Huntingdon women’s basketball opens season at Mississippi College

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women's basketball team turned in one of the program's best seasons last year. The Lady Hawks hope to continue building off of that success this season.

Huntingdon opens the season this weekend at Mississippi College in the Zaxby's Coaches vs. Cancer tournament. The Lady Hawks play Mississippi College on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and face Howard Payne on Saturday at 1 p.m.

"We're facing two very good teams this weekend," Huntingdon women's basketball coach Buzz Phillips said. "Both Mississippi College and Howard Payne are receiving recognition in the national rankings. That's not the kind of competition you normally start the season with, but it will be a good test for us.

"We're excited to get the season started. We have a good mixture of returning players and newcomers who we think are to going to help the team."

The Lady Hawks finished with a 16-11 record last season and reached the Great South Athletic Conference semifinals for the first time since 2009. Only two other Huntingdon women's basketball teams have won 16 games in a season.

The Lady Hawks return 14 players from last season, including four starters and seven players that saw action in at least 15 games. Four freshmen round out the team.

Among the returning players are three of the top four scorers from last season (Morgan Crawford, Raven Prater and Patricia Pickens) and three of the top four rebounders (Tanjanik Munford, Jodi Montalvo and Pickens).

Crawford, an All-Conference selection last season, is one of three seniors on the squad along with Devin Douglas and Tristiana Mays.