ONE MORE TIME IN FLORENCE: A rivalry will come to a close on Saturday as the UAH women's basketball team makes what will likely be a final appearance in Florence to take on No. 17 North Alabama with tip-off slated for 1 p.m. UAH enters the contest at 12-11 overall and 6-10 in Gulf South Conference action.
FARE THEE WELL: North Alabama will start its transition to Division I next year, thus bringing to a close what has been a beloved rivalry between the two schools that are separated by just 60 miles as the crow flies.
LAST TIME OUT: The Chargers went 1-2 during the last segment of the season, falling at then-No. 10 Union and on the road at Christian Brothers before bouncing back with a dramatic 64-62 victory over West Alabama in Huntsville on Monday.
AROUND THE GSC: With four league games remaining for the Chargers, UAH finds itself in 10th at 6-10, just on the outside of earning a conference tournament berth as one of the top eight teams. However, UAH is just one game behind Delta State who is in ninth at 7-9, and only two games separate the Chargers from the current eighth-place team which is Christian Brothers who owns an 8-8 record.
MAKING SHOTS: Katie Speegle leads the Chargers with a 52.0 percent mark from the field as she has 118 makes in 227 attempts on the year, and that percentage is good for the fourth-best mark in the GSC. Additionally, she is one of just four GSC players who meet the statistical requirements to be ranked who are shooting better than 50 percent on the year.
WELCOME BACK: After missing two games due to an injury,
Aryn Sanders made quite the impact in her 24 minutes of play against West Alabama on Monday evening. In that contest, the sophomore scored 12 including the buzzer-beater that won the game for UAH while also dishing out three assists and grabbing five boards.
PERIMETER DEFENSE: UAH has done a solid job on the year of preventing the opponent to capitalize on long-range shots as the Chargers rank fourth in the GSC with an opponent 3-point field goal percentage of 26.9 percent. UAH has allowed five or fewer triples in 15 of the team's 23 games on the year.
ABOUT NORTH ALABAMA: The 17th-ranked Lions have won five straight since falling in Huntsville to the Chargers and thus carry a 21-2 overall mark and a 14-2 record in GSC play into the Saturday showdown, and the Lions are 10-1 in Flowers Hall on the year. Emma Wallen paces North Alabama with 18.3 points per game on the year.
SERIES HISTORY: The victory for UAH earlier this year came in the 80th meeting between the two programs as UNA now holds a 55-26 advantage all-time against the Chargers. In that contest on Jan. 20, UAH outscored the Lions 15-9 in overtime to claim an 87-81 victory.
