How the CCU women are just two wins from experiencing March Madness for the first time
The Coastal Carolina men have a tall task ahead of them as the 10th seed in the Sun Belt Conference basketball tournament, but the CCU women are just two wins away from their first NCAA tournament appearance.
The CCU men (16-16, 8-12 in Sun Belt play) began the conference tournament Saturday with a 63-62 upset of seventh-seeded Texas-Arlington (14-17, 10-10) and will play at sixth-seeded Appalachian State at 7 p.m. Monday in the second round.
The CCU women (25-4, 15-3), meanwhile, are already in a conference semifinal next Saturday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans as one of the top two seeds.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for us to get to go straight to New Orleans,” CCU women’s head coach Jaida Williams said. “It will be the first time I’ve had the opportunity to be in a conference semifinal game with this group, and we want to get as close to the NCAA tournament as possible.”
The Sun Belt Conference greatly rewards regular-season success and wants one of its top teams to represent the league in the NCAA tournament.
So in the men’s tournament, it excludes the bottom two teams in the 12-team conference standings from the league tournament and gives one bye to seeds 5 and 6, two byes to seeds 3 and 4, and three byes to seeds 1 and 2.
So the CCU men will have to win five straight games at UT Arlington, at Appalachian, at No. 3 Texas State on Wednesday, against No. 2 South Alabama on Saturday in New Orleans, and the championship game on Sunday in order to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Coastal’s longest winning streak of the season is four games.
The CCU women, however, will be well rested by the time they play in the tournament, which will be a full week off between games. In the women’s tournament, seeds 3 through 10 play in the first round and quarterfinals at the home courts of the No. 3 and 4 seeds.
Though the CCU women lost their regular-season finale in double overtime against Appalachian State on Saturday at the HTC Center in Conway, they finished second to Troy and are the tournament’s No. 2 seed.
“To now have the opportunity to get some really good preparation and rest and all of that stuff before we head to New Orleans is key,” Williams said. “. . . This is where we asked to be, this is where we wanted to be, this is where we set our goals to be, and so we’re excited for that opportunity.”
CCU has won 10 of its past 11 games and has risen to No. 9 in the CollegeInsider.com Women’s Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
“There have been a lot of things that this group has been able to shatter in terms of ceilings, so for them there is no ceiling and we’re all excited about that,” Williams said. “Our mentality is we want to take this as far and as high as we possibly can.”
The CCU women are led by three experienced seniors. D.J. Williams leads the conference in scoring by nearly two points per game at 18.7 ppg and steals with 2.4 per game, and is second in assists with 5.4.
Naheria Hamilton is tied for the conference lead with 10 rebounds per game and is averaging a double-double with 10.3 ppg, and guard Torrie Cash leads the league in three-point field goal percentage at 45.5 percent.
Sophomore Aja Blount is fourth in the conference at 15 ppg and leads the league with an 89 percent free throw percentage.
Williams said her team is healthy entering the conference tournament. “We’re ready,” she said.
The CCU men are led by redshirt sophomore point guard DeVante Jones, who was named to the All-Sun Belt Second Team after averaging 16.6 points per game, which is fourth in the Sun Belt, and 5.8 assists per game, which is first. Jones is third in the conference with a shooting percentage of 48 percent and second with a free throw percentage of 86.2.
The men’s game at App. State and the women’s semifinal game will be televised on ESPN+.
Two for one
The Coastal Carolina softball team achieved a pair of milestones Friday at St. John Stadium.
The Chants (13-5) defeated No. 8 Louisiana 7-1 to knock off a team ranked in the top 10 nationally for the first time, and also handed coach Kelley Green the 700th win of her career.
It was Louisiana’s first loss to a Sun Belt opponent in 30 games dating to April 2018, and they defeated CCU 10-2 in the rematch on Saturday.
Home runs by Stavi Augur, Ivanla DeJesus, Mary Sobatak and Courtney Dean within the first five innings helped the Chants build a 5-1 lead, and consecutive RBI hits by Sydney Guess and Makiya Thomas in the bottom of the sixth extended the lead.
Ally Marcano pitched three innings to earn the win and the Chants used four pitchers against a largely left-handed Louisiana (14-6) lineup.
Spring practices end
The Coastal Carolina football team wrapped up its 2020 spring practice season with its annual spring game in the rain under the lights at Brooks Stadium on Thursday night.
The Chants split into two teams and played a situational game that finished tied at 7 after 14 series.
Sophomore quarterback Grayson McCall completed passes of 33 and 23 yards to receivers Deon Fountain and Rob Morrow to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by freshman C.J. Beasley. Quarterback Zachary Stevens threw a 33-yard TD pass to running back Quasim Porter to tie the game.
Damari Kelly intercepted a pass and defenses had four tackles for loss, four sacks and five pass breakups while also forcing two missed field goals.
Coastal Carolina will open up the 2020 season at South Carolina on Sept. 5. Season tickets can be purchased at www.GoCCUsports.com, by calling 843-347-8499 or visiting the CCU athletics ticket office.
Tracking success
CCU track and field athlete Melissa Jefferson of Georgetown was voted by coaches the Sun Belt’s Most Outstanding Freshman and Newcomer of the Year for the 2020 indoor season, becoming the first CCU women’s track athlete since 2018 to earn an all-conference honor.
She finished second in the 200-meter race at the Sun Belt Indoor Track and Field Championships and won the 60-meter dash at the Liberty Invitational in 7.55 seconds, good for fifth in school history.
Jefferson and her teammates begin the outdoor season on March 13-14 by hosting the Coastal Carolina Invitational at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach.
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 5:08 AM.
