PEMBROKE – The UNC Pembroke men's and women's basketball teams will close out the road portion of their 2017-18 regular season schedules on Saturday when the Braves trek to Morrow, Ga., to take on Clayton State in a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader inside CSU's Athletics & Fitness Center.
 
Fans unable to make the trip to Georgia can follow the games for free via live audio streams on the UNCP Sports Network with Trevor Williams handling the play-by-play duties. Both matchups can also be followed via live video and live statistics links provided by Clayton State.
 

UNC Pembroke Women (9-14, 7-12 PBC) at Clayton State (13-12, 10-9 PBC)
Date & Tip Time	Saturday, February 24 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Location	Morrow, Ga. | Athletics & Fitness Center
Live Statistics	SIDEARM Sports
Audio	UNCP Sports Network
Video	Clayton State Lakers on YouTube
Peach Belt Conference	Women's Basketball

WOMEN'S NOTES

• The Lady Braves (9-14, 7-12 PBC) held visiting USC Aiken to a paltry 34.4 percent shooting effort and bridged the third and fourth quarters with a 23-7 run to pull away for good on the way to a 58-49 victory over the Pacers on Wednesday evening at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. 
• UNCP hits the road after a three game home stand that saw the Black & Gold go 2-1 against Young Harris (W), No. 23 North Georgia (L) and USC Aiken (W). The Braves are 3-9 away from home this season, including losses in their last two road contests against Georgia College and Augusta. UNCP is average over eight more points at home (68.9) than on the road (60.7), despite scoring at least 70 points in its last three road games.
• With three PBC games remaining on the schedule, the Black & Gold sits eighth in the league standings with a one-game lead on ninth-place Young Harris. The Braves trail seventh-place Clayton State by three games and are three games better than 10th-place Georgia Southwestern. The top eight teams qualify for the PBC Tournament that begins Feb. 28 and UNCP is looking to make back-to-back showings in the league tournament for the first time since the 2010-11 and 2011-12 campaigns.
• Senior Nyla Allen leads all Braves with 14.7 points per game, which ranks seventh in the league, and has scored at least 15 points in nine of the last 13 outings. She has logged 19-straight double-digit scoring performances and scored at least 10 points in 20 of the 23 games this season. Allen has logged three double-doubles in the last four games and grabbed at least eight boards in 10 of the last 14 games to bring her season average to a team-best 7.1.
• UNCP has held two of its last three opponents to 50 points or fewer, including a season-low 49 points to USC Aiken on Wednesday. After allowing five of six foes to shoot at least 41.8 percent from the floor from Jan. 20-Feb. 7, the Braves held Young Harris and USC Aiken to a combined 29.3 percent shooting clip. 
• UNCP and Clayton State have met five 27 times in school history, dating back to the first meeting in 1998. The Lakers lead the all-time series 18-9 and have claimed three of the last four meetings overall and six straight in Morrow. The last UNCP road win in the series came Jan. 14, 2006. 

ABOUT CLAYTON STATE

• The Lakers (13-12, 10-9 PBC) saw a five-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday night with a 66-54 setback to No. 21 North Georgia in the final women's game inside Memorial Hall in Dahlonega. The Nighthawks used a 13-6 run early in the fourth quarter to take a 52-41 lead and Clayton State never got closer than six the rest of the way.
• The last two Clayton State losses have both come at the hands of North Georgia, as the Lakers last setback prior to Wednesday was a 70-65 loss to the Nighthawks at home om Jan. 29. Four of the Lakers' five wins from Jan. 31-Feb. 12 came by four points of fewer, with the only blowout coming Feb. 12 in a 64-49 defeat of Augusta.
• Saturday will serve as homecoming for Clayton State at the Loch, where the Lakers are 7-4 this season, but just 2-3 in their last five games in Morrow. Clayton State averages 67.5 points at home and 62.6 points on the road.
• Clayton State's relentless full-court press leads to 12.8 steals per game, which ranks second in the PBC, and the Lakers limit opponents to just 27.5 percent shooting from behind the arc, which also slots second in the league. The Lakers' struggle to shoot the 3-ball themselves and rank in the bottom two of the conference in both 3-pointers made per game (3.9) and 3-point percentage (24.1). Clayton State turns the ball over a PBC-high 18.8 times per game.
• Abreyln Rackley leads all Lakers with 12.2 points per game and the senior had scored at least 11 points in seven-straight outings before an eight-point performance on Wednesday against North Georgia. Rackley also leads the team with 7.1 boards per tilt and has a trio of double-doubles this season. Junior Aysia Grimsley pours in 10.1 points per game and had a team-high 17 when the Lakers played in Pembroke earlier this season. 

 

#18 UNC Pembroke Men (21-4, 17-2 PBC) at Clayton State (18-5, 16-3 PBC)
Date & Tip Time	Saturday, February 24 at 5:30 p.m. ET
Location	Morrow, Ga. | Athletics & Fitness Center
Live Statistics	SIDEARM Sports
Audio	UNCP Sports Network
Peach Belt Conference	Men's Basketball

 
MEN'S NOTES

• The Braves (21-4, 17-2 PBC) stretched their win streak out to seven games with an 86-74 home victory over USC Aiken on Wednesday in Pembroke. UNCP held the Pacers to their lowest shooting percentage (37.9) in nearly two months, and used a 10-3 run in the second half to pull away for good.
• UNCP has now captured 31 of its last 36 outings dating back to an 82-62 home victory over Flagler on Feb. 1, 2017. That span includes a 16-1 mark at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court, as well as a 27-2 clip against Peach Belt Conference opponents (24-2 inside league play).
• UNCP has shot nearly 49 percent from the field and averaged 81.9 points per game in its previous 12 road games this season, while five players are averaging 10.0 points per game or better away from Pembroke in 2017-18. The Braves are also registering 7.8 steals and 6.3 blocks in road outings this season, while holding opponents to 74.2 points per game.
• The Braves have won eight-straight games in the state of Georgia dating back to a 77-72 victory at Augusta on Feb. 4, 2017. UNCP has also won 15 of its last 19 games away from home, including a 9-3 clip in road games this season.
• Having already amassed 1,622 career points, senior Brandon Watts needs just one more point this season to tie former all-conference standout Shahmel Brackett (2009-13) for fifth place on UNCP's all-time scoring list. Watts needs 51 more points this season to pass UNCP Hall of Famer Rosendo Bryden (1992-96) for third place on that chart.
• The Black & Gold will enter the weekend sporting the league's best field goal percentage defense (40.1 percent), while also pacing the PBC in rebounding margin (+7.3) and blocked shots per game (7.0). UNCP has held 13 opponents to sub-40 percent shooting this season, and has out-rebounded 20 opponents in 2017-18 as well. The Braves have also registered seven or more blocks in 14 outings, including four double-digit swat attacks.
• The Braves are just 7-21 against the Lakers in a series that dates all the way back to the 1979-80 campaign, but UNCP has won four of the last five matchups. The Black & Gold is just 1-10 in the Athletics & Fitness Center, with its lone triumph coming in the form of a 78-73 victory on Jan. 9, 2013. That win snapped a nine-game road losing streak in the series for UNCP.
  
  ABOUT CLAYTON STATE
• The Lakers (18-5, 16-3 PBC) have won a PBC-best nine-straight games after Wednesday's 26-point rout at North Georgia. A tie game at the half, Clayton State used a 23-6 run in the second half to pull away for good.
• Clayton State last tasted a loss back on January 20 when they dropped an 85-65 contest against the Braves at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. Since that setback, the Lakers are a perfect 9-0 and are outscoring opponents by an average of nearly 14 points per game (88.0-74.2). That stretch includes five wins away from Morrow, Ga., as well as a perfect 4-0 clip inside the Athletics & Fitness Center.
• The Lakers showcase the league's top scoring team (82.7 points/game), as well as the PBC's top 3-point (40.6 percent) and free throw-shooting (73.3) club. Clayton State trails just the Braves in rebounding margin (+5.0), and have held opponents to just 75.0 points an outing (3^rd PBC) this season as well.
• Clayton State will be without the services of leading scorer Denzel Council for the remainder of the 2017-18 season, but have done just fine without him. Over the last nine games without Council, four Lakers are averaging 12.4 points per game or better, including Jaylen Taylor (16.2 points/game) and Nathan Powell (15.7) who have combined for 31.9 points an outing. The duo has also combined for 18.2 rebounds per game over that stretch as well.