GAME NOTES: Delta State Lady Statesmen at Shorter/West Georgia

CLEVELAND, Miss. -- Delta State University women's basketball (8-3, 3-1 GSC) begins the new year with a pair of road Gulf South Conference road games starting with Shorter University (1-10, 0-4 GSC) on Sat., Jan 5 at 1 p.m. (CT) before taking on the University of West Georgia (5-3, 2-2 GSC) on Mon., Jan. 7 at 4:30 p.m. (CT).  

ABOUT THE LADY STATESMEN: The Lady Statesmen are 7-1 after starting the season 0-2, closing out the pre-Christmas Break schedule with a 75-64 win over Arkansas-Monticello on Wed., Dec. 19 in Monticello, Ark. Quantesha Patterson (11.8), Nia Johnson (10.5), and Alondrea Rush (10.3) lead the Lady Statesmen scoring. On the boards, Haywood's 9.0 rebounds per game ranks fourth in the GSC followed by Patterson (7.4 rpg. | 10th GSC) and Ewing (4.8 rpg.). The Lady Statesmen are ranked 7th in the latest D2SIDA South Region Poll. 

LADY STATESMEN IN THE GSC TEAM STATS: Scoring: 64.6 (8th) | Scoring Defense: 60.8 (5th) | FG %: 42.5 (5th) | FG % Defense: 38.3 (6th) | 3-point FG %: 32.7  (3rd) | 3-point FG% Defense 26.8 (4th) | Turnover Margin 1.0 (6th) | Assists: 13.8  (4th) | Steals 9.18 (6th)

DSU IN THE INDIVIDUAL GSC STATS: Alondrea Rush: Scoring: 10.0 ppg.(26th) | 3pt-FG Made/Gm: 2.4 (3rd)| Assists: 2.7 (8th) | Steals: 1.78 (9th); Ernesha Chatman: Assists: 2.5 (12th) | Steals: 1.8 (5th); Frederica
Haywood: Rebs: 9.0 rpg. (4th) | Scoring: 8.9 (35th); Nia Johnson: Scoring: 10.5 (21st) Assist: 2.2 (17th); Zyaire Ewing: Scoring: 10.0 (27th); Quantesha Patterson: Scoring 11.8 (15th) | Rebs: 7.4 (10th) | FG %: 68.3 (1st) | Blocks: 1.3 (3rd); Zyaire Ewing: Rebs. 4.7 (25th)

RUSH(ING) UP THE SCORING CHARTS: Alondrea Rush scored 19 points in the Lady Statesmen's 75-64 win at Arkansas-Monticello on Wed., Dec. 19 to move into a tie for 34th with Lynn Rose (1994-96) on the Lady Statesmen all-time scoring chart with 1,051 points. 

SHORTER NOTES: The Hawks are under the direction of first-year Head Coach Tyler Roden, who is the son of Lady Statesmen Head Coach Craig Roden.  Tyler Roden coached under Roden at Delta State, helping the Lady Statesmen capture the 2015-16 GSC Tournament Championship and a NCAA South Region Tournament berth. The Delta State - Shorter match up pits father versus son for the first time in GSC history. 

WEST GEORGIA NOTES: Craig Roden coached 14 seasons at the West Georgia (1996-97 / 2009-10) compiling a 198-181 before moving on to West Alabama (2010-11 / 2013-14).  Aysha Harris is averaging 10.9 points per game while averaging 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals. Edley Drawhorn follows with 9.5 points per game and A'kia Harris is grabbing 7.1 rebounds along with 1.8 steals. UWG has a +5.6 scoring margin but has a -2.4 rebound margin before hosting Mississippi College on Sat., Jan 5 in Carrollton, Ga.  

DSU vs. SHORTER: The Lady Statesmen and Hawks meet for the 15th time overall with the Lady Statesmen holding a 12-2 lead in the all-time series. The Lady Statesmen captured a 65-57 win at the Winthrop-King Centre in Rome, Ga., last year and have won the last two meetings. DSU Is 4-2 at the Winthrop-King Centre.

DSU vs. UWG: This will be the 44th meeting between the Wolves and Lady Statesmen. Delta State owns a 37-6 record in the series and a 15-3 mark in Carrollton, Ga.  The two teams split the season series last year with each team earning road wins.  UWG captured a 55-46 win in the last meeting (2.1.18) in Cleveland, Miss. 

Records Rush:  Alondrea Rush is currently 4th in career 3-pointers made (186) and 3rd  in 3-pointers attempted (555). She needs two 3-pointers to pass Tanya Redmond  (187 | 1995-98) for 3rd on DSU's 3-pointers made list. 

Last Time Out:   Alondrea Rush and Quantesha Patterson scored six points each in the fourth quarter to help Delta State University women's basketball (8-3) pull away for a 75-64 win over Arkansas Monticello (3-6) on Wed., Dec. 19 at the Steelman Fieldhouse in Monticello, Ark. 

Stingy D: Stingy has been a trademark for DSU's defense under fifth-year Head Coach Craig Roden, ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense three of his four seasons. The Lady Statesmen led the NCAA in 2015-16 (50.3), ranked 5th in 2014-15 (55.7), 10th in 2017-18 (56.5) and 16th in 2016-17 (57.1). Since 2011-12, the Lady Statesmen have ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense five of the last seven years, ranking 1st in 2013-14 (53.7) and second in 2011-12 (51.4).