the Senators. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m. inside the McDonnell Center located in Elkins, West Virginia.
1) ONE AND THE JAME(S): Tyra James continues to lead the Blue Knights as a prolific scorer, averaging a double-double with a career-high 24.0 points and a team-high 10.5 boards per game. But, she's also a distributor and leads the team with 4.0 assists per game. The Cincinnati native has four 30-point games on the season and is averaging 30.3 points over the previous four contests. Last week, James posted a pair of 30-point outings including the second-most points scored by a Blue Knight with 36 on 14-of-17 shooting against Glenville. She put up 30 at Concord last weekend. Heading into tomorrow, the two-time National Player of the Week is ranked fifth in the nation in points per game (24.0), second in field goals made (179), third in field goal attempts (357), 15th in double-doubles (11) and 21st in rebounds per game (10.5). She's ranked in the Top 5 in the MEC in virtually every statistical category including free throws made (2), assists (3) and blocks (5). James
2) HUDSON HISTORY: With eight regular season games remaining,
Sylvia Hudson (20.2 PPG) is closing in on the school's all-time scoring record. Hudson currently sits with 1,665 career points, good for third on the chart, and needs 61 to pass Chemika Pittman ('05) for second place and 111 to break the record held for nearly 30 years by Cindy Frere ('92). Hudson already sits in second place in school history with 779 career rebounds. She would become only the second Blue Knight ever to produce 800 or more rebounds in a career. Hudson has averaged 17.3 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 59 percent through 96 career games. The senior from Sidney needs 135 points to become the all-time leading scorer in MEC games. Shepherd's Morgan Arden ('18) holds the record with 1,502 points scored in MEC contests.
3) TEAM STATS: Urbana checks in this week with the eighth-highest scoring offense by averaging 82.4 points per game which is third in the MEC. The Blue Knights have topped 90 points in four consecutive games. Additionally, Urbana is currently ranked 20th and leads the MEC with 16.7 assists per game. UU has won the previous five games when it has dished out 16 or more assists. Also, the Blue Knights have reached their season-high of 21 assists on four occasions, including the previous matchup against Davis & Elkins.
Tyra James leads the way with 76 assists (4.0) while freshman
Kasey Knippen (59) and sophomore
Kami McEldowney (56) have been solid distributors. UU's other notable NCAA rankings include team field-goal percentage (29th), rebounds per game (46th) and free throw percentage (74.7).
4) A WIN WOULD … snap a two-game slide for the Blue Knights, who are coming off back-to-back losses against Glenville State and Concord. Urbana lost 92-90 in overtime last Saturday at Concord in a battle of fourth-place teams in the MEC. A win would also mark the highest single-season win total for head coach
Andrea McCloskey during her Urbana tenure. The Blue Knights previously won 12 games in McCloskey's debut season in 2017-18.
5) THE SENATORS: Davis & Elkins had a four-game winning streak, its highest of the season, snapped in Saturday's 81-73 road loss at Wheeling. The Senators won three games during the streak at the McDonnell Center. D&E is led by Jamiyah Johnson, who leads Division II in rebounding at 14.7 boards per game while scoring 19.1 points per contest. The junior forward was named the Division II Women's Basketball Player of the Week following her performance in the last meeting between these teams with 31 points and 26 rebounds. Johnson has logged 14 consecutive double-doubles.
SERIES VS. DAVIS & ELKINS
Urbana fell 75-70 to Davis & Elkins back on Dec. 14, 2019, in the first meeting between the two programs as league opponents. UU's leading scorer
Tyra James did not play in the only game she has missed this season, and her absence had a negative effect on the boards. Without James, Urbana was dominated on the glass by a wide margin, 52-34, while surrendering 22 offensive boards. UU held the lead for all but 24 seconds until Davis & Elkins clawed back at the end of the contest. The Senators outscored the Blue Knights 14-4 over the final four minutes as a pair of free throws put the visitors ahead for good with 1:30 remaining.
Sylvia Hudson led with 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting.
Bailey Draughn scored 16 with three 3-pointers while
Kami McEldowney added 10 points and career-high eight assists.
Lexie Wright grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in her first start.
