The regular season for women’s basketball ended with a bang on Friday, Feb. 27 versus West Georgia. After 38 lead changes, 22 ties and four overtimes on their senior night, the Lions defeated the Wolves 118-107.
The Atlantic Sun tournament will take place March 3-9 — the Lions’ final stretch before they can rest for the off-season. Round one of the tournament will take place on campus sites, while the proceeding rounds will be in Jacksonville, Fla., at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. This will be the ASUN’s first year of “The Destination.”
The multi-year agreement brings all boys and girls from the conference to play on a neutral site, where 24 teams compete in 22 games within seven days. ASUN commissioner Jeff Bacon believes this will elevate the basketball experience for fans and, more importantly, athletes.
“We’ve got great environments on our campuses. There’s probably some fans that aren’t gonna be thrilled to lose the opportunity to watch those games in their own gyms in that kind of atmosphere and I get it,” Bacon said. “That’s one of the consequences that comes along with this. But at the end of the day, it was an opportunity to bring both of our tournaments together, our men and our women, and provide the same exact experience for both in an incredible venue.”
The Lady Lions hold a 16-13 overall record and an 11-7 conference record, ranking North Alabama sixth out of twelve. In an ASUN pre-season poll, the media and coaches voted for the Lions to hold this rank.
Head Coach Candi Whitaker describes the team’s growth this season.
“It feels like two different sessions to be honest, how much we’ve evolved. That’s always the fun part for me,” she said. “Every year is different, and I’m just really proud of this team — figuring out ways to win and having great resiliency to overcome a lot of injuries [with] a very short bench playing a lot of minutes. But we’ve found a level of toughness about us that I’m super proud of.”
The season came to an end last year after the Lions suffered a loss in the quarterfinals of the ASUN tournament. They played Lipscomb with a final score of 64-73. While in this conference, women’s basketball at UNA has not advanced past the quarterfinals since the 2019-2020 season.
