GREAT FALLS, Mont. – With a perfect 7-0 record, the best in program history, Lady Argo basketball will get its first real test of the season, playing two other ranked teams in the 2016 Jackson Rotary Classic. The tournament, held in Jackson, Tennessee, features 13 members of the NAIA's Top 25 Coaches Poll, including the top four teams in the country.
Neither of UGF's opponents ranked quite that high, but the (18) Lady Argos will be taking on (21) Talladega (Ala.) and (10) Bethel (Tenn.). Those will be UGF's first games of the season against ranked teams, although Great Falls did get a good warm up against quality opponents with exhibition games against NCAA Div. I University of Montana and Montana State University the week prior.
Game 1 for UGF will be against the Talladega Tornadoes at 7:30 a.m. MT on Friday, November 25. The Tornadoes enter the contest a 7-4 record but those four losses came at the hands of two ranked teams. Two of those losses were close battles against (23) Cumberland University, while the other two were to (4) Campbellsville University.
Already battle tested, Talladega leads the NAIA in total offensive rebounds (451) and boasts the NAIA's scoring leader in senior forward Tajanee Wells (225 total points). UGF will have its hands full trying to stop Wells, who averages just over 20 points per game and its shooting just below 45 percent from the field.
Bethel creates a different kind of problem. The Wildcats are a defensive minded team that currently ranks 12th in the NAIA in scoring defense (54 ppg). Despite the strong defense, Bethel has already lost three games with a record of 2-3, but two of those losses came at the hands of (8) Freed-Hardeman.
Like Bethel, UGF has also made defense a priority and are one of the few teams that rank ahead of the Wildcats in scoring defense at 9th in the country (53.4 ppg). The two teams will tip off at 6 p.m. MT on November 26.
Both games can be watched through Campbellsville University's
live streaming. Live stats are also available through
Dakstats.
