The UNCW women’s basketball team is headed into this year’s CAA tournament in a much better position than they were last season. 

At this time last season they were 4-27 overall with a 3-13 CAA conference record.  Entering next weekend’s CAA tournament as the No. 5 seed, the Seahawks sport a record of 14-15 overall, and 10-8 in conference play. 

The Seahawks have gained momentum at the end of their much-improved regular season, winning four straight conference games, two of them in overtime. The second of those overtime games, a 71-68 win over Delaware in Trask Coliseum last Thursday, was historic for UNCW and the CAA. Sophomore guard Brie Mobley scored 46 points while shooting 19 of 25 from the field, setting the UNCW and Trask Coliseum individual scoring records and CAA record for field goals made in a game. 

Senior guard Kelva Atkins, who scored 40 points against Charleston Southern earlier this season, noticed early on Mobley had the hot hand and made sure to get her the ball.

“From the beginning she wasn’t missing anything so we just put the ball in her hands and just let her score,” Atkins said.

Mobley had 16 of the team’s 22 points at halftime but in the moment she wasn’t paying attention to her scoring total.

“I didn’t realize I had the points until the last two minutes of the game,” Mobley said. “I was just in the zone trying to win the basketball game. It was a tough game.”

Mobley’s points started piling up in the second half as she scored 30 of the team’s 40 after halftime. It wasn’t until the second half UNCW coach Adell Harris realized Mobley was on her way to a historic performance.

 “She pulled a three right in front of the bench, which she doesn’t shoot threes, that’s not typically her, but she pulled one right in front of the defender’s face and I thought okay, she’s feeling really good,” Harris said.

Mobley was even featured as the “Star of the Night” on ESPN’s Sports Center Thursday night, outscoring LeBron James who had 42 points in a win over the Warriors.

“I think it’s incredible. I think it’s the most phenomenal thing I’ve ever seen,” Harris said. “Every point mattered. The game was on the line against a very tough opponent, a very well-coached team in the midst of the last week of conference play.”

After Wednesday night’s 76-75 victory over Hofstra in their regular-season finale, UNCW will regroup and prepare for the CAA tournament, which begins March 12. The No. 5 seeded Seahawks will play No. 4 seeded Elon at 2:30 on Friday, March 13.

“I think they’re playing with confidence,” Harris said. “That’s not something I can give them, that’s something that they’ve created over the last two or three weeks, so I’m very happy about where their minds and their hearts will probably be.”

UNCW’s recent surge has them on track to finish in the top half of the conference for the first time since the 2011-2012 season. 

Coach Harris’ team will move forward into the tournament with an optimism rooted in what they have accomplished so far.

“We’re on track to achieve every goal we had this year,” Harris said, “We wanted to win 15-plus games, we want to have an academic grade of 3.0 or higher for the year, we wanted to achieve a certain number of community service hours, and we want to play in the CAA Championship game on March 15.”