* This is the 36th season of West Florida women's basketball. UWF has an all-time record of 497-459 (.520) in 956 games. UWF is 178-142 (.556) 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.
* The UWF defense has been a key to the team's success, as the Argos have gone 9-0 when holding opponents to 60 points or fewer, including six times during the current 7-game win streak.
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.
* The Argonauts have averaged 64.4 points per game (5th in the GSC) and have allowed 60.7 points per game (7th).
* A trio of players in junior Katie Bobos (13.9 ppg), sophomore Toni Brewer (10.8 ppg) and junior Alex Coyne (10.5 ppg) are all averaging double figures in scoring for UWF. Brewer leads the squad on the glass with 7.9 rpg, followed by Bobos with 7.8 and sophomore Courtney Meyer with 7.0 per game.
* UWF ranks second in the GSC with 3.9 blocks per game. Junior Alex Coyne leads the conference with 6.9 assists per game.
ITS CROWDED AT THE TOP
* Since opening GSC play with a 1-2 mark, UWF has rattled-off 7-straight victories to find itself in a 5-way tie for first place. The Argos currently have the tiebreaker over Delta State, Shorter and Union in that group, while dropping a game at Lee among the five tied teams.
WIN STREAK REACHES SEVEN
* UWF's current 7-game win streak is its longest since a 10-game skein in the 2005-06 season. The longest streaks in school history are 16 and 15 games in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons, respectively.
* The streak is the second-longest in the GSC this year. Delta State opened with eight in a row before dropping a contest at UWF.
ABOUT VALDOSTA STATE
* Valdosta State enters the game having won both home games last weekend, which snapped a 6-game losing skid. The Lady Blazers had opened the year 6-1 before the six league losses.
* VSU has the second-best scoring defense in the league, holding opponents to just 57.4 ppg.
* The Lady Blazers will go anywhere from 9-to-12 players deep depending on the game. Madi Mitchell (10.3 ppg) leads a group of five players who all average 7.9 ppg or higher. All five of those players have made at least 10 3-pointers on the year. Lydia Harvey leads VSU with 31 triples and a 44.4 3-point FG pct.
SERIES HISTORY VS VALDOSTA
* VSU leads the all-time series 22-17, but UWF has won the last three meetings.
* The Argonauts swept the home-and-home series a year ago. The current streak followed a VSU run of 5-straight victories and 14 of 17 from 2005-06 to 2013-14.
BISTROW VS BISTROW
* UWF freshman Belle Bistrow will be competing against her older sister, VSU sophomore Jo Bistrow on Saturday.
* This is the first time the two have played against one another in their careers.
* Belle is averaging 5.5 points and 1.6 rebounds for the Argos and is second on the team with 13 3-pointers. She has started the last two games, making five 3-pointers total and scoring 13 and 12 against UWA and UWG, respectively. She had her career-high of 15 points against Rollins and at Shorter.
* Jo is posting 8.1 ppg and coming off a career-high 19 on five 3-pointers in Monday's win over UWA. She has compiled back-to-back double-figure scoring games for the Lady Blazers.
BOBOS IS THE COMPLETE PACKAGE
* Junior F Katie Bobos is playing very focused during her third season in Pensacola. The Lowell, Ind., native is averaging 13.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, both of which rank in the top 10 in the GSC - joining Shorter's Taylor Adams as the only players in each top 10.
* The preseason all-GSC pick has posted 11 of 14 games in double figures, including the last nine where she has averaged 15.1 ppg and 8.7 rpg.
COYNE DROPPIN' DIMES
* Junior PG Alex Coyne has stapped into the lineup this season and had an immediate impact on the team's offense. The Southern Miss transfer ranks fourth in country with 6.9 assists per game. She has handed out at least six assists 13 times this season and each f the last eight games.
BATTLING ON THE BOARDS
* UWF has outrebounded its opponents in nine of 14 games, going 7-2 in those contests.
* The Argos have two players (Toni Brewer, 4th at 7.9 and Katie Bobos, 5th at 7.8) who rank in the top 5 in the GSC in rebounding.
* UWF's Kelly Preston (10th) and Courtney Meyer (12th) also rank in the top 15.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
* Six different players (Bistrow, Bobos, Brewer, Coyne, Preston and Wigfall) have led the team in scoring in a game this season.
* Along those same lines, UWF has only had three 20-plus point performances this season and none in the last seven games.
DEFENSE GETTING IT DONE
* The West Florida defense stepped up against Shorter in December, holding the Hawks to just 16 field goals and only six assists, 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.
DOUBLING UP
* West Florida has collected 10 double-doubles this season.
* Katie Bobos has a team-high four, while Toni Brewer has three, and Alex Coyne, Kelly Preston and Courtney Meyer have one each.
* Bobos, Coyne and Preston combined to put up a team-best three in the win over Mississippi College on Dec. 17.
* Meyer came just one block short of a triple-double on against North Alabama on Dec. 5, as she tied a school record with 9 blocks against the Lions.
WIGFALL CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS
* Senior guard Jasmine Wigfall has 963 career points in 96 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 during the 2009-10 season.
* Wigfall has gone for double-digit points five times this year, scoring a season-high 18 against Alabama Huntsville on Dec. 2.
* She has scored 42 of her 118 (36%) points at the free throw line, and has converted on 76 percent of her chances from the charity .
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.
