Sergio Guerra, Sports Editor/Photographer 

UNCG sports calendar is in full swing, as baseball and softball join the calendar and played its first games in Greensboro of the season. UNCG Softball kicked things off on February 12 with The Spiro Classic, facing off against Appalachian State, Columbia, and Fairfield throughout the weekend. Meanwhile, Baseball hosted a three-game series against nationally ranked No. 18 Kentucky. UNCG Men’s Basketball keeps with two more wins against VMI and Wofford in SoCon play, making it four wins in a row. Women’s Basketball rounded out the weekend with a celebration of its seniors in the last home game of the season. 

Basketball Cruises to Positive Record 

UNCG Men’s Basketball faced a mixed bag of opponents this weekend, clashing against VMI (1-12) on Wednesday, February 11 and then suiting up again versus third-ranked Wofford (9-5) the following Saturday. The result? Two double-digit wins. 

The first game for the Spartans was against VMI – a team that has only had one win in Southern Conference play. Most expected a routine win against the Keydets, but UNCG itself has had mixed results as of late. However, the Spartans came up big and won the match with a commanding scoreline 92-71. 

Freshman KJ Younger and junior Clinton Efinda paced the Spartans with 21 points, each notching five rebounds in the process. Efinda was on a burner throughout the game, coming off the bench and going 5-7 from beyond the three-point arc. His incredible performance contributed 29 points off the bench for UNCG, which was a cause for concern last weekend. Justin Neely led the Spartans in rebounds with nine, just shy of his usual double double. 

The win took UNCG to a positive record in SoCon, 7-6, while dropping the Keydets to a 1-12. The Spartans hoped to capitalize off the performance with another win against the higher-seeded Wofford Terriers. UNCG was able to do just that, doing most of the work in the first half, going into the break with a 17-point lead. Despite getting outscored in the second-half, the Spartans did enough to hold onto a 99-89 win, further improving to 8-6 in SoCon and 12-15 overall.  

Justin Neely came back to notch another double double with a monstrous 29 points and 16 rebounds. Throughout the season so far, Justin Neely is averaging 17.6 ppg and 11.9 rebounds per game. He has to be in the conversation for SoCon Men’s Basketball Player of the Season. 

KJ Younger poured in 22 points against Wofford as he strengthens his case for being on the All-Freshman team. The Spartans’ bench came together for 20 points, not as high as last time out but still an amount that takes the load off the starters.  

UNCG Basketball is back for its last game against league leaders ETSU (11-3) at Bodford Arena on Saturday, February 21 at 4:00 pm. 

UNCG Softball’s Strong Home Start 

Softball played its first home games this weekend while hosting The Spiro Classic and faced off against opponents Appalachian State, Columbia, and Fairfield. The Spartans would go 4-1 throughout the preseason tournament and start a dominant home record.  

In fact, the only game UNCG lost was a ninth-inning thriller against Appalachian State in the home opener. UNCG and App State would head into the seventh inning tied 5-5. A scoreless inning would push the game to eight innings, where App State and UNCG scored unearned runs. However, a defensive error by UNCG at the top of the ninth paved the way for a win for the Mountaineers. 

UNCG would get its revenge on Valentines’ Day and walked off with a 6-3, including a dominant ninth inning where the Spartans scored four runs thanks to Michael Macy home run. 

The Spartans host the UNCG Invitational next weekend and will clash against Bucknell, Canisius, and Kent State throughout the weekend. 

UNCG Baseball Swept by Nationally Ranked Kentucky 

On the other side of Walker Avenue, UNCG Baseball would not reach the same success during its opening weekend. No. 18 Kentucky visited the Spartans and proved too much for the team to handle, sweeping the weekend series 3-0. The Spartans’ closest match was the last match on Saturday, February 14 where the hosts fell 6-10. 

Throughout the doubleheader on Saturday, UNCG was only able to amount to nine total runs across the two games.  

Up next for the Spartans is a road trip to Davidson on Tuesday, February 17, before returning home the next day to take on Greensboro rival, the North Carolina A&T Aggies.