A pair of Lone Star Conference women’s basketball programs opened the season undefeated as Lubbock Christian and Texas A&M-Kingsville both picked up a pair of home wins. Cameron, Midwestern State, Oklahoma Christian and Texas A&M International all split their first games of the season.
LSC schedule and results available here:
https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=wbball
LSC BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The LSC Women’s Basketball Championship is set for March 2-5-6, 2021, with quarterfinal games on campus sites on Tuesday, March 2. The four winning teams will advance to the final site at the highest remaining seed to play semifinal games on Friday, March 5, followed by the championship game on Saturday, March 6. The top eight teams will qualify for the tournament based on the recently announced
basketball point rating system. The divisional champions will automatically qualify for the tournament and be seeded according to the point rating system. All teams must play a minimum of 11 games to qualify for the conference tournament.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Ashton Duncan, Lubbock Christian, SR, Social Work and Criminal Justice, G, Lubbock, Texas, Trinity Christian HS
Ashton Duncan had a solid start to the season, helping LCU to a home sweep over St. Mary's, averaging 17.0 points. LCU became the third NCAA Division II program to reach 80 straight home wins, and Duncan played a part over the weekend by combining for 10 three-pointers. In the season opener on Friday, an 88-52 win, Duncan set a Rip Griffin Center record and matched a program single-game record with eight three-pointers. She was 8-of-12 from long range and had four of her three-pointers tallied in the opening quarter of play. Duncan followed Saturday (67-47 win) going 2-of-5 from long distance to finish 10-of-17 (.588) on the week beyond the arc. In seven career games against St. Mary's, Duncan is 19-of-38 (50.0%) from three-point range in the series. This is Duncan’s second career player of the week award in the LSC and first this season.
DEFENSIVE
Anastacia Mickens, Texas A&M-Kingsville, SR, Kinesiology, F, Beaumont, Texas, Beaumont Central HS
Anastacia Mickens was part of the defensive effort that led the Javelinas to a weekend sweep of UAFS for the program's first 2-0 start since 2015-16. She grabbed seven rebounds, poured in eight points and tabbed two steals in Friday's 84-75 victory while holding the Lions to a .368 clip from the field, including a .250 rate from beyond the arc. She followed that up with 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the 83-64 win on Saturday while leading a defensive effort that lowered the Lions' percentages to .333 from the field and .200 from the perimeter. This is Mickens’ first career player of the week honor in the LSC.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive
D-14 Ashton Duncan, Lubbock Christian
Defensive
D-14 Anastacia Mickens, Texas A&M-Kingsville
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Maighan Hedge, Cameron, started the 2020-21 season where she left off last season, averaging 19.5 points over the Aggies’ first two games against Midwestern State this weekend. The junior from Melbourne, Australia made history in the season opener on Friday, scoring 12 points in the first half to give her 1,000 points for her CU career. She is the 12th member of the Aggie 1,000-Point Club and one of the fastest to that milestone, doing so in just 58 games played. Hedge finished the night with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. She followed that up by flirting with a triple-double in the weekend finale, notching 16 points, seven boards, six helpers, and a trio of steals.
Brianna Pena, Texas A&M-Kingsville, powered the Javelinas to the program's first 2-0 start in LSC play since the 2008-09 season with a team-best 16.0 scoring average in the weekend sweep of UAFS. She started Friday's contest with a game-high 18 points in the 84-75 season-opening win on an 8-for-13 clip and followed that up with a 14-point performance in Saturday's 83-64 win behind a 5-for-9 effort. Her prowess also led the Javelinas to the first back-to-back 80-point games in seven seasons and the highest team scoring output since the 86-84 upset of No. 2 West Texas A&M in January 2019.
Maddison Collyer Ingraham, Oklahoma Christian, shined for the Lady Eagles in their 85-67 romp at Texas A&M International on Saturday. Scoreless at halftime, she poured in 23 points in the second half – going 7 of 11 from the field, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range – to help keep the Dustdevils at bay. Her biggest shot was a 3-pointer from NBA range at the third-quarter buzzer that banked high off the backboard and went in, extending OC’s lead to 66-51. Ingraham’s 23 points matched her previous career high, set as a freshman against TAMIU on Jan. 11, 2018. Ingraham (who led the LSC in assists last season) added eight assists to go with those 23 points, tying for the most in a game this basketball season by a Lone Star Conference player. She had seven points and five assists in OC’s opener, a 57-51 loss at TAMIU on Friday. Her 13 assists on the weekend lifted her career total to 408, moving her into 10th place on OC’s all-time list in that statistical category.
Frances King, Midwestern State, matched a career high with 23 points to lead Midwestern State to a 78-71 win over Cameron Friday night at Aggie Gym. The sophomore guard from Rockdale connected on 9-of-13 shots and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe to equal a 23-point effort last season against Oklahoma Christian. King also dished out six assists in the win.
Bre DeLon, Texas A&M International, scored a game high 16 points and added 9 rebounds in her first game as a Dustdevil to lead the team to a 57-51 win over Oklahoma Christian. DeLon shot 7-of-12 from the field to lead the team in scoring and pulled down nine rebounds while handing out a pair of assists.
Allie Schulte, Lubbock Christian, assisted on both ends of the floor to help LCU top St. Mary's twice on the weekend inside Rip Griffin Center, as LCU extend the nation's longest active home win streak to 80 games. Schulte had 15 points in the opening half Friday before making way for the reserves, as LCU cruised 88-52. She led the team in rebounds (6) Friday, and followed Saturday (67-47 win) by leading the team in scoring (11 points), rebounds (6), assists (5) and steals (5). The five steals matched a career high for Schulte. She was 9-of-13 (.692) from the field on the weekend and led LCU with 12 rebounds (6.0 per game) and six steals (3.0 per game) on the week.
Tyra Peck, Oklahoma Christian, played a huge role defensively for OC (which was down to eight healthy players by the end of the weekend) as the Eagles split a pair of games at Texas A&M International. In the two games – a 57-51 loss and an 85-67 win – Peck recorded eight steals and had nine rebounds (all defensive) while also contributing on offense with seven assists. She matched her career high for steals in the opener. In the two games, OC limited the Dustdevils – who won two road exhibition games over NCAA Division I opponents – to just 37.1-percent shooting and helped force 53 turnovers.
Haevyn Risley, Midwestern State, notched her first collegiate double-double while helping Midwestern State to a 78-71 season-opening win Friday night at Cameron. The junior from Canadian scored 10 points and coralled a career-high 14 rebounds. Risley closed the opening weekend of the season ranked third in the LSC averaging eight boards per game.
Nicole Heyn, Texas A&M International, secured 18 rebounds over the weekend, including 11 in the loss to Oklahoma Christian, matching her career high as a Dustdevil set last season against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Feb. 15, 2020. Her 18 rebounds were the second highest total in the conference for the weekend.