CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The University of Charleston Basketball teams will play on the road this Saturday against the Senators of Davis & Elkins College with tipoffs scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (Women's) and 4:00 p.m. (Men's). This will be the first set of matchups that the Senators will play against the Golden Eagles as a member of the Mountain East Conference.
Media Coverage:
Live Stats and video feed will be available for Saturday's games through the links supplied below:
Men's Basketball Outlook:
The University of Charleston Golden Eagles Men's Basketball team (11-2, 5-2 MEC) defeated the Bobcats of West Virginia Wesleyan by a score of 102-77 on Wednesday evening as Senior guard
Drew Rackley reached the 1,000
-point mark in his collegiate career between UNC Ashville and Charleston. Rackley has 786 points as a Golden Eagle in his Charleston career and is on pace to break the 1,000 mark by the end of the season, making him the 48th in program history to accomplish such feat. With the win, the Golden Eagles are off to their best start under head Coach Dwaine Osborne in his seven seasons at the helm. Charleston was led offensively by Rackley, who recorded a season-high 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting while executing on six of his nine attempts from beyond the arc.
The Bobcats came into the game undefeated on the road this season but the sharpshooting Golden Eagles were too much to handle, as Charleston converted on 15-of-30 attempts from beyond the arc compared to Wesleyan's 9-of-21 effort.
After trailing 8-7 just minutes into the ball game, the Golden Eagles used an 11-0 run to regain the lead at 18-8. Charleston would never look back after the early run and carried a 54-38 lead going into the break. Shooting just over 65%, the Golden Eagles converted on 21-of-32 attempts from the floor in the opening frame while executing 11 made 3 PT shots.
In a game that saw Rackley score 1,000 collegiate points, Bobcat Dusan Vicentic became the 2
nd Wesleyan player in the past two seasons to record 1,000 career points, doing so on a made three-point attempt in the final minute of the first half.
The Golden Eagles would increase their lead to 25 with 12:00 remaining in the second half after Rackley recorded a steal and finished off a fast break jump shot on the other end, giving UC a 73-48 lead. Finding themselves up 35-points and holding a 97-62 lead, Wesleyan used a 15-5 run to close out the game with Charleston winning by a score of 102-77.
Full recap and box score
here
The Golden Eagles continue to shoot the ball well and come into Saturday holding the 4
th highest field goal percentage in the country (52.5%). Charleston, a team that shot barely a third of their field goal attempts from three last season while converting on 36.4% of attempts, have increased their ability to shoot the ball from beyond the arc this season. The Golden Eagles rank 21
st in the country this season from beyond the arc, making 42.5% of their attempts mainly from the hands of Rackley, Eddie Colbert, and Keith Williams.
Davis & Elkins comes into the contest holding a record of 4-9 (2-5 MEC) after dropping their most recent matchup with West Virginia State on Wednesday by a score of 90-73. The Senators have dropped their last five contests and are currently in the bottom third in the Mountain East Standings. The Senators seemingly draw a large number of fouls resulting in their rank of 3
rd in the MEC in trips to the free throw line and rank second from the bottom in turnovers per game, giving up the ball an average of 16.3 times per contest. Davis & Elkins is led on the offensive side of the ball by Donte Doleman, who averages 18.6 points per contest while pulling down just under three rebounds per game. Former Golden Eagle Teemu Tumanoff now pays for the Senators and has started in eight games this season, averaging 4.3 ppg and 1.9 rebounds per contest.
In their history, the Golden Eagles and the Senators have squared off seven times with Charleston winning each of the contests. The Golden Eagles largest margin of victory came last season as Charleston defeated D&E 99-68 at the McDonnell Center in Elkins.
Women's Basketball Outlook:
The University of Charleston Golden Eagles Women's Basketball team (11-2, 6-1 MEC) defeated Wesleyan by 67 points on Wednesday by a score of 105-38 in what would be their largest margin of victory since the 2009 season would be when the Golden Eagles defeated Salem University 127-25. The Golden Eagles, who came into Wednesday's contest ranked 32
nd in the nation in scoring offense per contest (78.2 ppg), outsed that margin by 27-points and remain in a three-way tie atop the MEC standings.
Led offensively by
Brooklyn Pannell, the Junior guard poured in 27 points on 12-of-21 shooting while recording five steals on the defensive end. The Golden Eagles had a number of players receive season-high tallies including
Emily Simon, who ended the game with a season-high in points (12) and assists (4) while
Trinity Palacio finished with a season-high assists (8), and steals (7). In addition,
Dakota Reeves finished with three steals while
Taliyah Hopkins,
Megan Haines, and
Anastasiia Zakharova finished with a season best in rebounds.
MacKenzie Loos finished with a season-high in points for the contest.
After trailing 4-0 in the opening minute of the contest, the Golden Eagles never looked back, going on an 11-0 run to take the lead back at 11-4. Charleston continued to apply pressure on the defensive end of the ball, turning steals into fast break points, as the Golden Eagles finished the contest forcing 31 Bobcats turnovers and recorded 27 fast break points. After putting together a 30-4 run to conclude the opening quarter, the Golden Eagles held a 30-8 advantage over the visitors.
The second quarter ended up much like the first, as Charleston used a 29-8 run over the first 8 minutes of the quarter to take a commanding 59-16 lead. The Golden Eagles finished the half shooting 24-of-37 from the floor (64.8%) and carried a 40-point lead into the break, leading 61-21.
At the media timeout in the third, the Golden Eagles had increased their lead to 45-points, leading 70-25. The quarter ended with Charleston up 84-32 as a 23-11 run helped increase their lead to 52 headed into the final frame.
The game ended up as one of the Golden Eagles best offensive and defensive games in recent history, as Charleston prevailed and used a 21-6 run over the final quarter to take home a 105-38 victory.
Full recap and box score
here
The Senators come into the contest holding a record of 2-10 (2-5 MEC) after dropping a thriller on Wednesday to West Virginia State by a score of 103-101. Davis & Elkins have crashed the glass efficiently on the offensive side this season, ranking 11
th in Division II in ORPG (16.8) while ranking 28
th overall in rebounding margin (8.5). The Senators have dropped five of their last six contests and are currently in the bottom portion in the Mountain East Standings. Davis & Elkins is led on the offensive side of the ball by Jamiyah Johnson, who averages 19.7 points per contest while pulling down over 14 rebounds per game.
In their matchup history, the Golden Eagles and Bobcats have squared off three times with Charleston holding a 2-1 advantage. Their last matchup against D&E came in 2012 when Charleston lost at home 69-57 despite forcing 19 Senator turnovers.
