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ATLANTA -- The Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers visit Georgia Tech to begin a three-game road trip before heading into the Christmas break. The Lady Panthers (4-1) are off to their best start to a season since the 1986-87 campaign. A win tonight would match the program's best start in its NCAA era; the 1984-85 team started 5-1. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Tonight's game against the Yellow Jackets will be the first on the East Coast for Atlanta native Tori Carter (Norcross High School) since she transferred from Charlotte. Junior Alexus Parker also hails from Georgia (Savannah/Calvary Day School), as does senior Shamiya Brooks (West Point, Ga./Troup), who made her first appearance of the season in PVAMU's last game.

The series
The Yellow Jackets won the only previous meeting between the two teams, taking a 61-37 triumph over the Lady Panthers in Atlanta on Nov. 19, 2010. Tonight's game marks the first for the Lady Panthers against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since an 81-45 loss to North Carolina in Hawaii last season.

Last Time Out …

• The Lady Panthers defeated Lamar 80-72 on Dec. 5, claiming the program's second win over the Cardinals in 20 tries. PVAMU's win over Lamar marked the first meeting between the two teams since Dec. 14, 2005.
• Lamaria Cole and Jeronia Allen scored 20 points apiece for the Lady Panthers; Allen's 20 points marked her highest point total in a game since transferring from Itawamba Community College in Mississippi.
• Larissa Scott scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, giving her four double-doubles through Prairie View A&M's first five games.
• The Lady Panthers withstood Lamar's 3-point shooting; the Cardinals 10 3-pointers, and their 41.7 percent showing from behind the arc (10 of 24) were the highest totals by a Prairie View A&M opponent this season.
• PVAMU trailed at halftime for only the second time this season, and claimed its first win after going into the midgame break trailing.
• The Lady Panthers improved to 2-0 against Southland Conference opponents in 2015-16, giving them two wins over SLC teams for the first time since the 2007-08 season.

Scott returning to form

• After missing most of the 2014-15 season with an injury, senior Larissa Scott was granted a medical redshirt and returned for the 2015-16 season.
• Scott has recorded double-doubles in four of PVAMU's five official contests this season; she enters the game at Georgia Tech averaging 14.2 points and 14.8 rebounds per game.
• Her 14.8 rebounds per game leads the Southwestern Athletic Conference and ranks third in the NCAA.
• The 6-foot forward/post began the season with a 19-point, 21-rebound performance in the team's season-opening win over Howard Payne; Scott became one of a handful of players in PVAMU history to pull in more than 20 rebounds, and is one of 15 players this season to grab at least 21 rebounds in a game.
• Scott was the recipient of the Southwestern Athletic Conference's first two Player of the Week honors this season.

Starting the year right (1980s edition)

• In defeating Lamar 80-72 in their last game, the Lady Panthers improved to 4-1, which matched their best start since the 1986-87 season. 
• Viewed through the lenses of today's college basketball hierarchy, the current Lady Panthers squad has the edge over their 1986 counterparts in terms of strength of schedule.
• The 2015-16 Lady Panthers are 3-1 against NCAaA Division I programs after starting the season with a win over NCAA Division III Howard Payne (Texas).
• The 1986-87 team went 1-1 against NCAA Division I opponents – a 67-55 loss at Nicholls State and an 84-66 win over Arkansas–Little Rock – and 3-0 against in-state NAIA programs Wiley College, Paul Quinn College, and Mary Hardin-Baylor (now an NCAA Division III member institution).
• Prairie View A&M's best start in the NCAA women's basketball championship era came happened two years prior, when the Lady Panthers opened the 1984-85 season with a 5-1 record against four different in-state NAIA opponents – Huston-Tillotson, Jarvis Christian, Paul Quinn College, and Bishop College.