COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball is undefeated in Southland Conference play and looks for its first win on the road this season when it faces McNeese on Saturday afternoon.  
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce at McNeese
WHERE: Lake Charles, La. | Legacy Center
WHEN: Saturday, January 7 | 1 p.m.
RECORDS: The Lions are 4-10 on the season and one of three undefeated teams in conference play at 2-0. McNeese is 4-9 overall and 1-1 in Southland games.   
RANKINGS: Neither team is nationally ranked, but the Lions are No. 250 in the NCAA NET rankings, and the Cowgirls are No. 331
 
LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network – KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce | http://www.ketr.org
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ | https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/7c378cff-8280-4c42-a662-1f5d95c1b416
LIVE STATS: https://mcneesesports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
GAME NOTES: TAMUC | MCN
 
SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
• McNeese is 1-1 in conference play, having won at home over Northwestern State and falling on the road to Lamar. During non-conference play, it had one win over a Division I opponent and it came at home against ULM. All four wins for the Cowgirls have come at home.
• The Cowgirls are 34th in the country and lead the conference in free throws per game, while they are 43rd in the country and also lead the country in free throws made per game. Desirae Hansen leads the conference with an average of 3.3 assists per game and Stephanie Gibson is first in the conference in free throws made.
 
QUICK GLANCE AT THE LIONS
• A&M-Commerce picked up back-to-back wins for the first time this season by rolling over Nicholls on Thursday and is one of three teams that is 2-0 in Southland play.
• The Lions lead the Southland in scoring (66.8), McNeese is second in scoring. The Lions are also leading the conference in rebounding (40.9), the Cowgirls are also second in rebounding, and A&M-Commerce is second in blocks and fifth in both assists and steals.
• Dyani Robinson is the conference leader in scoring by over two points per game, DesiRay Kernal is fourth in rebounding, Laila Lawrence is ninth, who is also fourth in field goal percentage, while Kernal is fifth in steals per game.
 
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. 
 
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.
 
AMONG THE BEST IN THE SLC
• The Lions are first in the Southland in scoring (66.8), first in rebounding (40.9), and second in blocks per game (3.6).
• Dyani Robinson leads the conference scoring (17.1), while DesiRay Kernal is fourth in rebounding (7.3), and Laila Lawrence is fourth in field goal percentage (50.0) and ninth in rebounding (6.0).
• Kernal is also averaging 1.9 steals per game, which is fifth in the conference.
 
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.
 
KERNAL CRASHING THE BOARDS
• DesiRay Kernal is averaging 7.1 rebounds per game, which is fourth in the Southland Conference.
• She has three double-doubles on the season, all coming against Division I opponents.
 
LAWRENCE SHOOTING WELL
• Laila Lawrence is scoring 10 points per game on a clip of 50.0 field goal percentage, which is fourth in the conference.
• She is 18th in scoring and ninth in rebounding.
 
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.
 
REACHING THE CENTURY MARK
• A&M-Commerce scored 100 points against Midwestern State on 1/23/22, the third time they reached the 100-point mark.
• The Lions had never scored 100 points in a game three times in a single season before this year.
• Earlier this season, the Lions scored 100 points or more against Arkansas-Monticello and SAGU.
• Entering the season, they had only scored 100 points or more eight times.
 
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