NICEVILLE, FLA. — The inaugural Emerald Coast Classic women’s basketball tournament gets underway this Monday at Raider Arena on the Northwest Florida State campus with nationally ranked Alabama headlining the eight-team field.
Championships will be determined in two brackets. Alabama, Alabama State, Clemson and UAB will play in the Bay Bracket. Creighton, Missouri, Syracuse and Wichita State comprise the Beach Bracket.
Clemson will face UAB in a semifinal round game at 11 a.m.Monday, while Alabama will play Alabama State at 1:30 p.m. The third-place game will be played at 11 a.m. Tuesday with the championship game scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. tip off Tuesday.
Opening round games in the Beach Bracket on that Monday features Syracuse against Missouri in a 5 p.m. tip with Wichita State playing Creighton at 7:30 p.m. The third-place game will start at 5 p.m. Tuesday with the championship game slated for 7:30 p.m.
Alabama, Creighton and Syracuse all advanced to the second round of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Syracuse and Creighton were ranked Nos. 20 and 23, respectively, in the final Associated Press women’s basketball poll.
Alabama is ranked No. 24 in the latest Associated Press poll, bringing a 6-0 record into the tournament.
Fans will be treated to two of the top women’s college basketball players in the nation with Creighton senior Lauren Jensen and Alabama guard Sarah Ashlee Barker being named to the 2024-25 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year Watch List.
Jensen paced Creighton with a 17.4 scoring average, to go with 98 assists and 27 steals last year. She earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors each of the last two seasons and has surpassed the 1,000 career point mark at Creighton in less than three years.
Barker was named Preseason First Team All-SEC List in both the Coaches and Media polls. Barker led the Crimson Tide in scoring last season, averaging 16.6 points on her way to earning first team All-SEC accolades.
Here’s a rundown of the participating teams in the tournament.
Alabama – Bay Bracket
This marks the second straight year Alabama has opened the season with a 6-0 record. The Crimson Tide have manhandled opponents with an average scoring margin of 28.7 points.
Kristy Curry, in her 12th year as head coach at Alabama, has led her teams to three straight 20-plus win seasons. The Tide returns eight veterans from last season’s NCAA Tournament appearance and welcomes six newcomers.
Alabama was picked to finish fifth in the SEC Coaches Preseason Poll, while Sarah Ashlee Barker and Aaliyah Nye both earned preseason honors (Barker, First-Team All-SEC; Nye, Second Team All-SEC). Barker leads Alabama with an 18.7 scoring average and 7.5 rebounding average.
Nye is averaging 15.0 points, while making a team-high 26 three-point baskets. Nye set a school single-season record for most three-point baskets (108) last year. Six-foot 4-inch forward Essence Cody, named to 2023-24 All-SEC Freshman Team, is averaging 10.7 points, while leading the team with 16 blocked shots.
Alabama State – Bay Bracket
Alabama State’s Cordasia Harris was selected to the preseason All-SWAC first-team. Harris averaged a team-high 12.5 points last year while leading the SWAC in field goal percentage, shooting 53 percent from the floor, and ranking second in blocked shots (2.0 avg.) and third in rebounding (8.6 avg.).
Harris has picked up where she left off last season averaging 13.0 points and 10.0 rebounds. She opened the season with 20 points and 21 points in victories past Faulkner and Stillman.
Returning starting guard Solangelei Arkridge averages 8.3 points.
Freda Freeman-Jackson is in her 26h season as head coach at Alabama State with a resume that includes three SWAC Tournament titles, three SWAC regular season titles, three trips to the NCAA Tournament and one WNIT berth.
The Lady Hornets will bring a 2-2 record into the tournament coming off road losses to Mississippi State and Virginia.
Clemson – Bay Bracket
Clemson, under first-year Head Coach Shawn Poppie, brings a 3-1 record into the tournament with the lone loss to top-ranked South Carolina.
Poppie led Chattanooga to back-to-back Southern Conference championships, accumulating a 48-18 overall record.
Poppie brought 11 newcomers to this season’s Tiger team. Among the incoming players is point guard Loyal McQueen. after spending two years at Georgia Tech and Alabama, respectively. She has played on teams that have won NCAA Tournament games and has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. McQueen leads the Tigers in scoring at 16.8 points and assists (5.0 avg.)
Guard Mia Moore also transferred after averaging 15 points and 9.0 rebounds at UAB. Moore, who is averaging 12.3 points, leads the team with a 7.8 rebounding average. Senior forward Tessa Miller, a transfer from Belmont, is averaging 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds.
The Tigers lead the NCAA in free throw percentage (.879) and rank seventh in the nation in scoring defense (46.8).
Creighton – Beach Bracket
In the midst of his 23rd season, Creighton’s Jim Flanery will coach his 700th game against Wichita State Monday.
The Bluejays opened the season with four consecutive games against NCAA Tournament opponents concluding against Nebraska Friday.
Creighton has five returning fifth-year players—Mallory Brake, Jayme Horan, Lauren Jensen, Morgan Maly and Molly Mogensen — along with graduate transfers Sydney Golladay and Brooke Littrell. Combined the seven fifth-year players have played 811 with 494 starts.
Jensen and Maly, both two-time Big East Conference first team selections, pace Creighton with scoring averages of 21.3 and 15.3, respectively. Jensen scored a career-high 32 points, including six treys, while collecting a career-high 10 rebounds in an 80-72 home win against Drake.
The BlueJays were picked to finish second in the preseason Big East Conference preseason poll.
Missouri – Beach Bracket
Missouri is one of the top perimeter shooting teams in the NCAA this season, averaging nearly eight three-point baskets a game, while shooting 42 percent beyond the arc.
Missouri returns nine players from last year’s squad headlined by sophomore guard Grace Slaughter, the 2023 McDonald’s All-American and Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year. She finished fourth among league freshmen averaging 11.5 points while being named to the 2023-24 All-SEC Freshman Team member,
Junior guard Ashton Judd, a 2022-23 all-conference freshman team member, also is back after averaging 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds last season.
The Tigers have welcomed the return of sophomore redshirt guard
Abbey Schreacke who missed the entire 2023-24 season because of an injury. She ranks among the nation’s leaders in three-point shooting, averaging 4.0 three-point baskets per game. She led the Tigers with 19 points, notching five triples, in a 112-59 romp past Saint Louis.
Robin Pingeton, in her 15th season as head coach at Missouri, is one of 28 active Division I head coaches with 500-plus career wins. She has led Missouri to four NCAA tournament appearances and 10 postseason appearances.
Syracuse – Beach Bracket
Led by third-year head coach Felisha Legette-Jack, the Orange return starters Georgia Woolley and Kyra Wood, who helped propel Syracuse to the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Wooley, a senior guard, leads the team with a 17.2 scoring average followed by Wood, a 6-3 senior forward, who is averaging 12.4 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the floor.
The Orange added five newcomers this year, including transfers Angelica Velez (LSU) and Journey Thompson (Arizona State). Freshmen Keira Scott, Olivia Schmitt and Shy Hawkins look to make an immediate impact this year while the return of fifth-year guard Dominique Camp gives Orange fans something to be excited about. Camp missed the entire 2023-24 season after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the long preseason game for the Orange.
The Orange finished out their five-game season-opening home stand against Albany with a season-high 23-point performance by Wooley.
UAB – Bay Bracket
Randy Norton is just two wins shy of 200 during his 12 years as head coach at UAB. Last season he led the Blazers to its fifth WNIT appearance which marked the fourth appearance for UAB under Norton.
UAB returns nine players from last year’s team that finished 18-14 overall and have added five new faces to the roster.
Graduate guard Maddie Walsh is the Blazers leading scorer from last season at 10.2 points per game.
But sophomore forward Jade Weathersby has made her presence known, ranking third in the NCAA with three double-doubles. Weathersby had 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against Jacksonville State last Wednesday.
Junior guard Journey Armstead is averaging 11.5 points, while shooting 52.8 percent from the floor.
Wichita State – Beach Bracket
The Shockers’ 2-3 record is deceiving.
In its final tuneup before the Emerald Coast Classic Wichita State held No. 9 ranked Oklahoma 18 points below its season average of 97, while forcing 24 Sooner turnovers.
Second-year coach Terry Nooner has nine newcomers led by George Mason transfer Taylor Jameson who came home for her final season of collegiate basketball.
Jameson is averaging a team-high 13.4 points while leading the team with 10 treys and 20 assists. Jameson put up 18 points, 6 assists and 4 steals, hitting three three pointers for the second-straight game, including a half court buzzer beater to lead the Shockers to a 69-64 win over St. Thomas.
Sophomore guard Salese Blow is averaging 9.8 points, while forward Jayla Murray is averaging 9.0 points along with a team-high 6.2 rebounding average.
