Southwest Women's Basketball Team Opens 2013-2014 Season

The Southwest women's basketball team will open the 2013-2014 season on November 8 against conference rival Chattanooga State at the Verties Sails Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Head Coach Andrea Martre, now in her 17th season at Southwest, returns three starters and two reserves from last season's squad that was a third-place regular season finisher in the TCCAA. Sophomores Tatiana Allen, Angela Hardy and Matoria Henley each started the majority of the games as freshmen last season. Allen, a 5'10" guard/forward, started 26 of the team's 27 games last season, averaging 6.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Hardy, a 6'0" forward, started 19 games as a freshman, averaging 3.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Henley started 17 games, averaging 5.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

Also coming back are 5'2" guard Kadajae Blayde, who averaged 1.9 points and was second on the team with 2.1 assists per game, and 5'8" guard Dominique Malone, one of the Lady Saluqis' top long range shooters, who averaged 4.9 points per game, and was second on the team, with 26 three-point field goals made.

Joining this talented group of sophomores, are three JUCO transfers and a good freshman class. “They bring a lot of energy, size and quickness to the perimeter," said Martre. “They will help our up-tempo style of play for pressing, trapping and fearless play." Transferring to Southwest for their sophomore seasons are 5'3" point guard Ajee Smith, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, who played her freshman season at Miami-Dade College; 5'11" forward Monique Howard from Detroit, Michigan, who was a teammate of Smith last season at Miami-Dade; and Lashaundra Rice, a 5'4" guard from Nashville, who played her freshman season at TCCAA rival Motlow State Community College.

The freshmen class includes two players who come to Southwest from Blytheville, Arkansas, in 5'7" guard Kemahri Soward (Gosnell High School) and 5'5" guard Iesha Humphrey (Blytheville High School). Four talented local players complete the class. They are 5'11" guard/forward Keoshia McGhee (Douglass High School), 5'10" guard/forward Erica Shipp (Hamilton High School), 5'7" guard Demi Watts (Memphis Business Academy), and 5'11" forward Brandi Whitaker (Bishop Byrne High School). In addition, the Lady Saluqi coaching staff has a new member in Rashard Thurston ,who came to Southwest from Northeastern University.

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Photo caption: 2013-2014 Southwest Women's Basketball Team