* This is the 36th season of West Florida women's basketball. UWF has an all-time record of 488-458 (.516) in 942 games. UWF is 169-142 (.543) in 21 seasons of Gulf South Conference play. The Argonauts have made four NCAA Tournament appearances, including each of the last two seasons. UWF won its first-ever GSC Championship two years ago.
ABOUT UWF
* Fourth-year head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton has four starters and eight letterwinners back from last year's 20-win squad that finished second in the GSC regular season.
* UWF is 4-4 on the season and began a new winning streak with a three-point victory over Shorter on Monday evening.
* UWF sits in the middle of the GSC in scoring average and scoring defense on the year. The Argonauts have averaged 63.9 points per game and have allowed 63.1 points per game, which rank sixth and seventh in the conference, respectively.
* The UWF defense has been a key to the team's success, as the Argos have gone 4-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or fewer.
* A trio of players in junior Katie Bobos (12.6 ppg), sophomore Toni Brewer (11.0 ppg) and senior Jasmine Wigfall (10.9 ppg) are all averaging double figures in scoring for UWF. Bobos leads the squad on the glass with 8.3 rpg, followed by Brewer with 7.6 and 6-2 sophomore Kelly Preston with 5.6 per game.
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
* Mississippi College is 2-5 on the season and riding a 4-game losing streak against four GSC opponents. The Choctaws dropped games against No. 9 Union and Christian Brothers last weekend.
* The Choctaws have been sharpshooters from outside this year, converting on 38 percent of their tries from three-point range. Chloe Roberts, MC's leading scorer, and Allie Hill have done most of the damage from beyond the arc, as the pair has shot an even 40 percent. Mississippi College has been more or less evenly matched this season, as the team is averaging 66 points per game and allowing just 68, while being outrebounded 39-36 by opponents on average.
SERIES HISTORY VS. MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE
* UWF and MC have met four times in their history, with the Choctaws holding a 3-1 series lead. West Florida got the best of Mississippi College last time out, as the Argos came away with a 74-53 win in the UWF Field House in February.
* Jasmine Wigfall (19p/6r) and Brianna Williams (19p/7r) led UWF to the 21-point win in Pensacola. West Florida won the battle down low, as the Argos outrebounded MC 40-23, outscored the Choctaws 30-22 in the paint, and held them to just 2-10 from three-point range. The Argos were also able to get to the line more often than MC, shooting 30-38 from the charity stripe compared to the Choctaws' 11-16.
ABOUT DELTA STATE
* DSU enters the weekend on a seven-game winning streak to open the season. The Lady Statesmen have won each of their four GSC games as well, including a 43-point win over Christian Brothers and a 4-point victory against No. 14 Union last weekend.
* The Lady Statesmen have been the banner program for women's basketball in the Gulf South Conference, winning 15 conference championships and six national titles in their history.
* Delta State is led by 2012-13 GSC Freshman of the Year and current leading scorer in the conference Chelsea Rhodes. Rhodes is averaging 20.9 points per game for the Lady Statesmen, who rank in the middle of the conference with a scoring average of 62.4 points per game. DSU's success has come from its defense, which ranks at the top of the GSC, allowing just 49.4 points per game.
SERIES HISTORY VS. DELTA STATE
* UWF is 7-13 all-time against DSU, and the Argonauts have won the last three, including a GSC Tournament victory in March 2014. The Argos and Lady Statesmen have met four times in the GSC Tournament, with DSU winning three of those.
* West Florida came away with two overtime wins against the Lady Statesmen last year, which marked the first time that the team has beaten Delta State twice in a season. The first was a 73-69 win in the Walter Sillers Coliseum last December, and the second win came in Pensacola with a 65-62 score. UWF stormed back from a seven-point deficit at the half to push the game into overtime. Courtney Meyer drained two free throws to tie the game with just 1.7 seconds left in regulation, and she finished the night with a career-best 13 points. Jasmine Wigfall led the UWF offense with 15 points and three blocks in the win.
BATTLING ON THE BOARDS
* UWF has outrebounded its last three opponents and four of the last six. The Argos are 3-2 when doing so this season.
* The Argos are the only team in the GSC to have three players rank in the conference's top 15 in rebounding average, with Katie Bobos (8.3 rpg; 6th), Toni Brewer (7.6 rpg; 7th) and Kelly Preston (5.6 rpg; 13th).
BOBOS A KEY TO SUCCESS
* Junior Katie Bobos has led UWF in scoring twice and rebounds four times on the year, leading the team with 101 points and 66 rebounds. West Florida is 4-0 this year when Bobos scores at least 13 points and 3-0 when she records a double-double.
WIGFALL CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS
* Senior guard Jasmine Wigfall enters the weekend game with 932 career points over 92 games. If she hits the 1k mark, she would be just the 10th player in program history to achieve the milestone and the first since Amy Drake suring the 2009-10 season.
* Wigfall has gone for double-digit points four times this year, scoring a season-high 18 against Alabama Huntsville on December 2.
* She has scored 31 of her 87 points at the free-throw line this season, and has converted on 79.5 percent of her chances from the charity stripe.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
* West Florida has had four players lead the team in scoring two times each through the team's first eight games (Belle Bistrow, Katie Bobos, Alex Coyne, Jasmine Wigfall).
* Coyne has the highest single-game scoring mark of the year, as she put up 24 against Lee on December 12. Coyne has also led UWF in assists in every game this season and sits at sixth in NCAA Division II with 6.6 assists per game. The Argos are 4-2 on the season when Coyne posts a positive assist/turnover ratio.
BELLE OF THE BALL
* Freshman guard Belle Bistrow tied her career high with 15 points in Monday's win over Shorter. She also established career-bests with three made three-pointers, three steals and 25 minutes played against the Hawks.
* Bistrow is 7-9 over her last two games, and has improved her three-points percentage to .368 on the season after going 3-4 from outside against Shorter.
DEFENSE GETTING IT DONE
* The West Florida defense stepped up against Shorter on Monday night. Shorter made just 16 field goals and assisted on only six of those, both of which were season lows for UWF opponents.
* The Argonauts have held opponents to single-digit points in a quarter five times this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
* Alex Coyne is averaging 6.6. assists per game, with at least six assists in seven of eight games this season. Coyne ranks second in the GSC in minutes played, and she's played at least 35 minutes in every game this season, with the exception of the season-opener against #20 Tampa.
* Toni Brewer played 33 minutes at Shorter (1 shy of her season high) and did not commit a foul.
* Kelly Preston has averaged 10.5 points per game in her last two off the bench. Preston averaged just 5.2 points in her first six games, and posted a season-high 12 against Shorter, shooting 4-6 from the field.
JAN. 23 DOUBLEHEADER AT UAH TO BE TELEVISED NATIONALLY ON ASN
* The UWF basketball programs will receive some national exposure when their games at Alabama Huntsville on Jan. 23 will be televised as part of the American Sports Network's Division II Basketball Showcase.
* To accommodate the television broadcast of the doubleheader, the women's game will now tip-off at 1 p.m. followed by the men's contest at 3 p.m.
* The games will stream live on NCAA.com and the NCAA Sports Mobile App. WFGX MyTV 35 in Pensacola/Mobile Ala. has carried ASN broadcasts in the past.
BREWER & WIGFALL NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE
* UWF sophomore Toni Brewer and senior Jasmine Wigfall were both among the 5-member preseason all-conference squad voted on by the GSC head coaches last month.
* Brewer is the reigning GSC Freshman of the Year after the guard from Huntsville, Ala. averaged 11.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in 2014-15.
* Wigfall – the lone inside player on the 5-member group – posted 12.1 points, 5.8 boards and 2.6 assists last season. The Orlando native is the second-highest returning scorer in the league.
UWF RECEIVED VOTES IN USA TODAY COACHES TOP 25 POLL
* UWF found itself among the other's receiving votes in the USA Today Sports Division II Top 25 preseason coaches poll. The Argos received 61 points and are the second team listed in the "others receiving votes." This marks the first time under fourth-year head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton that the team has received votes and the first since the final poll of the 2005-06 season.
* In early October, the Argonauts were tabbed 24th-nationally by the Women's Division II Bulletin in their preseason top-25 poll. UWF was one of just two South Region teams in the ranking, joining No. 3 Nova Southeastern.
UWF PICKED 2ND IN GSC POLL
* UWF was picked to finish second in the Gulf South Conference preseason coaches poll. The Argonauts received 91 total poll points and a league-high six (of 11) first place votes. Defending champion Union was picked first with 92 points and three first place votes.
NEW LOOK FOR UWF FIELD HOUSE FLOOR
* The UWF Field House floor received a new paint scheme over the summer, with an emphasis on cleaner design and less color. The court now features a darker wood stain in the lane and a similar darker stained GSC logo near midcourt on opposite sides of the floor.
* The Argonaut head at midcourt remained in color as did the navy blue border that surrounds the court.
* Social media identifiers of '#GoArgos' and '@GoArgos' were placed in front of the bench areas.
NCAA RULES CHANGES
* The NCAA made a number of rules changes to both the men's and women's games this season. Some of the more visible changes in the women's game include:
* Periods - Playing time for games shall consist of four ten-minute periods.
* Option to Advance the Ball - When a timeout is charged to the offensive team during the last 59.9 seconds of the fourth period and/or any extra period(s), the team has the option to advance the throw-in spot to the 28-foot mark in the front court on the same side of the court as the scorers' table.
* In games using electronic-media timeouts, each team will have three 30-second timeouts and 1 full timeout (60 seconds in length). There is one electronic-media timeout in each period. The break between the first and second, as well as between the third and fourth periods, may be used as an electronic-media timeout. The first team-called timeout in the second half will becomes an electronic-media timeout.
* Free Throws - A team is awarded two free throws for each common foul beginning with the fifth team foul in a period.
* 10-Second Back Court - The 10-second count shall reset on all stoppages of the game clock except when the defense causes the ball to be out of bounds, the offense retains possession after a held ball, or there is a technical foul assessed to the offensive team.
* Officiating Guidelines - Displacement - When an offensive post player with her back to the basket in the lane area is in control of the ball, a post defender may only place one forearm or one hand with a bend in the elbow on the offensive player.
