The Student Newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
XIV, Number 24
Charlotte, North Carolina
February 8, 1979
Lady 49ers prepare for first tourney
By Nancy Davis
The UNCC Lady 49ers are prepar
ing for their first invitational tourna
ment which starts tonight. Not only
are they playin in the tournament,
they’re also hosting it. UNCC began
planning for the First Invitational
Sun Belt Tournament last year and
will have five schools including
themselves participating in the event.
The four other Sun Belt schools in
clude the University of New Orleans,
Georgia State University, the Univer
sity of Alabama at Birmingham and
the University of South Florida.
Alabama will gain official member
ship into the Sun Belt Conference this
year.
The Lady 49ers will be coming into
the tournament after a disappointing
67-57 loss to Lenoir Rhyne. Coach
Judy Wilkins doesn’t think this will
hurt the women, however. “We
should be ready . . . the morale was up
for this game against Lenoir Rhyne
and is still up for the tournament.'’
Wilkins is not looking forward to
their first game in the tournament.
The Georgia State team is ma tough
one, recently beating Division I UNC-
Chapel Hill. Georgia State will
play New Orleans on Thursday night
and is UNCC’s probable opponent in
their 9 p.m. game on Friday.
The Lady 49ers had a surge of
"easy'’ wins before going into the
Lenoir Rhyne game and was faced
with a lot of imbalanced shooting.
The practices before the tournament
will be spent working on their inside
shot, a weakness against Lenoir
Rhyne. A tournament championship
against these Sun Belt teams would
help the Lady 49ers in their bid for a
state championship.
Just as soon as the women finish
this tournament, the state tourna
ment will be staring them in the face.
As they come down the home stretch
in their season, UNCC will be facing
two strong opponents, Pembroke and
Mars Hill. A win in both of these
games could put the women in better
position for tournament pairings.
Wilkins said she felt her team
would go into the tournament ranked
fourth in the state. Even though she
would be paired up against one of the
lower ranked teams in the first round,
it could put them against the number
one team. High Point, sooner than
desired. High Point, the defending
state champions and predicted na
tional champions this year, have an
outstanding season, recently beating
highly ranked Pfeiffer College by
more than 30 points.
This is UNCC’s first time in a state
championship, although tournaments
are becoming a familiar subject in the
women's athletic department. The
UNCC women’s volleyball team won
the state championship crown this
fall in an upset over Methodist Col
lege. But even if the 49ers don’t win
the state championship, two schools
will represent North Carolina in the
regionals.
The excitement will really begin
this weekend. The first game of the
Sun Belt Tournament will be at 9 p.m.
after the men’s game against UNC-
Wilmington. Students can get in on a
student ticket. The Wilmington game
will begin at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30
p.m.
Admission into the other tourna
ment games is 50 cents for students
and $2 for adults. Students must
have their ID. Wilkins said all the
teams are on their way, even though
Kim Fox is eager to get into the game.
weather cancelled the banquet
scheduled for Wednesday night.
Inhabitants of the duck
pond don’t seem to
mind the snow as
much as they mind
the snowballs wielded
by the students.
See story page 2
Cut in aid
won’t affect
student loans
By Kathy Espin
Money available for National
Direct Student Loans will increase as
much as five to 20 percent next year
in spite of President Jimmy Carter’s
80 percent cut in student aid.
Student Financial Services Direc
tor Curtis Whalen, said the budget
for the school year 1979-80 was set
during fiscal 1979. “I don’t think
there will be a significant decrease in
funds for next year,” Whalen said.
“Funds come from the government
and from loans that are repaid. This
reduction will be offset because col
leges will be cracking down on past
due loans.”
Whalen said he expects a signifi
cant increase in available money for
1979-80 and expects 1980-81 to be
about the same. He expects to get
notice of tentative awards in the next
week or 10 days and plans to notify
the student body on the status of
financial aid through a series of ar
ticles in the Carolina Journal beginn
ing around Feb. 19. “Right now, we
are very optimistic about this year’s
award,” Whalen said.
Federal grants and loans are
available to any student who can
show need. Interested students can
pick a financial aid application in the
Student Financial Aid office in the
basement of the Atkins tower. Ap
plications are due May 1, 1979.