COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball has won three games in a row for the first time this season and looks to remain undefeated in Southland Conference play on Thursday evening when it faces Houston Christian, the defending Southland regular season champion, on the road.   
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at Houston
WHERE: Houston | Sharp Gym
WHEN: Thursday, January 12 | 5 p.m.
RECORDS: The Lions are 5-10 on the season and 3-0 in conference play, being among two undefeated teams in conference play, while the Huskies are 7-7 overall and 2-1 in Southland play.    
RANKINGS: Neither team is nationally ranked, but the Lions are No. 245 in the NCAA NET rankings, and the Huskies are No. 267.
 
LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network – KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce | http://www.ketr.org
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ | https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/10c7e05b-2a69-4bc5-8c75-62266928fd95
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/hcu/wbball/
GAME NOTES: TAMUC | HCU | SOUTHLAND
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
• Houston Christian, the defending Southland Conference regular season champions, are 2-1 through three conference games and 7-7 overall. Their non-conference wins include wins over Denver and Yale.
• The Huskies lead the conference in blocks per game and free throw percentage, while being second in three-point percentage and three-pointers made per game.
• N'Denasija Collins is fourth in the conference in scoring (12.7), while Julija Vujakovic is eighth (11.8). Collins is also fifth in rebounding (7.1).
 
QUICK GLANCE AT THE LIONS
• A&M-Commerce has won three games in a row for the first time this season and is tied for the Southland lead as one of two remaining undefeated teams in conference play.
• The Lions are ranked No. 245 in the NCAA NET rankings and lead the Southland in scoring (67.6), rebounding (40.5), while being second in blocks (3.5), third in assists (12.7), third in turnover margin (1.0), and fourth in steals (9.1).
• Dyani Robinson leads the conference in scoring (17.9) by over three points per game, while
DesiRay Kernal is fourth in rebounding (7.3), and Laila Lawrence is fourth in field goal percentage.
 
BRAND NEW WATERS
• The Lions are in the first season in NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference.
• This is the first time the Lions are changing conferences for the first time in program history.
 
TOUGH SLATE TO START 2022-23
• During the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Lions have played five teams that either played in the NCAA Tournament, WNIT, or Women's Basketball Invitational last season. 
 
3-0 IN CONFERENCE PLAY
• For the third time in the last four seasons, the Lions have won their first three conference games.
• Each of the past two times, the Lions advanced to the conference tournament championship game in those seasons.
 
FIRST DI ROAD WIN
• Saturday's win over McNeese was the first road win for the Lions away from the Field House as a Division I member, they were 0-7 in true road games and 0-9 in games away from home prior to that.
 
AMONG THE BEST IN THE SLC
• The Lions are first in the Southland in scoring (67.6), first in rebounding (40.5), second in blocks per game (3.5), third in turnover margin (1.0), third in assists (12.7), and fourth in steals (9.1).
• Dyani Robinson leads the conference scoring (17.9), while DesiRay Kernal is fourth in rebounding (7.3), and Laila Lawrence is fourth in field goal percentage (49.6) and ninth in rebounding (6.2).
• Kernal is also averaging 1.9 steals per game, which is fifth in the conference.
• Olivia Russell and Lawrence are tied for seventh with 1.8 blocks per game.
 
ROBINSON EARNS SECOND SLC PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD
• Dyani Robinson picked up her second Southland Player of the Week award on December 12 after scoring over 20 points in the games against Mississippi State and Idaho.
• She also earned the SLC Player of the Week award after the first week of the season.
• Last season, she was a first team All-American, TABC Small College Player of the Year, D2CCA South Central Region Most Outstanding Player of the Year, and Lone Star Conference Player of the Year.
 
ROBINSON SCORES 29 AGAINST THE COWGIRLS
• Robinson totaled 29 points in the win over McNeese, which are the most points for a Lions since she scored 29 against Midwestern State on 2/2/21.
• The Lions' last 30-point scorer was Chania Wright on 1/4/20.
 
KERNAL CRASHING THE BOARDS
• DesiRay Kernal is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game, which is fourth in the Southland Conference.
• She has four double-doubles on the season, all coming against Division I opponents.
 
LAWRENCE SHOOTING WELL
• Laila Lawrence is scoring 10.7 points per game on a clip of 49.6 field goal percentage, which is fourth in the conference.
• She is 14th in scoring and ninth in rebounding.
 
KERNAL REACHED 1,000 CAREER POINTS
• DesiRay Kernal needed four more points to reach the 1,000 career points plateau, and she scored four points early in the first quarter against Nicholls to achieve that feat. 
• Kernal is the 16th player in program history to achieve that feat.
 
A RARE FEAT IN STARKVILLE
• Despite the lopsided loss against Mississippi State, the Lions had an impressive effort on the road.
• Coming into the game, the Bulldogs were allowing 50.3 points per game, which was seventh in the country. The Lions scored 53 points.
• Only one player had scored 20 or more points against the Bulldogs all season prior to December 11. Dyani Robinson scored 20 to add to the list.
 
ENDED ON A HIGH NOTE
• The Lions ended their Division II era with four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and won a NCAA Tournament game in each of the last two seasons.
• A&M-Commerce has five postseason appearances in program history, with four coming in the last four seasons.
• The Lions were ranked as high as No. 1 in the D2SIDA rankings and No. 2 in the WBCA rankings last season.
 
HE'S DONE THIS ONCE OR TWICE
• Coach Jason Burton is in his second stint in the Southland Conference.
• Burton was an assistant coach at Texas State from 2011-13 on the men's side.
Burton gets win No. 150
• Coach Jason Burton, who is the Lions' all-time wins leaders, secured his 150th career win on 2/12/22 at UT Tyler.
 
ALL-CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
• Dyani Robinson was named the LSC Player of the Year, she is among four all-LSC honors last season
• Laila Lawrence earned Sixth Woman of the Year award, while also being named to the All Freshman team and All-LSC Third Team
• DesiRay Kernal was named to the second team and former Lions Chania Wright was named to the third team.
 
CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
• Dyani Robinson was the third LSC Player of the Year in program history, joining Britney Jordan and Kanani Marshall.
 
CHASED 20 WINS
• A win on 2/12/22 against UT Tyler gave the Lions 20 wins for the fifth time in program history.
• The previous 20 win seasons came in 2006-07, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20.
 
ROBINSON REACHES 1K MARK
• Dyani Robinson reached the 1,000 career points mark last season.
 
STARTING OUT STRONG
• A&M-Commerce's 11-0 start to last season was the second time in three seasons that the Lions started 11-0 or better.
 
40 UNDER 40
• Coach Jason Burton was named to Dave Campbell's Texas Basketball's 40 Under 40 list last season. The all-time wins leader in his ninth year the helm of the Lion Women's basketball program.
 
A&M-COMMERCE OFFICIALLY JOINS NCAA DIVISION I AND THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
• After 90 successful years as charter members of the Lone Star Conference, the Lions begin a historic transition to NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference. This is the first time the Lions are changing conferences since 1931.
• The Lions are eligible to win the Soutland Conference, though they are not eligible for the NCAA Tournament during the four-year transition period.
• Winners  of the NAIA National Championship in 1954-55.
• Founded in 1889, 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 MEMBERS IN 2022-23

Institution	Offers Women's Basketball?
A&M-COMMERCE	YES
Houston Christian	Yes
Incarnate Word	Yes
Lamar	Yes
McNeese State	Yes
New Orleans	Yes
Nicholls State	Yes
Northwestern State	Yes
Southeastern Louisiana	Yes
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Yes