UNCW SEAHAWKS 3 -5 (0-0 Coastal)
Last Season: 14-18, 8-10 in CAA, 10th); 0-1 CAA Tournament, No postseason
NET 321 (Massey) (UNC 24); NCAA NET 308 (UNC 16) RPI (Nolan) 344 (UNC 30), Torvik 308 (UNC 11)
Wednesday evening’s (night) game is with the unranked UNCW Seahawks at Carmichael. Carolina, #18 in this week’s AP Poll, has played UNCW six times, and is 6-0. The last game was Dec. 2024 with Carolina winning 77-50. It was basically the Lexi Donarski show with 21 points on 5 of 11 threes.
For this game the Heels are installed by Massey as a 49-point favorite. Warren Nolan is less impressed and favors UNC by just 36. Bart Torvik is more optimistic and has UNC by 46. It might be noted that these giganormous spreads do not always pan out - particularly with UNCW where the margin has been in the 20+ range. The Heels are currently 9-3 and 0-1 in the ACC - and in last place although there is a 9-way tie.
UNCW is of course part of the Consolidated University and officially remain the University of North Carolina Wilmington. You will get no thanks for calling them that, as they insist on UNCW in all media outlets. UNC-W is also verboten. This is also what Charlotte did; funnily enough they both still insist on calling Carolina UNC-CH.
Note also that the CAA, formerly the Colonial AC, is now officially the Coastal AC. It had 14 members although one, Delaware, left last year. NC A&T, Elon and Campbell are all members. A&T was last year’s regular season champion. For their part, UNCW was 10th. They lost to Delaware 55-71 in round one of the CAA tournament despite a double-double (11/10) from former Tar Heel and fan favorite Ali Zeliya.
The Seahawks opened their season playing three teams with “Carolina” in the name. A trip to East Carolina was a 63-82 loss but a trip to NC Central was a win, 78-68. The home opener was with Coastal Carolina, a 56-80 loss. Games followed at Gardner-Webb (L 56-65), Presbyterian (the “Blue Hose”, what a great name and a W 75-55), Queens (W 69-59), at West Georgia (L 63-83) and at Winthrop (L 68-78). Carolina is up next.
West Georgia is in Carrollton. If you wondered as I did about Queens, it is a D-1 school in Charlotte playing in the A-Sun. They are called the “Royals”. Administration is being taken over by Elon, whit whom they are merging.
UNCW, often just called “The Dub” was founded in 1947 as Wilmington Junior College. It became a senior college in 1963 and in 1969 a full member (the fifth) of the University of North Carolina System. There are 18,000 students. UNCW has 18 varsity sports
There are 12 players listed on the Seahawk roster and five played in last year’s game. One was a starter, Kate Hollifield. For some idiotic reason UNCW does not have a listing of player stats on their website, but ESPN does. By tracking the box scores of the first eight games we know that Hollifield has started every game and averages 6 ppg. The other returnees were Tia Dobson, a 5-7 sophomore G (5.5 ppg), McCall King, a 5-10 senior G (1.1 ppg), 6-3 C Angelina Pelayo (9.3 ppg) and Mary Ferrito, a 5-10 senior G (1.8 ppg). It is almost impossible to glean a starting lineup for this club.
Dobson started the first two games and then disappeared. King started two games, did not score in either, but has gotten minutes as a reserve. Pelayo missed the first five games but returned for game 6, started since then, and is averaging 9.3 ppg. Ferrito has no starts but like King gets time off the bench. Corrie McLaughlin, a 6-2 junior F, did not play last year and has appeared on just one game, NCCU, this season. Her status is unknown.
One player UNCW did not have last year was 5-10 redshirt sophomore G Kylah Silver, a double-digit scorer (11.2) as a freshman in 2024. She is back now and has started every game (14.4 ppg). She is also the leading rebounder with 7.4 rpg.
Transfers have added to the roster. These include Torin Rogers from Richmond, a starter from game two (7.9 ppg); Rori Cox from Virginia Union who has started from game three (14 ppg); and Paige Smith, a JuCo transfer with no starts but considerable time off the bench (9.1 ppg). Cox leads in assists and steals.
There are two freshmen, 5-10 G Ebbony Wilson and 6-1 F Icyss Storm. Most games, Storm has been the fifth starter (6.7 ppg) while Wilson is deep bench. Storm leads in blocks.
So, a projected lineup would be Hollifield, Cox, Rogers, Silver, and Storm, with Cox, Smith, and Pelayo off the bench. If needed, Mary Ferrito may get a call.
The Head Coach is Nicole Smith, in her third year. Her record is 22-48 but winning 22 games over the past three seasons is considered an improvement by UNCW fans. Smith spent the last ten years as Associate HC at Charlotte – that is, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The Associate HC at UNCW is Cherie Lea, who played for Carolina in 2000-2001 but is a UNCW graduate
UNC is of course coming off a painful loss to Louisville, a game in which Coach Courtney Banghart admitted that the play was sub-par for UNC. With that in mind, Banghart said on her radio show Monday that the focus for the next two non-conference games will be on Carolina and not really worrying about what the opponent (two teams with NET under 300) is going to do.
The game was originally scheduled for 9 PM but Coach CB in her usual lady-like way told the schedulers that UNCW could come when they liked but the Tar Heels were taking the court at 8 PM.
The game is 8:00 PM EST. ACCN will be broadcasting the game and GoHeels will provide an audio feed through On Demand.
Last Season: 14-18, 8-10 in CAA, 10th); 0-1 CAA Tournament, No postseason
NET 321 (Massey) (UNC 24); NCAA NET 308 (UNC 16) RPI (Nolan) 344 (UNC 30), Torvik 308 (UNC 11)
Wednesday evening’s (night) game is with the unranked UNCW Seahawks at Carmichael. Carolina, #18 in this week’s AP Poll, has played UNCW six times, and is 6-0. The last game was Dec. 2024 with Carolina winning 77-50. It was basically the Lexi Donarski show with 21 points on 5 of 11 threes.
For this game the Heels are installed by Massey as a 49-point favorite. Warren Nolan is less impressed and favors UNC by just 36. Bart Torvik is more optimistic and has UNC by 46. It might be noted that these giganormous spreads do not always pan out - particularly with UNCW where the margin has been in the 20+ range. The Heels are currently 9-3 and 0-1 in the ACC - and in last place although there is a 9-way tie.
UNCW is of course part of the Consolidated University and officially remain the University of North Carolina Wilmington. You will get no thanks for calling them that, as they insist on UNCW in all media outlets. UNC-W is also verboten. This is also what Charlotte did; funnily enough they both still insist on calling Carolina UNC-CH.
Note also that the CAA, formerly the Colonial AC, is now officially the Coastal AC. It had 14 members although one, Delaware, left last year. NC A&T, Elon and Campbell are all members. A&T was last year’s regular season champion. For their part, UNCW was 10th. They lost to Delaware 55-71 in round one of the CAA tournament despite a double-double (11/10) from former Tar Heel and fan favorite Ali Zeliya.
The Seahawks opened their season playing three teams with “Carolina” in the name. A trip to East Carolina was a 63-82 loss but a trip to NC Central was a win, 78-68. The home opener was with Coastal Carolina, a 56-80 loss. Games followed at Gardner-Webb (L 56-65), Presbyterian (the “Blue Hose”, what a great name and a W 75-55), Queens (W 69-59), at West Georgia (L 63-83) and at Winthrop (L 68-78). Carolina is up next.
West Georgia is in Carrollton. If you wondered as I did about Queens, it is a D-1 school in Charlotte playing in the A-Sun. They are called the “Royals”. Administration is being taken over by Elon, whit whom they are merging.
UNCW, often just called “The Dub” was founded in 1947 as Wilmington Junior College. It became a senior college in 1963 and in 1969 a full member (the fifth) of the University of North Carolina System. There are 18,000 students. UNCW has 18 varsity sports
There are 12 players listed on the Seahawk roster and five played in last year’s game. One was a starter, Kate Hollifield. For some idiotic reason UNCW does not have a listing of player stats on their website, but ESPN does. By tracking the box scores of the first eight games we know that Hollifield has started every game and averages 6 ppg. The other returnees were Tia Dobson, a 5-7 sophomore G (5.5 ppg), McCall King, a 5-10 senior G (1.1 ppg), 6-3 C Angelina Pelayo (9.3 ppg) and Mary Ferrito, a 5-10 senior G (1.8 ppg). It is almost impossible to glean a starting lineup for this club.
Dobson started the first two games and then disappeared. King started two games, did not score in either, but has gotten minutes as a reserve. Pelayo missed the first five games but returned for game 6, started since then, and is averaging 9.3 ppg. Ferrito has no starts but like King gets time off the bench. Corrie McLaughlin, a 6-2 junior F, did not play last year and has appeared on just one game, NCCU, this season. Her status is unknown.
One player UNCW did not have last year was 5-10 redshirt sophomore G Kylah Silver, a double-digit scorer (11.2) as a freshman in 2024. She is back now and has started every game (14.4 ppg). She is also the leading rebounder with 7.4 rpg.
Transfers have added to the roster. These include Torin Rogers from Richmond, a starter from game two (7.9 ppg); Rori Cox from Virginia Union who has started from game three (14 ppg); and Paige Smith, a JuCo transfer with no starts but considerable time off the bench (9.1 ppg). Cox leads in assists and steals.
There are two freshmen, 5-10 G Ebbony Wilson and 6-1 F Icyss Storm. Most games, Storm has been the fifth starter (6.7 ppg) while Wilson is deep bench. Storm leads in blocks.
So, a projected lineup would be Hollifield, Cox, Rogers, Silver, and Storm, with Cox, Smith, and Pelayo off the bench. If needed, Mary Ferrito may get a call.
The Head Coach is Nicole Smith, in her third year. Her record is 22-48 but winning 22 games over the past three seasons is considered an improvement by UNCW fans. Smith spent the last ten years as Associate HC at Charlotte – that is, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The Associate HC at UNCW is Cherie Lea, who played for Carolina in 2000-2001 but is a UNCW graduate
UNC is of course coming off a painful loss to Louisville, a game in which Coach Courtney Banghart admitted that the play was sub-par for UNC. With that in mind, Banghart said on her radio show Monday that the focus for the next two non-conference games will be on Carolina and not really worrying about what the opponent (two teams with NET under 300) is going to do.
The game was originally scheduled for 9 PM but Coach CB in her usual lady-like way told the schedulers that UNCW could come when they liked but the Tar Heels were taking the court at 8 PM.
The game is 8:00 PM EST. ACCN will be broadcasting the game and GoHeels will provide an audio feed through On Demand.
playing the 5 in a small lineup.
