The Matchup
- The Queens University of Charlotte women's basketball team (0-1, 0-1 SAC) arrive in Hartsville, S.C. for another South Atlantic Conference (SAC) showdown, squaring off against Coker University (0-3, 0-3 SAC) tomorrow afternoon. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. inside the DeLoach Center.
Last Time Out
- The Royals opened the 2020-21 season with a nail-biting 83-78 loss at Mars Hill. Freshman
Kristy Hamze (23pts), sophomore
Kalaya Hall (21pts) and senior
Kristian Eanes (21pts) led the way for Queens. Freshman
Amari Davis flirted with a double-double in her collegiate debut, adding eight points and a team-best 11 rebounds.
- Four newcomers got the starting nod for the Royals. Hamze and Hall paced the team, going wire-to-wire with 40 minutes each. Eanes found her form - late in the contest - adding 13 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter.
- Queens won the battle from the free-throw line, connecting on 20-of-25 attempts. They'll look to clean-up their performance from long distance, as they shot just 6-for-25 from beyond the three-point line.
- Hamze's 23 point performance is the second-highest scoring clip among SAC players so far this season. Mars Hill's De'Ja Marshall's holds the highest scoring outing with 33 against the Royals.
Queens Storylines
- Queens welcomes new head coach,
Jen Brown, to lead the way for the Royals this season. Brown, a 2008 graduate and standout forward at James Madison (JMU), joins Queens following four seasons on the women's coaching staff at Virginia Tech as the top assistant. She held previous assistant coaching roles at Colgate (two years) and JMU (six years).
- Senior guard
Kristian Eanes enters the season as the Royals' leading scorer and playmaker from 2019-20. She led the way with 16.8 points per game (ppg) - good for fourth-best in the SAC - and 17.4 ppg in conference-play. She also ranked second in the conference in steals per game (2.9).
Opponent
- Scoring 65.7 ppg, the Cobras dropped their season opener at home against Lincoln Memorial, 68-55. They followed with back-to-back road defeats at UVA Wise (88-81) and Limestone (63-61).
- Coker is led by junior guards Ahlea Myers (14.3 ppg) and Raya Coley (12.0 ppg). Against Limestone, Myers knocked down a clutch three-pointer with just seconds remaining, before the Saints drew a shooting foul at the final buzzer and connected on game-winning free throws.
- Head coach Melissa DeVore is in her first year leading the Cobras. She was previously an assistant coach at Limestone since 2006. Her stint with the Saints included coaching six All-Americans, an Academic All-American, one Southeast Region Player of the Year and one NCAA Women of the Year finalist.
Series History
- Queens leads the all-time series, 26-22. As SAC opponents – since 2013-14 – Coker holds the advantage, 9-5. At home, the Royals are 15-9 all-time against the Cobras; Coker leads the series 13-10 on their home floor.
- Their first matchup occurred during the 1990-91 season. Coker earned a 67-64 home win. The Royals defeated the Cobras for the first time in program history, 77-64, on December 13, 1990 in Charlotte.
- Queens won nine-straight contests with Coker, spanning from the 2007-08 to 2011-12 seasons. In that span, the Royals held Coker to under 50 points, five times. The Cobras won four-consecutives matchups from the 2005-06 to 2006-07 seasons.
- Last season, Queens earned the sweep over Coker, 2-0. The Royals earned a December road victory, 77-63, thanks to four double-digit scorers.
Kristian Eanes led the team with 19 points, while then redshirt-freshman guard
Taylor Stevens notched her first-career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Queens earned the season sweep with a 65-58 home win on February 5, 2020. In that game, Eanes and
Tia McMillian paced the Royals with 11 points apiece, alongside
Julia Raflund who dropped 10 points and secured eight boards.
