Opponent:
William Peace at Salem | Winston-Salem, N.C. | 2 p.m. | February 10 | Varsity Gym | Senior Day

TWO-GAME WEEK CONCLUDES AGAINST WILLIAM PEACE
Salem will host its 2023-24 home regular season finale on Saturday, February 10th, when William Peace comes to the Triad. The game will serve as Senior Day for the quartet of Cree Bass, Natasha Guo, Alize Munn and Dionne Sampson.

The Spirits have the chance to sweep the regular season series with William Peace for the first time in program history. William Peace forfeited both games to Salem a season ago due to injuries.

SALEM FACES DIFFICULT SHOOTING PERFORMANCE VERSUS SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Emma Camden scored a game-high 18 points and was one of three Southern Virginia players to reach double figures as the Knights earned a 94-37 victory over Salem at the Knight Arena in Buena Vista, Va.

Salem's offense, which struggled throughout the course of the game, was led by Dionne Sampson. Sampson closed with 11 points, hitting four field goals and 3-of-5 at the charity stripe, ran her double-digit scoring streak to 13 straight games.

Teammate Nykerah Engle finished the game with seven points, knocking down 2-of-4 from the field, while Ti'Erra Lee emerged with five points and two rebounds. Aliyah Corpening came off the bench to contribute six points for the Spirits.

NEWEST MEMBER OF THE CLUB
With a 10-point performance against Pfeiffer last week, Dionne Sampson now etched her name among Salem basketball's elite scorers by becoming the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Sampson, who reached the milestone in the second quarter against the Falcons, joined Sabrina Shepherd (1,493), Quntashea Lewis (1,208) and MiKayla Seivers (1,126) as the only players in program history with 1,000 points.

With three regular season contests remaining and one USA South Conference Tournament contest for Salem, Sampson needs just 84 points to tie Seivers for third-most points in school history.

HOW SAMPSON REACHED 1,000 IN 2023-24
This season, Sampson has reached the 20-point plateau on six occasions. The first two came with a 25-point effort against Brevard (Dec. 2) and a 21-point outing versus Ferrum (Dec. 15).

Sampson notched back-to-back 20-point games on January 6th and January 10th and sparked the Spirits to consecutive wins along the way. She capped off January with three 20-point outings, the most of any one month this season.

She came through with 27 points against Greensboro, as Salem claimed the second league victory of the season. Four days later, Sampson scored 24 points at William Peace in the 12-point Spirits' victory. The Burlington, N.C., native delivered her fifth 20-point outing of 2023-24 against Meredith on January 23rd, when she converted 8-of-14 from the floor and 3-of-4 at the free throw line in a 22-point performance.

Sampson's most recent 20-point outing came when her team needed her the most—in a clash with Mary Baldwin on Saturday, February 3rd. She finished 8-of-22 from the floor, converting a trio of 3-pointers along the way, and knocked down 5-of-8 at the charity stripe to tally 24 points against the Fighting Squirrels. The eight-point win helped Salem earn its fourth league win of the campaign and put the Spirits in a three-way tie alongside William Peace and Pfeiffer for seventh in the USA South Conference Tournament.

Sampson has notched at least 20 points on 10 occasions in her Salem career, including a career-best 30, which came against William Peace on February 12, 2022. Last season, Sampson also delivered three 20-point scoring efforts, which came against Mary Baldwin (22 | Jan. 25), Meredith (24 | Feb. 11) and Greensboro (21 | Feb. 21).

REFLECTING ON THE 2023-24 SENIOR CLASS
The quartet of Cree Bass, Natasha Guo, Alize Munn and Dionne Sampson make their final regular season appearance at Varsity Gym on Saturday, February 10th against William Peace. The combined for 15 wins and will make its second appearance in the USA South Conference Tournament at the completion of regular season play. Furthermore, the four were part of Salem basketball history as the first team to ever start a season by winning the first five games.

Bass Career Capsule: A two-sport athlete that also competes for the Salem softball team, she enters her final home basketball game with 524 points, 187 field goals, 88 3-point field goals and 62 free throws to her credit. She ranks 15th in program history in career points and fifth in Salem basketball history in made 3-pointers with three games left on the regular season schedule.

Guo Career Capsule: Guo is a four-year member of the Salem basketball team. She played in 49 games over the course of her Salem basketball career, appearing in 20 during her first year (2021-22) with the Spirits. Guo has grabbed 37 rebounds and scored 35 points during her collegiate career.

Munn Career Capsule: In four years at Salem, Munn has scored 577 points, hauled in 317 rebounds, knocked down 238 field goals, converted 95 free throws and made 48 blocks. Her 577 points placed her 11th in program history in that category, while her 317 rebounds are 14th-best all-time at Salem. Munn is just one of eight players with at least 40 career blocks. In her career at Salem, she has reached double figure scoring on 26 occasions and notched three double-doubles, all of which came this season.

Sampson Career Capsule: Sampson is the fourth player in Salem basketball history to reach the 1,000-point mark in their playing career. Entering the final regular season home game of her Salem career, Sampson has scored the ninth-most single-season points (367) in program history and is just one of seven players to score at least 300 points in a season twice in their playing career. She has topped the 20-point mark on 10 occasions during her Salem career, reaching 20 points on six occasions in 2023-24. Sampson also ranks fifth in program history in made field goals with 359, two shy of Shamaz Denerson, who is fourth on the list. She is second in Spirits history in free throws made with 264.

SPIRITS MAKING THE IMPACT ON THE LINEUP IN 2023-24
Dionne Sampson has put together one of the best performances in Salem basketball lore, notching the ninth-most points (367) in program history as she leads the team in 2023-24.

Sampson has scored her points from a variety of ways, leading the team in field goals (128) and free throws (97) made, while converting the second-most 3-pointers (14) on the unit.

With her 367 points, a single-season career-high, Sampson is the seventh different player in program history to notch at least 300 points at least twice in a single season in program history.

Alize Munn, who has missed the last eight games due to injury, is second on the unit in points with 202. Nykerah Engle ranks third on the unit in points with 164, five more than teammate Cree Bass, who has accounted for 159. Bass is the top 3-point shooter on the unit with 34 conversions

Ti'Erra Lee leads the unit in rebounding with 110 (57 defensive), followed by Munn (98 rebounds) and Lily Gorum, who has hauled in 92 rebounds (58 defensive).

Defensively, the backcourt tandem of Engle and Sampson lead the way in steals, with 60 apiece. Meanwhile, Munn has a team-best 13 blocked shots.

LOOKING FOR NINTH OVERALL WIN
Salem head coach Sharee' Boyd picked up her eighth win of the season on Saturday, February 3rd, when the Spirits emerged with a 70-62 win over Mary Baldwin. That victory marked the first time since 2017-18 that the Spirits have at least eight wins in a single season.

The last person to coach Salem to at least eight wins was Britni Mohney, who delivered 10 wins in 2017-18. Two years earlier, in 2015-16, Mohney and the Spirits won nine games after Mohney collected eight wins in her first year at the helm of the program in 2014-15.

BREAKING DOWN WILLIAM PEACE IN 2023-24
William Peace, which sits sixth in the USA South Conference standings, makes its trek to the Triad this weekend. The Pacers are 7-14 overall and 5-10 against USA South opposition, have collected just two wins on the road this season. One of those wins came over Mary Baldwin (60-50) and the second came at Greensboro (59-55) on January 13th.

William Peace is fresh off a 68-49 win over Meredith on Tuesday evening and has managed three wins since last facing the Spirits on January 10th.

Tanaesha Ellison has been the sparkplug for the Pacers' offense in 2023-24, scoring 458 points (24.1 ppg) by virtue of hitting 153-of-349 (44.4%) from the floor and 130-of-181 (71.8%) at the charity stripe. Ellison has also come through with a team-best 217 rebounds (157 defensive), also a team high.

The Pacers are led from beyond the arc by Allye Woodruff, who has connected on 39 3-pointers. Teammate Nautica Smiley has a team-high 53 assists, while Ellison has controlled the post with 22 blocks.

Recap vs. William Peace (Jan. 10, 2024): Alize Munn scored a career-high 35 points, one point off the program mark established by Satavia Taylor on January 11, 2014, and Dionne Sampson added 24 points of her own as Salem earned a 95-83 victory at William.

Munn reached her single-game career-high by converting 15-of-23 from the floor and draining 5-of-7 free throws in 25 minutes of action. She capped off her third double-double of the season with 14 rebounds, grabbing eight off the offensive glass. Meanwhile, Sampson tallied 24 with a 7-of-18 outing from the floor, knocking down 10-of-11 at the free throw line to go along with six assists and four steals.

Salem also received double-digit scoring performances from Ti'Erra Lee (14) and Cree Bass (13). Lee finished 7-of-12 from the floor, while hauling in eight rebounds (five offensive) in the contest. Bass reached double figures largely off hitting a trio of 3-pointers, while knocking down two free throws to go along with nine rebounds.

Salem finished the game off by hitting 35-of-75 from the floor (46.7%) and 22-of-27 (81.5%) at the free throw line.

ALL-TIME SERIES (vs. William Peace)