College women’s basketball: Catawba, Livingstone ready to play this weekend
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Shemya Stanback is a key returning scorer for Catawba. File photo by Wayne Hinshaw
JON C. LAKEY/SALISBURY POST FILE PHOTO Catawba's Janiya Downs (1) will be a key returner for the Indians.
From staff reports
SALISBURY — Catawba’s women’s basketball team is expected to have an outstanding season and was picked second in the preseason South Atlantic Conference poll.
Catawba is coming off an 11-4 season that included a breakthrough regional victory. Head coach Terence McCutcheon brings back a deep, experienced roster .
Returning for the Indians are the top five scorers — Shemya Stanback, Lyrik Thorne, Taisha DeShazo, Janiya Downs and Sara McIntosh.
Downs, who starred at South Rowan, made the All-SAC tourney team.
A.L. Brown grad Stanback is a preseason All-SAC pick. She had 22 points and nine rebounds in Catawba’s final game of the 2020-21 season.
Thorne led last season’s team in steals and assists while averaging double-digit points.
Lauren Ford, Emily Phillips and Mercedes Wampler saw extensive playing time and also return.
Stanback, DeShazo, who has scored over 1,000 career points, and Ford were seniors in 2020-21 but are taking advantage of the universal redshirt for the shortened COVID season.
Freshman Janiya Foskey, who played in state championship games for strong Farmville Central teams, is an athletic 6-foot-1 recruit who should make a major impact.
Catawba plays two games this weekend at Belmont Abbey. The Indians play North Greenville on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and take on Belmont Abbey at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The first home game is on Saturday, Nov. 20, against Tusculum.
•••
Livingstone’s women’s basketball team will play twice in Pennsylvania this weekend.
Both games are at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
The Blue Bears will play Seton Hill, from Greensburg, Pa., at noon on Saturday and will take on IUP at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Chiante Wester coaches the Blue Bears. She was 13-15 in her first season in 2019-20. The pandemic wiped out the 2020-21 season, so LC hasn’t played since a CIAA tournament loss to Virginia State on Feb. 25, 2020.
Top veterans include guard Daijah Turner, who scored 11.4 points per game in 2019-20, and forward Victoria Onozie, who averaged 7.2 points and 5.8 rebounds. Onozie is on the preseason All-CIAA team.
Livingstone’s women will play at home on Nov. 17 against the University of Charleston.
