January 24, 2013
LIONS HOST TEXANNS TO MARK HALF WAY IN CONFERENCE PLAY
Tarleton State at A&M-Commerce
Saturday, January 19 - 2:00 p.m.
The Field House - Commerce, Texas
Records: Tarleton State (12-4, 8-2 LSC); A&M-Commerce (6-8, 4-5 LSC)
Live Stats: Lionathletics.com
Live Audio/Video: Lionathletics.com
Opening Tip: A&M-Commerce gets six days off before taking on the TexAnns of Tarleton State at the Field House. The Lions will be trying to get back to .500 in conference play and within one game in the overall record. It would mark the furthest into a season that the Lions would be at .500 in conference play under Head Coach Nicole Anderson.
Lions on the Web: Stay up to date with every Lion basket this week. Saturday's game against the TexAnns will be broadcast live on KETR 88.9 FM with Charlie Chitwood on the call, while also streaming live online at KETR.org. The game Saturday against Tarleton State will be streamed live at LionAthletics.com, powered by Stretch Internet, with live stats of both games available at LionAthletics.com as well. Twitter users can also get in-game updates by following @Lion_Athletics.
Series Score: The Lions are currently 18-25 all-time against the TexAnns and have lost six in a row to Tarleton State. The last victory for the Lions over the TexAnns was back in 2008-09 when the Lions won in Stephenville, 65-57. Back in 2005-06 was the last time the Lions beat the TexAnns at home by the score of 83-64.
Scouting the TexAnns:
2012-13: 12-4, 8-2 LSC
Last Three Games: at Eastern New Mexico W, 63-61; vs. West Texas A&M L, 70-60; vs. Texas Woman's W, 71-69
Head Coach: Ronnie Hearne - 10th Season - 171-88
Key Players
• #32 Kiara Wright - 16.1 ppg / 12.3 rpg / 2.1 apg / 59.7% FG
• #2 Peyton Adamson - 15.1 ppg / 1.1 spg / 43.8% 3PT / 89.2% FT
• #33 Shanae Lowrance - 9.9 ppg / 4.2 rpg / 1.7 bpg / 60.9% FG
Tarleton State had dropped two of their last three and fall to 11-4 overall on the season. The two losses are two Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas and at home to West Texas last week. The TexAnns are currently tied for first in the LSC standings. Kiara Wright is currently second in the LSC in scoring. Wright is currently leading the conference in rebounding as well with her 12.3 average. That average putts her fourth in all of NCAA Division II in terms of rebounding. Shanae Lowrance and Wright are currently first and second in the LSC in terms of field goal percentage. Other TexAnns among conference leaders; Peyton Adamson leading the LSC in free throw percentage at 89%, Adamson also leads in 3PT percentage at 43.8%, Morgan Ashmore is fourth in assists at 3.3 per game. Anderson is in the Top 15 in the country in free throw percentage with that 89% clip and Top 20 in terms of 3PT percentage.
Harris among LSC leaders: A&M-Commerce junior forward currently ranks third in the conference in rebounding with 9.8 rebounds per game. She also leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game at 4.9. Harris is also fifth in the LSC in points per game with a 13.8.
Double Figures: With her 16 point performance against Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon Breanna Harris has now scored in double figures in 11 games so far this season including five straight games in double figures.
Master Thieves: The A&M-Commerce Lions rank currently fourth in the conference as a team in terms of steals with 9.4 per game. This is without a single player ranking in Top 15 in steals individually.
Big on the Boards: So far this season the Lions are the best rebounding team in the conference averaging 42.4 rebounds per game. Those 42.4 rebounds lead to a +2.9 rebounding margin per game, which puts them fifth in the LSC.
Turnover Margin: The Lions are currently fifth in the LSC with 1.64 assist to turnover ratio. The Lions have had an even or positive ratio in each of their last three games against Cameron, West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico.
Three-Point Struggles: This season the Lions have struggled shooting this season especially from behind the three point line. A&M-C is currently last in 3PT percentage per game at just over 20% on the season.
Hearne's Consistency: Since the Henderson State game before the holiday break La'Tisha has had double figures in scoring five times in the seven game since then. Hearne is averaging 10.9 points over that span and pulling down 6.9 rebounds per game.
Briscoe's Passing: Over the last three games Kourtney Briscoe is averaging 5.0 assists per game and adding some scoring, 5.3 points over that span.
Symone Brown: Set a new career high in points with 12 last time out against Eastern New Mexico.
Not So Charity Stripe: The Lions are currently last in the conference in free throw percentage as a team, shooting 57.9 percent from the line. Kourtney Briscoe leads the team shooting 74% from the line.
Head Coach Nicole Anderson: Anderson enters her fourth season at the helm of the A&M-Commerce Lions women's basketball program. Her team will look to improve from the 2-24 season they suffered each of the last two seasons and move up the conference standings in 2012-13. She has compiled an 8-70 record over her three seasons as head coach. Anderson will look to the new comers to help out in production to go along with Breanna Harris and Danielle Dixon.
Who is Next: The second half of conference play opens for the Lions on Wednesday January 30 when they travel to Denton to face Texas Woman's. The Lions will look to sweep the season series against Texas Woman's for the first time since 2008-09. A&M-Commerce beat TWU 63-52 back on November 28 in the conference opener for the Lions. On Saturday the Lions will travel to Stephenville to take on the TexAnns of Tarleton State.
