AASU Hosts 2007 Chatham Orthopedics Holiday Classic

The men’s field features the Pirates (3-2) and fellow Peach Belt Conference school Columbus State (3-5) facing off against two teams who are receiving votes in the latest NABC Division II Coaches’ Top 25 poll - West Georgia (6-2) and region foe Lenoir-Rhyne (5-1).

Lenoir-Rhyne and Columbus State will meet on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., while the Pirates will face the Wolves at 8:00 p.m. in a rematch of an earlier contest this season – in Carrollton, Ga., West Georgia held off the Pirates, 72-70. Wednesday, the Wolves will face Columbus State at 3:00 p.m., while the Pirates will take on the Bears at 8:00 p.m. AASU and Lenoir-Rhyne have met in the Classic each year since 1998 and the Pirates own a 7-2 record over the Bears in those contests, including a 71-68 win last year.

Individually, AASU senior Patrick Sanou looks to continue his strong play in the early going this season as he leads the Pirates in scoring (15.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.6 rpg), while senior Jamaal Galloway continues his assault on the all-time Peach Belt three-point shooting record. Galloway has connected on 212 threes, just one shy of Louis McCullough (FMU) for seventh all-time in league history. Columbus State is led by USC Upstate transfer Daniel Quinlan, who averages 13 points per game. West Georgia is led by senior guard Terrence Hundley, who averages 18.1 points per game, while the Bears are led by the scoring duo of junior Josh Rudder and senior Reggie Bratton, who each are averaging 16.5 points per game.

The women’s side of the tournament features the Lady Pirates (5-2), Concord (4-1) from West Virginia, Queens (0-7) from Charlotte, N.C., and Mars Hill (4-2). The Mountain Lions will take on Mars Hill at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, while host AASU will face Queens at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, the action flips with Concord taking on Queens at 1:00 p.m., then the Lady Pirates facing Mars Hill at 6:00 p.m.

WBCA All-America senior Kaneetha Gordon leads the Lady Pirates, averaging a team-best 13.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. The PBC’s Player of the Week for Dec. 3, Gordon recently became just the fifth player in Peach Belt history to record 900 career rebounds. Concord is led by senior center Samm Nester’s 14.4 points per game, while Mars Hill’s potent offensive attack is directed by Jessica Blanford’s 15.5 points per game and 50.7 percent shooting from the field, including 57 percent from three-point range. Queens will be searching for its first win of the season behind the scoring punch of sophomore Jacquia Winstead’s 10.3 points per game.

Fans can follow along with all the action this weekend with live statistics of all the games and webcasts of the AASU contests at the official website of the 2007 Chatham Orthopedics Holiday Classic at http://www.athletics.armstrong.edu/basketball/bk2007classic.html .