Women’s Basketball Closes Home Slate with Senior Night, Pink Out - Western Carolina University (2024)

CULLOWHEE, N.C.– Western Carolina women's basketball closes out its 2023-24 home slate with a matchup against Samford on Saturday Night with tip-off set for 7 p.m. from Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center. Saturday's game will be senior night for WCU and "Shoot for the Cure – Pink Out". The matchup with the Bulldogs will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com and live audio on the Catamount Sports Network.

Matchup: Samford (11-14, 3-7 SoCon) vs Western Carolina (6-19, 1-9 SoCon)
Date:Saturday, February 17
Time:7 p.m.
Site:Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center (Cullowhee, N.C.)
Live Stats:Sidearm Stats
Live Video:Watch ESPN
Radio:Catamount Sports Network
Twitter:@CatamountWBB
TICKETS
GAME NOTES
DIGITAL GAME PROGRAM

Western Carolina returns to the Ramsey Center for the final time in the 2023-24 season looking to rebound from a 78-62 defeat on Thursday night against Mercer.Senior Audrey Meyers and freshman Tyja Beans both posted individual career highs on Thursday night as Meyers tallied a team-high 15 points, while Beans added 14 points in the loss.

Prior to tip-off on Saturday, the Catamounts will honor its 2023-24 senior class which consists of six student-athletes. The senior class honored will include: Lonasia Brewer (Akron, Ohio), Mya Love (Jonesboro, Arkansas), Zanoria Cruz (Orlando, Fla.), Ewa Kielar (Pabianice, Poland), Bailey Trumm (Powell, Tennessee) and Audrey Meyers (Columbia, S.C.).

Chelsea Wooten is second in the conference 3-pointers with 53, averaging 2.3 per game which leads the SoCon. The McKinney, Texas product is tied for seventh in league play with 16 made threes. Wooten leads the team and is 10th in the SoCon with an average of 31.1 minutes per game, tied for fifth in conference play at 33.3 minutes per game in the nine games.

Jada Burton ranks second in the SoCon with 96 assists as one of two players in the league to have at least 90 assists on the season. Burton sits in third in league play in helpers with 34 assists in nine SoCon matchups. Burton is also ninth in the league with a team-high 32 steals.

Lonasia Brewer ranks in a tie for sixth in league play in offensive rebounds with 25 boards in 10 league games. Led by Burton's 96 helpers, the Catamounts sit second in the league with 339 assists, while also ranking second in shooting percentage at 41.3%.

Samford sits at 11-14 after falling to UNCG on Thursday night by the score of 52-44 in Greensboro. The Bulldogs come into play on Saturday with just a 2-9 record away from the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, while going 9-4 on their home court.

Carly Heidger leads Samford on the offensive end of the floor, averaging 9.8 points per game, as she's connected on 46.6% of her field goals. Heidger has scored in double figures 12 times. Sadie Stetson leads the Bulldogs from deep as she's made 52 triples, including six games with at least four threes thus far in the 2023-24 campaign.

Emily Bowman paces Samford on the defensive end with 202 rebounds, averaging 8.1 per game and a conference-best 63 blocks to her stat line. Bowman posted her best rebounding performance of the season back in December against Jacksonville State with 18 boards. Bowman's rebounding performance also puts her third in the league in rpg's this season. She's among the top 20 in the nation in blocking as the Hunstville, Ala. native has had eight games with at least four rejections.

Samford holds a 30-4 edge in the all-time series against WCU as the Catamounts are looking to break a skid of 21 straight games with Western Carolina's last win over the Bulldogs coming in Cullowhee during the 2013-14 season.

Western Carolina women's basketball used a strong 21-5 run in the second half to rally to a five-point edge in the fourth quarter. However, Samford used a pair of late free throws in the final seconds to defeat the Catamounts 48-47 on January 18th in Southern Conference action at the Pete Hanna Center.

Following Saturday's action in Cullowhee, the Catamounts open a three-game road swing with a trip to league-leading Chattanooga to battle the Mocs from McKenzie Arena with tip-off set for 7 p.m… The matchup with Chattanooga will be shown on ESPN+ with live stats on CatamountSports.com.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's basketball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, Catamountwbb).