COMMERCE – The East Texas A&M University women's basketball team heads to New Orleans on Saturday for its first game of the 2026 calendar year. 

WHO: East Texas A&M at New Orleans
WHERE: New Orleans | Lakefront Arena
WHEN: Saturday, January 3 | 2 p.m.
RECORDS: The Lions are 5-6 on the season and 1-3 against Southland opponents, while the Privateers are 0-12 overall and 0-4 in SLC action. 

LIVE VIDEO: ESPN+ | https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/eventCalendarId/401807876
SLC INTERNATIONAL: https://www.southland.org/watch/
LIVE STATS: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=609838&vislive=tame
GAME NOTES: ETAMU | UNO

SCOUTING THE PRIVATEERS
• New Orleans has yet to win a game this season, but did fall in overtime to UTRGV on the road last week. Last season, the Privateers were searching for their first win of the year when they took on the Lions for the first time and beat East Texas A&M in Commerce in overtime.
• Two of the five wins last season for the Privateers came over the Lions, including a 78-52 win in New Orleans.
• Shanihya Brown leads the team with an average of 13.0 points per game.

QUICK GLANCE AT THE LIONS
• The Lions were downed at home by Lamar on Wednesday to end 2025, just the second loss in the Field House during the 2025-26 season. East Texas A&M fell to 1-3 in conference play for the second year in a row.
• East Texas A&M is searching for its first conference win on the road this season and second true road win of the year, as well as the first win in New Orleans in three years.
• The Lions are holding teams to shoot just 25.9 percent from deep through 11 games this season, which leads the Southland and is 29th in the country. Individually, Tiani Ellison recorded five blocks against Lamar and is now third in the SLC in blocks.

A NEW ERA OF LION BASKETBALL
• This season begins a new era of East Texas A&M women's basketball as the Lions are now officially eligible for NCAA postseason after acheiving full NCAA Division I member status a year ahead of schedule.
• East Texas A&M ended its Division I era by advancing to the NCAA Tournament four seasons in a row, including winning a game in the past two trips to the NCAA Tournament.

JUST DOING IT
• The Lions also debuted their new uniforms as East Texas A&M is the now the only school in the Southland to be outfitted by Nike.

GET TO KNOW THE NEW LIONS
• This season's roster includes six newcomers with two being Division I transfers, while one is from Division II and three are true freshmen.
• Tiani Ellison, spent last season with the program, but made her season debut this season. She is a transfer from Missouri Western State.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST THE PRIVATEERS
• The Lions and the Privateers meet for the seventh time on Saturday with each team having won three times each in the previous six meetings.
• The Privateers have won three of the last four, including two in a row in New Orleans by an average margin of victory of 18 points.
• The Lions are searching for their first win in New Orleans since January 19, 2023.

PO LIFTS LIONS OVER SFA
• Reza Po drilled a floater to give the Lions a win over SFA on Monday evening as she scored the final five points of the game for the Lions.
• The Lions picked up their first ever win over SFA in the seventh meeting between the two teams.
• East Texas A&M avoided its first 0-3 start to conference play for the first time since 2011-12.
• The Lions also won their first home game in conference play for the seventh year in a row.

DOWNED THE LADY TIGERS AT HOME
• The Lions ended non-conference play with a win over Texas Southern, which was its second straight win over the Lady Tigers over the prior two seasons.

LIONS LOVE THE KIDS
• The win over Texas Southern was the Education Day game for the Lions, who moved to 2-0 in Education Day games this season.

TAMED THE RAGIN' CAJUNS
• The Lions cruised to a road win over Louisiana, the first win over a Division I opponent this season and the third ever non-conference road win over a Division I opponent.
• Following the win, the Lions jumped 60 spots in the NET rankings, being rated No. 242.

REUNITED WITH THE WILDCATS
• December 6 was the 50th meeting all-time between the Lions and the Wildcats and the first in Commerce since 2013.
• The Wildcats are now 39-11 all-time in the series with the win and won nine of the last 10 meetings.

FIRST NET RANKINGS RELEASED
• The first NCAA NET rankings of the year were released on December 1 with the Lions rated No. 301.
• Since then, the Lions climbed to as high as 241 following the win over Louisiana and are currently ranked No. 268 going into Saturday's game.

LONG STRETCHES AWAY
• The Lions come off a 10-day break to face the Ragin' Cajuns on December 2.
• It was the second 10-day stretch between games for the Lions already this season.
• The previous 10-day stretch came between games against UT Dallas and at Oklahoma.
• Following the game against Texas Southern, the Lions were off for two weeks.

ANOTHER STRONG START TO THE SEASON
• With the win over UT Dallas, the Lions have started 2-1 or better for the third time year in a row.
• East Texas A&M has won at least three non-conference games in each of the last three seasons as well.

LION ROLL OVER TRAILBLAZERS
• November 3 was the season opener for the Lions, rolling to a 113-48 win over UNT Dallas.
• The 113 points are tied for the second most scored in a game in program history and most in a game since 2018.
• The Lions recorded 25 steals, which is a new program record.

NEWCOMERS MAKE THEIR MARK AGAINST UNT DALLAS
• The Lions had five scorers reach double-digits in the win over the Trailblazers with four of the five players being newcomers and four coming off the bench.
• Three freshmen: Sarah Gatwech, Rezia Castillo, and Terrayah McCoy all added 11 points or more in the game.

STEALS RECORD FALLS IN WIN OVER TRAILBLAZERS
• In the win over the Trailblazers, the Lions recorded 25 steals and forced 36 turnovers.
• The 25 steals are a new program record, surpassing 25 that the Lions had recorded two seperate occasions.
• Terrayah McCoy had six steals to lead the way for the Lions in the game.

ANOTHER SEASON WITH A 1-0 START
• The Lions have won their season opener for the seventh year in a row, including all four years of NCAA Division I basketball.

HORVATH CALLS GAME
• In overtime period where both teams had two-possession leads, Cora Horvath sent the Lions home wita win, hitting a jumper in the final seconds at Texas Southern.
• Both teams had a lead of over 10 points in the game, but TSU rallied late to force overtime.
• The win over the Tigers was the last time the Lions beat a Division I non-conference opponent.

TOUGH TESTS ON THE ROAD
• The first two road games of the season for the Lions came against Power Conference opponents, including No. 22/22 Oklahoma State on Wednesday and Oklahoma on November 19, who is ranked in the top 10 in both major polls.

WE'RE GOING TO GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER
• This season, each team in the Southland Conference is scheduled to play 22 conference games, which is the most for any conference in Division I.
• The first conference game for the Lions comes on November 22 at defending SLC champion, Southeastern.

KING HAS GOT IT DONE
• This is the third season for East Texas A&M under the leadership of Valerie King.
• The first season under King was historic for the Lions as the win over UIW in the SLC Tournament gave the Lions the most wins under a first-year coach and are the most in the Division I era, winning 15 games that season.

WE BELONG HERE
• East Texas A&M have advanced to the semifinal round of the conference tournament for six of the last seven seasons.

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.
• East Texas A&M has five NCAA postseason appearances in program history, with four coming in the last four seasons of the Division II era.