Women's Basketball 3.1.23

Samford Opens SoCon Tournament Against ETSU On Thursday

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – To open the 2023 Southern Conference Tournament, the six-seed Samford women's basketball team will square off with the third-seed ETSU Buccaneers in Asheville, N.C. on Thursday.

The quarterfinal matchup between the Bulldogs and the Buccaneers is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. CT and can be streamed on ESPN+. Samford game notes can be found here.

Samford enters the SoCon Tournament with a record of 13-16 overall and a 7-7 standing in league play. ETSU brings records of 22-8 and 9-5 to Asheville.

The Bulldogs and Buccaneers are meeting for the 21st time in series history and the third time this season. Samford leads the all-time series 11-9. The Bulldogs have five of the last eight meetings. In the season series, the road teams took both games as Samford won 68-58 in Johnson City on Jan. 14, while ETSU took the return trip in Birmingham, 75-63, on Feb. 9.

This will be the final conference tournament for the careers of Kathleen Wheeler and Andrea Bailey. Two cornerstones of the Carley Kuhns era, Wheeler is the longest-tenured Bulldog on the Samford roster, while Bailey has rewritten the record books in just three short years as a Bulldog, ranking top 10 in seven different categories.

Bailey was named SoCon Player of the Year on Tuesday by the Southern Conference Sports Media Association. The Bulldog great was also named first team All-SoCon by coaches and media while being named to the All-Defensive team. In 27 games this season, Bailey is averaging 17.7 points per game, which ranks first in the SoCon and 50th nationally. The second closest leading in the SoCon is averaging 17.2 points. The senior also ranks Top 100 nationally in assist/turnover ratio (80th/1.84), field goal attempts (76th/393), field goals (77th/172), free throw percentage (46th/85.6%), points (76th/477), steals (16th/78) and steals per game (16th/2.89).

In total, the Bulldog quartet of Bailey, Sussy Ngulefac, Carly Heidger and Masyn Marchbanks each landed on at least one team voted on by the league's coaches and Media.

Ngulefac was named third team All-SoCon by the coaches. The sophomore averaged 11.9 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per contest. Ngulefac led the SoCon in field goal percentage making 63% of the shots she took this year.

Marchbanks was named to the All-Freshman team by the coaches and the media, while Heidger joined Marchbanks on the coaches' team.

Marchbanks averaged 12.5 points per game in SoCon play to rank second on the Bulldogs only behind Bailey.

Heidger scored 23 points against Wofford to set the most points scored by a freshman in the Carley Kuhns era en route to averaging 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game during her freshman campaign.

Entering the ETSU game, Samford is 11-3 on the year when the Bulldogs score at least 65 points.

Samford is 3-1 on the season when sinking 10+ threes in a game. The only loss came to Wofford when the Bulldogs hit 11 threes in the defeat.

Since arriving on campus before the 2019-20 season, coach Kuhns and the Bulldogs are 35-19 in SoCon play overall.

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For the latest news and information on Samford women's basketball, visit the official website for Samford Athletics at SamfordSports.com. Fans can also follow the Bulldogs on social media at /SamfordWomensBasketball (Facebook), @SamfordWBB (Instagram) 4and @SamfordWBB (Twitter).

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Players Mentioned

#11 Andrea Bailey: G; 5' 4"; Junior

#23 Kathleen Wheeler: F; 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman

#5 Carly Heidger: G; 6' 3"; Freshman

#35 Sussy Ngulefac: C; 6' 3"; Freshman

#3 Masyn Marchbanks: G; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#11 Andrea Bailey
: 5' 4"; Junior
: G

#23 Kathleen Wheeler
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Freshman
: F

#5 Carly Heidger
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: G

#35 Sussy Ngulefac
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: C

#3 Masyn Marchbanks
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: G

Samford University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned