COMMERCE – The No. 6/10 ranked Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team travels to Ouachita Baptist for its third consecutive game away from home. The Lions have not won a game in Arkadelphia in program history, being 0-4 in previous four meetings.
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at Ouachita Baptist
WHERE: Arkadelphia, Ark. | Bill Vinina Center
WHEN: Friday, November 19 at 5:30 p.m.
RECORDS: The Lions are 2-0 overall, the Tigers begin their season on Friday night.   
RANKINGS: A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 6 in the latest D2SIDA poll and No. 10 in the preseason WBCA poll.
 
LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network – KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce (http://www.ketr.org)
LIVE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/ouachitasportsdigitalnetwork
LIVE STATS: https://obutigers.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
GAME NOTES
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
• Tigers begin their season on Friday night. They went 4-5 in a shortened 2020-21, but won four of their last six games to end the season. They went 4-24 in the full 2019-20 season.
• Two starters return for the Tigers as well as three of the top five scorers in 2020-21.
• Ouachita Baptist is picked eighth in the preseason Great American Conference poll, in the 12-team league. The two teams have two common opponents this season, Arkansas-Monticello and Southeastern Oklahoma State.
 
QUICK GLANCE AT THE LIONS
• Lions began their final season in Division II with two wins in the RMAC/LSC last weekend against Colorado State-Pueblo and Colorado Christian. The Lions were led by Dyani Robinson, who averaged 23.5 points in the game.
• A&M-Commerce used big second half runs in both games to secure the wins. The Lions went on a 29-4 run in the second half on Friday against the Thunderwolves and a 20-6 run against the Cougars on Saturday.
• The Lions started the preseason and early portion of the regular season with seven straight games on the road, they have two more games before the home opener.
 
ABOUT THE SERIES
• The Tigers are 8-3 in 11 games against the Lions, but A&M-Commerce has won three of the last five. Lions won 69-54 at home in Commerce on 11/14/19.
• The Lions have not won in Arkadelphia in program history, they are 0-4 in four meeting and 0-2 in neutral site games. The last meeting between the two teams in Arkadelphia came in 2016-17, an 81-75 win by the Tigers.
• All three wins for the Lions have come at the Field House, winning by an average margin of 9.67 points per game. The Tigers have won the four meetings in Arkadelphia by an average margin of 10.25.
• The last two meetings between the two teams in Arkadelphia have been decided by six points or less.
 
ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE
• The Lions are picked second in the preseason LSC poll.
 
40 UNDER 40
• Coach Jason Burton has been named to Dave Campbell's Texas Basketball's 40 Under 40 list this preseason. The all-time wins leader in his eighth year the helm of the Lion Women's basketball program.
 
BATTLE-TESTED PRESEASON
• Prior to the start of the regular season, the Lions took on three Division I teams in exhibition games at Baylor, SMU, and Houston.
 
TOUGH TEST IN THE ROCKIES
• A&M-Commerce began the season in Colorado against two RMAC teams, including Colorado State-Pueblo, who has a win over No. 1 Lubbock Christian.
 
MAKING DANCING A HABIT
• A&M-Commerce has advanced to the postseason three years in a row. 
 
RARIFIED AIR
• TAMUC goes into the 2021-22 season with three players minted as WBCA All-Americans in Chania Wright, DesiRay Kernal, and Dyani Robinson.
 
2020-21 POSTSEASON RECOGNITION
All-LSC Recognition:
1st Team - Dyani Robinson & DesiRay Kernal
3rd Team - Juliana Louis & Chania Wright
Honorable Mention - Agang Tac
All-Defensive - Juliana Louis
 
RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
• This season is the first full season since the Lions managed to set records for wins in a season (28), regular season wins (26), conference victories (20), consecutive wins (25), scoring margin (+18.4), lowest scoring defense (56.8) and highest national ranking (3rd) in 2019-20
 
LSC RECOGNITION
• Jason Burton was named the LSC Coach of the Year after guiding the Lions to the No. 1 seed in the LSC and a program-record 26 regular season wins and 20 conference wins.
• During the 2019-20 season, he became the All-time leader in wins in program history. He is the 4th coach in program history to earn Coach of the Year honors.
 
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-COMMERCE ACCEPTS INVITATION TO SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
• The Southland Conference, following the unanimous approval of its presidential Board of Directors, has extended an invitation of membership to Texas A&M University-Commerce, the league and institution announced Tuesday morning.  The university, a longstanding NCAA Division II power located an hour east of Dallas, will officially join the Southland on July 1, 2022, and begin a four-year transition into Division I at the same time.
• Touting a "Best in Class" mission, mentality, and experience, Lions' athletics features sponsorship of 14 varsity sports, including men's sports of football, basketball, golf, cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field.  Women's sports include basketball, golf, soccer, softball, volleyball, cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field.
The Lions have seen remarkable success in recent years, including winning the 2017 NCAA Division II Football National Championship, highlighting five consecutive postseason football berths since 2015.  Overall, 53 A&M-Commerce athletic teams have earned NCAA postseason bids since 2015, including a record 11 teams in 2018-19.  Other performance highlights include individual NCAA track and field national championships, an NCAA softball regional championship, and multiple recent NCAA berths in volleyball, and men's and women's basketball.
• In addition to its 2017 NCAA title, the Lions' football program also won the 1972 NAIA national championship.  Other national championships have included men's basketball (NAIA 1954-55), men's golf (NAIA 1965) and men's tennis (NAIA 1972 and 1978).  Prominent student-athletes at A&M-Commerce have included NFL stars Harvey Martin, Wade Wilson and Dwight White, and noted U.S. Olympic medalist John Carlos.
• Founded in 1889, Texas A&M-Commerce serves rural and urban Northeast Texas with distinction, consistently delivering on a promise that founder Professor William Leonidas Mayo made more than a century ago: "No industrious, ambitious youth shall be denied an education if I can prevent it."  To this day, the institution remains committed to its core mission: "Educate. Discover. Achieve."
• Formerly known as East Texas State University, the 2,100-acre Commerce campus provides many opportunities for students to learn and grow. The university offers more than 135 degree programs at the bachelor's, masters and doctoral levels. A vibrant student life experience includes 14 competitive NCAA athletic teams, a thriving Greek system and more than 120 student organizations. Programs are delivered on site at the Commerce campus as well as in Dallas, Frisco, McKinney, Mesquite and Corsicana. A robust online academic menu of classes is also a point of distinction, and U.S. News & World Report has ranked several programs at Texas A&M University-Commerce among the best in the nation for 2021.
• A member of The Texas A&M University System since 1996, the institution provides quality education to an inclusive community of diverse learners as one of the most affordable universities in East Texas.  Students work with world-class professors who dedicate themselves to excellence in teaching and research. The university maintains strong relationships with local industries to create relevant academic programs and valuable internship and networking opportunities that prepare career ready graduates.
• Serving nearly 12,000 students, Texas A&M-Commerce is a leader in competency-based education, and is the nation's first institution to offer an accredited competency-based bachelor's degree in criminal justice and organizational leadership. The agriculture program is also a national stand-out, featuring one of the only programs where students grow their own experimental crops on the university's 1,500-acre farm. In addition, A&M-Commerce upholds a 130-year legacy as an exceptional teachers' college, graduating more than 400 certified educators in 2019. In 2020, the university opened the 113,470-square-foot Nursing and Health Sciences Building, featuring a state-of-the-art simulation hospital.
 
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE MEMBERS ON JULY 1, 2022 – AS OF NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Institution	Offers Women's Basketball?
A&M-COMMERCE	YES
Houston Baptist	Yes
McNeese State	Yes
New Orleans	No
Nicholls State	Yes
Northwestern State	Yes
Southeastern Louisiana	Yes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	No

 
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