Kenyona Simmons looks for an open teammate
Story and photos by Drew Moody
Going by the numbers Mountain East Conference's #2 ranked team
West Liberty should have played in the finals against top ranked
Glenville. Yet, despite two regular season victories against the University of
Charleston, UC trounced them by 30 points in the conference tournament
semifinals.
The Lady Hilltoppers coached by Lynn Ullom, will be seeking to
avenge that loss tonight in Glenville. Ullom's teams have been one of the
Lady Pioneers perennial rivalries.
The two teams split their regular season games. Tonight at 6 p.m. they'll
meet in the first round of the NCAA Div. II Women's Basketball Atlantic
Regional Tournament.
Glenville State College's Lady Pioneers enter the regional tournament
as the number one seed. They were crowned regular season champions and
Sunday captured the conference championship defeating Charleston.
Charles Marshall has experienced a heady year as a first-time head coach.
Returning to Glenville after previously serving as assistant coach under Bunky
Harkleroad was an expected twist. That fate played out after Harkleroad unexpectedly
resigned last October to accept head coaching duties at an NCAA Div I school.
This isn't the ideal way to begin a season for a coach or the team. But with
the team's fortitude and Marshall's skills the Lady Pioneers have notched
a near perfect season into the record books.
Along the way the team has amassed some impressive statistics (as of March 9th).
The Lady Pioneers led the NCAA Div II in scoring averaging 98.3 points per game.
In addition they topped the charts in 3-point field goals per game (11.9), steals
per game (14.7), assist turnover ratio (1.52), and turnover margin (12.77).
Jessica Parsons leads the nation in assist turnover ratio (4.09) while teammate
Aesha Peters ranks 6th in blocked shots per game (2.9).
Ashleigh Fossett sets up to shoot a jumper
Kenyell Goodson fires a pass inside
Several members of Glenville's team are statistically ranked at or near the top
20-percent of NCAA Div II players nationwide. Those include: Jessica Parsons,
Ginny Mills, Tasia Bristow, Tiffani Huffman, Kenyell Goodson and Ashley Fossett.
The Hilltoppers and Lady Pioneers are scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip off tonight.
The pairings, full schedule, and ticketing information of the NCAA Div II Atlantic
Region Tournament is at mountaineast.org
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