2019-20 Women’s College Basketball Preview (11/5/2019)

Liberty at Norfolk State

Liberty begins its first game of the season on the road as it travels to take on Norfolk State in Echols

Hall on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The Lady Flames finished the 2018-19 season with a 16-16 record, including a second-place finish in the 2019 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship. 

Nine out of the 15 players from last year’s squad are returning for Liberty. Emily Lytle and Bridgette Rettstatt will be the key contributors for the Lady Flames this season. Both players were named to the ASUN All-Conference Preseason Team. Last year, Lytle led the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game while Rettstatt was the leading rebounder as she posted an average of 7.0 per game. Liberty will also have Keyen Green back after she sat out the 2018-19 season with an injury. The redshirt junior forward was named the Big South Player of the Year in 2018.

Norfolk State finished last season 17-15 and runner’s up in the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament. Leading scorer La’Deja James will be playing in her final year with the Spartans. The 5-foot-8 guard scored 13.3 points per game and drained 65 out of 81 shots from the charity stripe during the 2018-19 season. James was recently named to the MEAC Preseason Second Team.

Liberty has won seven out of the eight meetings against Norfolk State. Both teams last met at the 2018 Christmas City Classic in Bethlehem, Pa. The Spartans took a 66-53 victory and snapped the Lady Flames’ six-game winning streak in the series.  

Florida at Grambling State

The Florida Gators are ready to kick off the 2019-20 season with a road game at Grambling State on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Last season, the team set a second-best program record for the most three-pointers made in a season with 230 overall. Florida also advanced to the second round of the 2019 Southeastern Conference tournament, the first postseason victory since Head Coach Cam Newbauer took over.

 Zada Williams and Kiara Smith are expected to be key contributors this season after the departure of Funda Nakkasoglu and Delicia Washington. Williams finished the 2018-19 season with 8.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. The redshirt senior forward also shot a leading field goal percentage of .476. Smith tallied 7.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. One of her highlights from the previous season, was becoming the team leader in assists (3.4 per game) and steals (1.5 per game). The Gators will be without Danielle Rainey this season after sustaining an injury in the offseason. She averaged 8.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game last season.

Grambling State ended the 2018-19 season in the semifinals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference semifinals and a 16-16 overall record.

Shakyla Hill and Jazmin Boyd were the top two leading scorers in the previous season. Now that both players have graduated, the Tigers will look to one player to fill in the void. Justice Coleman returns for her third season with Grambling State. Last season, the 5-10 guard was ranked No. 2 in points per game (6.4) and No. 3 in rebounds per game (3.3).

The teams will tipoff against each other for the first time at Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.