Photos courtesy of UNCP Sports Information
The Lady Braves hope to make a run at the 2008 Peach Belt Conference
tournament in Aiken, S.C., led by Victoria Willis, left, Ivy Ramsey and Natalie Ray.

Lady Braves aim for conference title

By Brad Crawford
Sports Editor

Will the 2007-2008 season be the year head coach John Haskins and the Lady Braves bring a Peach Belt Conference championship to Pembroke?

Led by senior floor general, Victoria Willis, who returns with a knack for finding the open player, will be looking for fellow senior, Ivy Ramsey floating around the perimeter.

For most of last season, the sharp shooting Ramsey led the Peach Belt Conference in 3-point percentage with a nearly 45 percent success rate.

Peach Belt title run perhaps?
The Lady Braves look to improve upon last season’s 13-15 record, losing a number of highly contested, close ballgames.

After exiting the 2006-2007 Peach Belt Conference tournament in the first round with an upset loss to Georgia College, this year’s Lady Braves squad has all the right ingredients to contend for a PBC championship.

UNCP will have to score inside without the prescence of last season’s leading scorer Natasha Stotler and shot-blocker Sharkeysha Midgette, who were both lost to graduation.

Junior forward Natalie Ray is more than capable of filling the void left by Midgette and Stotler in the middle along with Jamaisha Ward and Mallory Wegmann.

Ray displayed flashes of greatness in limited playing time last season, registering four double-doubles for the Black and Gold.

New Faces
With seven true freshman on UNCP’s 2007-2008 roster, first-year Lady Braves’ must learn to adapt quickly to the quick and fast-paced collegiate game.

Redshirt-freshman guard Chevoya Jackson, a Goldsboro native, joins the Black and Gold as a transfer from Old Dominion and looks to provide quality minutes early for the Lady Braves as they open at Fayetteville State.