COMMERCE – Having won a postseason game in each of the last five seasons, the fifth seeded Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team looks to make it six in a row on Monday morning when it faces eighth seeded Northwestern State in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
 
WHO: A&M-Commerce vs. Northwestern State
WHERE: Lake Charles, La. | Legacy Center
WHEN: Monday, March 6 | 11 a.m.
RECORDS: A&M-Commerce is 12-18 overall and Northwestern State is 11-17.  
THE BRACKET: The winner of the game between the Lions and the Lady Demons advances to the quarterfinals on Tuesday morning.
 
LIVE AUDIO: Lion Sports Network – KETR 88.9 FM, Commerce | http://www.ketr.org
LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ | https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/d9e22422-1f62-4091-b477-38e082029d3a
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/458280
TICKETS: http://lionathletics.com/SLCTix
GAME NOTES: TAMUC | NSU
 
SCOUTING THE LADY DEMONS
• Northwestern State has lost three in a row as it enters the postseason by holding the eighth and final seed in the Southland tournament. The Lady Demons tied with New Orleans for seventh place.
• The Lions and the Lady Demons split the meetings in the regular season with the Lions winning 67-47 at home and Northwestern State winning 71-66 in Natchitoches.
• The Lady Demons are led by Candice Parramore, who earned first team all-conference and is seventh in the conference in scoring.
 
QUICK GLANCE AT THE LIONS
• The Lions received the fifth seed in the Southland Tournament after tying UIW for fourth place in the conference standings. A&M-Commerce has also lost three in a row.
• DesiRay Kernal was named to second team all-conference, earning all-conference honors for the third straight season.
• The Lions finished the regular season leading the conference in scoring, while being second in rebounds. Laila Lawrence is ninth in scoring and sixth in rebounding, while Kernal is 11th in both scoring and rebounding. Lawrence is also fifth in field goal percentage and Kernal is 10th.
 
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. 
 
SUCCESS IN THE POSTSEASON
• The Lions return to the conference tournament, having advanced all the way to the championship game in each of the last three trips to the conference tournament.
• The Lions have won one postseason game in each of the last five seasons under Jason Burton.
 
ALL-CONFERENCE RECOGNITION
• DesiRay Kernal was named to second team all-Southland Conference on Friday.
• She has earned all-conference honors in each of the last three seasons.
 
HISTORIC START TO CONFERENCE PLAY
• For the first time since 2019-20, the Lions started 6-0 in conference play.
• That season, the Lions advanced all the way to the conference tournament championship game and made the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
DOWN, BUT NOT OUT
• The Lions trailed by 15 points, but came back to win over New Orleans.
• The come-from-behind win is the largest of this season and largest since a 16-point deficit they fought back from last season at Ouachita Baptist on 11/19/21.
 
FIRST DI ROAD WIN
• The win at 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 finish the regular season first in the conferenece in scoring (65.4), second in rebounding (38.7).
• Laila Lawrence is 12th in scoring (12.3), sixth in rebounding (7.3), while DesiRay Kernal (6.2) is 11th.
• Lawrence is fifth in field goal percentage (.484) and Kernal is 10th (.449).
• Kernal and Mia Deck are tied for ninth in steals (1.6). Lawrence is tied for sixth in blocks per game (1.0), and Olivia Russell is tied for 10 (0.8).
 
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.
 
KERNAL NAMED SOUTHLAND PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• DesiRay Kernal earned last week's Southland Conference Player of the Week award after averaging 17 points per game and eight rebounds in the two games.
• It is the third weekly honor for the Lions this season and second of Kernal's career.
 
LAWRENCE SCORES CAREER-HIGH 29 AT ISLANDERS
• Laila Lawrence scored 29 points at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which was a new career-high and matched Dyani Robinson for season-best.
• The Lions' last 30-point scorer was Chania Wright on 1/4/20.
 
ROBINSON MOVES TO ON THIRD ON ALL-TIME SCORING LIST
• Dyani Robinson surpassed current Lion assistant coach and former great, Princess Davis for third on the all-time scoring list against Lamar.
• Davis scored 1,385 points in her career.
 
KERNAL REACHES 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