>Opponent: 
Salem at Meredith | January 25 | Raleigh, N.C. | Weatherspoon Athletic Center | 2 p.m. 

>AVENGING ANGELS AWAIT SALEM ON SATURDAY
After having its mid-week game versus N.C. Wesleyan postponed, the Salem basketball team will return to the court at Meredith on Saturday afternoon in Raleigh. The Spirits are in search of their first win under head coach Danielle Dawson and have endured seven road contests entering Saturday. 

>FOURTH QUARTER PUSHES WPU PAST SALEM 
William Peace scored 24 points in the final frame, finishing with seven field goals along the way, to close out a 63-56 win over Salem when the two teams clashed at Varsity Gym on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, the Spirits countered with four players in double figures, including Cree Bass (13), Amy Pedroza (12), Nicole Hester (10) and Anayah Noell (10). 

Salem finished the day by knocking down 17-of-51 (33.3%) from the floor, including two from beyond the arc, while the Pacers were 24-of-65 (36.9%) from the field and converted six 3-pointers along the way. The biggest difference came at the charity stripe, where Salem was 20-of-25 (80%) and William Peace knocked down 9-of-12 (75%). 

Hester narrowly missed her seventh double-double of the season, closing with nine rebounds (six defensive) to go along with her 10 points. Bass contributed the most field goals (five), while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists, in 30 minutes off the bench. Pedroza capped off her afternoon with 12 points, six assists and two steals. 

Another major contributor for Salem was Jade Ware, who tallied nine points, dished out a game-high seven assists and hauled in seven rebounds for the Spirits. Ware collected five of her points at the free throw line.

>HESTER MOVES HER DOUBLE-DOUBLE TALLY TO SIX IN 2024-25
With her sixth double-double of the 2024-25 campaign, Nicole Hester became the first Spirit since Sabrina Shepherd to notch six double doubles in a single season. 

Hester began a stretch of five straight double-double performances with a 15-point, 10-rebound outing at Methodist on December 17th. By virtue of that stretch, Hester is the first player since Shepherd to notch at least six double doubles in a season since the 2017-18 campaign. 

In 2017-18, Shepherd came through with double-double outings against Penn State-Altoona (23 pts. / 10 rebs), Meredith (21 / 10), N.C. Wesleyan (25 / 15), N.C. Wesleyan (32 / 11), Pfeiffer (20 / 13) and Greensboro (15 / 10). 

Hester now has six double-double outings for Salem this season, including her first double-double of the season (12 points / 12 rebounds), which came against Pfeiffer (November 26). After her 15-point, 15-rebound performance on December 17th against Methodist, she had double-double outings versus Meredith (15 points / 15 rebounds), Sewanee (25 / 14), William Peace (19 / 17) and Greensboro (19 / 16) in succession. 

The most single-season double-double outings for a Spirit in program history is 18, which was by Quntashea Lewis in the 2015-16 season. Lewis closed her career with a program record 32 double-double performances.
 

		Points	Rebounds
vs. Penn State-Altoona	Friday, November 17, 2017	23	10
vs. Meredith	Sunday, November 26, 2017	21	10
vs. N.C. Wesleyan	Sunday, January 7, 2018	25	15
at N.C. Wesleyan	Saturday, January 20, 2018	32	11
at Pfeiffer	Wednesday, January 31, 2018	20	13
at Greensboro	Wednesday, February 7, 2018	15	10

 

		Points	Rebounds
vs. Virginia Wesleyan	Tuesday, November 17, 2015	22	19
at William Peace	Friday, November 20, 2015	13	16
vs. Mid-Atlantic Christian	Saturday, November 21, 2015	24	15
vs. Piedmont	Saturday, December 5, 2015	27	19
vs. Hollins	Monday, December 7, 2015	22	17
vs. Hanover	Tuesday, December 29, 2015	18	16
vs. Centre	Wednesday, December 30, 2015	14	12
at Averett	Monday, January 4, 2016	21	10
vs. William Peace	Wednesday, January 6, 2016	24	20
vs. Warren Wilson	Thursday, February 4, 2016	22	15
vs. Wesleyan (Ga.)	Saturday, February 6, 2016	21	15
vs. Mary Baldwin	Tuesday, February 9, 2016	26	19
at Washington Adventist	Saturday, February 13, 2016	25	13
at Wesleyan (Ga.)	Friday, February 19, 2016	31	28
at Agnes Scott	Saturday, February 20, 2016	20	11
vs. Wesleyan (Ga.)	Friday, February 26, 2016	28	13
at Pine Manor	Saturday, February 27, 2016	25	13
at Santa Cruz	Sunday, February 28, 2016	24	11

>ANALYZING THE LINEUP
Not only has Nicole Hester placed herself among the tops in the lineup in double doubles, she has also become the team leader in 10 major statistical categories, including field goals made (59), field goal percentage (.461), free throws made (39), free throws attempted (67), points (157), points per game (13.1), offensive rebounds (49), defensive rebounds (77), total rebounds (126) and blocks (19).  

Teammate Amy Pedroza moved her double-digit scoring streak to four straight with a recent 12-point outing against William Peace on January 18th. Pedroza has knocked down 16-of-45 (35.6%) from the field during this stretch, converting 19-of-24 (79.2%) at the charity stripe. 

With that surge, Pedroza has ascended to second on the team in scoring (129 points) and is second to Hester in made field goals with 43. Pedroza is tied with Cree Bass in 3-point field goals converted with 14. She is one of three Salem players this season hitting at least 70 percent from the charity stripe, trailing only Anayah Noell (79.4%) on the team. 

Fifth-year senior Cree Bass is third on the team in scoring with 93 points, hitting 33-of-112 from the field and 14-of-48 from beyond the arc. Bass has reached double figures in six contests for Salem, including a pair of double-digit outings against Southern Virginia (12) and William Peace (13) since returning to the team following a concussion. 

>NOELL SEIZING HER OPPORTUNITY
One player in particular that has taken advantage of the opportunity to see more time on the court has been Anayah Noell. 

Since returning from winter break on December 31st, Noell has reached double figures in four of the last six games for the Spirits, scoring 10 points against William Peace (January 7), Greensboro (January 10) and William Peace (January 18) along with a single-game season-high 13 points in a 40-minute performance against Meredith (December 31). 

Noell is averaging 7.8 points per game, coming through with a team-best free throw percentage as she has converted 27-of-34 at the charity stripe. She has also managed to mix it up with players in the paint, hauling in 51 rebounds, second-most on the Salem team. 

>SCOUTING REPORT: MEREDITH
Meredith, which claimed the first game of the head-to-head series this season by a 64-55 margin, is 4-11 overall and 2-6 in the USA South Conference. The Avenging Angels are 1-4 at home in 2024-25 with the lone win coming over Warren Wilson by a 70-51 margin on November 30th. 

January has been a difficult month for Meredith, which is boasting just a 1-5 record entering Saturday's clash. The lone victory came at Greensboro by a 60-46 margin. 

Four Avenging Angels have topped the century mark this season, including Pam Mock, who leads the team in scoring with 185 points (12.3 ppg). Mock has knocked down 73-of-193 from the floor and is successful in 38-of-59 attempts at the free throw line. She is also third on the unit in rebounds (82), hauling in 54 on the defensive glass, while leading the way in steals with 26. 

Rylie Wade leads all Meredith players in rebounds with 178, while Danae Hawkins' 22 assists is the most on the lineup.