2008-09 Media Guide
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Clayton State women open 2009-10 season with
much-anticipated exhibition at Georgia
Lakers face Lady Dogs for the first time in program history

MORROW, Ga. – November 6, 2009 – Two years ago, the Clayton State Laker men’s basketball team received the opportunity of a lifetime in getting to play Georgia in a preseason exhibition game to open the season. This Sunday, it is the Clayton State Laker women’s basketball team turn to make the trek up to Athens.

Fresh off advancing to the NCAA Division II "Elite Eight" for the second time in the last three seasons, Clayton State will open the 2009-10 season at Southeastern Conference elite power Georgia. Game time is 2:30 p.m. at Georgia’s Stegeman Coliseum.

"This gives our program a lot of exposure," said Clayton State head coach Dennis Cox, 125-37 entering his sixth season at the Laker helm. "This is what every player has dreamed of since they were kids – playing at the highest level. This is Georgia – an elite program in the elite conference in Division I."

Granted, this is not the first time Clayton State has opened with an exhibition against a Division I program. The Lakers have played neighboring Georgia State three times, knocking off the Panthers 86-71 to open the 2006-07 season.

However, this is the first time Clayton State will step foot on the floor against head coach Andy Landers’ Lady Bulldogs, a long-time power both in the SEC and throughout the nation. Georgia is a program that was NCAA runner-up in 1985 and 1996, and has advanced to five "Final Fours", 10 "Elite Eights" and 16 "Sweet 16s" since Landers took over in 1979.

The Lady Bulldogs return seven players off last season’s 18-14 squad that advanced to the NCAA Division I National Tournament. Senior point guard Ashley Houts and senior center Angel Robinson were both selected preseason first team All-SEC, while junior forward Porsha Phillips was selected preseason second team All-SEC.

Clayton State will have to contend with Georgia’s tremendous size. The Lady Bulldogs have eight players standing 6-foot or taller, paced by the 6-5 Robinson who averaged 12 points and nine rebounds a game last season and shot 56 percent from the field.

"They will be bigger than us in each position, and those two players (Houts and Robinson) are both tremendous," Cox said. "What I want to get out of it is us helping them as much as they are helping us. That means we were able to compete and make them execute and work to get things done."

Clayton State returns two starters and five letterwinners total off last season’s 26-7 squad. In addition, Cox has brought in a tremendous recruiting class of seven newcomers, paced by senior forward LaDe’Sha Stoudamire (a transfer from Arkansas State), and stellar JUCO transfers in center Breanna Fort, forward Teshymia Tillman and guards Latonda Bruce and Genesis Kelly.