Lynn women’s hoops host holiday classic

Knights host Wingate University Friday, Georgia College & State University

Two wins during the opening week has helped the Lynn University women’s basketball team start its young season off with a bang.

The Fighting Knights get a chance to increase their winning streak to four when they host Wingate University on Friday and Georgia College & State University on Sunday in the Lynn Holiday Classic.

Tip-off is set for 6 and 2 p.m. for Friday and Sunday’s games.

Lynn’s offense exploded for 94 points in its victory over Midwestern State, establishing a new program record for points scored on opening night.

The inside-outside combination of Jade Williams and Rachel Brockman tallied 45 points while Crystal Ahmed, Liz Roth and Eve Skardzinska all set career-highs for points.

Carly Golden, Ahmed and Roth emerged to help the Blue and White to a win over rival Nova Southeastern.

The sharp-shooting Golden hit 7-of-9 from the field, including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc, in scoring a game-high 18 points while Ahmed and Roth teamed-up to score 29 points.
The Knights have the hot hand on the court, shooting 48.8% from the field and 37.8% from downtown.

Improvement at the free-throw line (63.9%) will only add to the team’s 82.5 points per game.

Defensively, LU has been a beast on the boards, bringing down an average of 46.5 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 35.5.

Wingate (2-1) faces off for the first time against Lynn.

The Bulldogs have new faces on the bench and the court as Barbara Nelson takes the reins from long-time coach Johnny Jacumin while her team must cope with the loss of four starters from last years NCAA Tournament squad. Leading the way for the veterans is junior point guard Anna Atkinson, an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America candidate and two-time All-South Atlantic Conference performer, who is averaging 14.7 ppg.

Another team the Knights have never faced, Georgia College & State (2-0) takes on Wingate in a neutral site game on Saturday before taking on LU. Fresh off a visit to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen in 2006-07, the Lady Bobcats will have a fresh look with plenty of new players. Four newcomers have been added to a squad which returns nine letterwinners. Dominique Huffin leads GC&SU at 15.0 ppg.

Fans can follow the Lynn Holiday Classic live by logging on to www.lynn.edu/athletics and selecting the “live audio” and “live stats” links.