PIKE CREEK, Del. – The Goldey-Beacom College women's basketball team, winners of its last two games, will host crosstown rival Wilmington University at the Joseph West Jones Center on Tues. night at 6 p.m.
Play-by-play personality Chris DiGiacomo will have the call as the game is webcasted via PennAtlantic. Fans can view the webcast for free by visiting the link on the athletics home page calendar.
The Lightning (2-4, 1-0 CACC), who most recently defeated Philadelphia University in both teams' Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference opener, will look to win their third straight game this season and improve to 2-0 in conference play.
GBC will also attempt to win a third consecutive game in what has always been a very competitive rivalry series. For the first time since 2006-07, the lightning swept the Wildcats, winning both games by the identical score of 70-67. The last time the Lightning took three straight games from their rival was during a span from 2002-03 to 2003-04 when they won four straight meetings.
Not only are these two both in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division, they are separated by just 10 miles within the state of Delaware. In-state bragging rights belong to the victor each year as these CACC rivals are the only two Division II athletic programs in the state.
Last season, the Lightning enjoyed two victories over their in-state rival, including a double-overtime thriller in the last meeting at the Pratt Center. Rookie Devonne Richardson had a career-night, leading the Lightning with game-highs of 25 points and 15 rebounds.
Then redshirt-sophomore Jacinda Jones recorded 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the second of two highly-publicized matchups against her former high school teammate, Wildcat star, Amelia Simmons.
The fifth-ranked scorer in the nation and eventual 2009-10 CACC player of the year tried to will the Wildcats to victory with 15 points and 14 rebounds, but the Lightning would not be outdone. Simmons, who was a 1,000-point scorer and rebounder for her career, graduated last Spring and is no longer with the team.
The 2010-11 Wildcats do however return seven players from last year's squad which finished the conference season with the same record as GBC, 12-7. By virtue of the season sweep, GBC earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament while Wilmington settled for fourth and a first-round matchup against No. 1 seed, Holy Family. The Wildcats fell to the top-seeded Tigers by a lopsided score of 73-47.
Among the seven returnees are senior guard Ashley Davison and junior guard Danielle Thomas. Davison and Thomas lead the Wildcats in scoring in the early-going this season as they average 12.1 and 11.3 points per-game, respectively.
Led by first-year head coach Nate Ware, Wilmington is 1-6 (1-1 CACC) this season but coming off a conference win against another CACC South Division foe, Georgian Court, 75-61.
Meanwhile, the Lightning return all five players (Jones, Arielle Alford, Richardson, Lindsay Duck and Ashley Rosario) who started in GBC's thrilling, 70-67 double-overtime win at Wilmington last season on Feb. 9, 2010.
Fourth-year head coach Jen Carleton's Lightning squad features three players averaging double-figures in scoring and one averaging double-figures in rebounding. Jones leads the team and ranks fifth in the CACC at 16.2 points per-game while senior guard Janae Weldon and sophomore forward Irene Hudson both average 12.3 per-contest. Weldon was recently named CACC honorable mention for her 19-point performance at Phila U. last Wed. and Hudson was named the GBC athlete of the month for the month of Nov.
The Lightning's star performer the last time out against Wilmington, Richardson, is currently fourth in the league in rebound average (11.0 rebounds per-game) and is also pitching in 9.0 points-per game.
