Six Lone Star Conference women's basketball programs recorded undefeated weeks in the final lead-up to the start of league games. No. 3 Texas A&M-Commerce continued its perfect start to the season with three wins. Other teams to put up unblemished records in week six were No. 1 Lubbock Christian, Angelo State, Texas A&M International, UT Permian Basin and Western New Mexico.
LSC women's basketball teams are 91-78 overall and 22-13 against the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the other conference in the South Central Region.
LSC schedule and results are available here:
https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=wbball
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Dyani Robinson, Texas A&M-Commerce, SO, General Studies, G, Cypress, Texas, Langham Creek HS
Robinson reached double digits in all three games this past week to lead the No. 3 Lions to three wins. She scored 21 points and six rebounds in a two-point win at Texas Woman's and had 18 points and four rebounds at Midwestern State. Robinson also helped lead a defense that held MSU without a field goal in an entire quarter for the first time in program history. She registered her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 assists in the win against UAFS in a high-scoring 99-86 victory. The sophomore currently ranks sixth in the LSC with a scoring average of 15.4.
DEFENSIVE
Eva Langton, Texas A&M International, SR, Kinesiology, F, Opunake, New Zealand, St. Mary's Diocesan School
Langton had a big defensive week for TAMIU, as they went 2-0, defeating both St. Edward's and St. Mary's. In the 72-63 win over the Hilltoppers, Langton pulled down six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and six steals to go along with her 13 points in the game. Langton followed that performance with three rebounds, three assists and two steals to go along with four points in TAMIU's 56-46 win over StMU. She led a Dustdevils defense that limited the opposition to just .333 (40-for-120) from the floor and .285 (14-for-49) from three in the two games and an average of 54.5 points per game.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Offensive
N-15 Maighan Hedge, Cameron
N-22 Allie Schulte, Lubbock Christian (2)
N-29 Emily Swiercz, Texas A&M International
D-6 Rai Brown, Texas A&M International
D-13 Madeline Stephens, Angelo State
D-21 Dyani Robinson, Texas A&M-Commerce
Defensive
N-15 Allie Schulte, Lubbock Christian
N-22 Grace Foster, Lubbock Christian
N-29 Allie Schulte, Lubbock Christian (3)
D-6 Brielle Woods, Texas Woman’s
D-13 Juliana Robertson, Lubbock Christian
D-21 Eva Langton, Texas A&M International
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Rai Brown, Texas A&M International, had a fantastic week for the Dustdevils prior to the Christmas break, helping them to a 2-0 record and 8-1 overall now. In TAMIU's 72-63 win over St. Edward's, Brown scored a game-high 29 points on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor and was 5-for-8 from the free throw line. She added four rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal to the cause. In Saturday's 56-46 win over St. Mary's, Brown matched the team-high with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting in 29 minutes of action. In addition, she secured eight rebounds, had another block and two more steals.
Hannah Wilson, St. Mary's, posted double-doubles in all three games, including grabbing a season-best 19 rebounds and scoring 19 points in the team's first win of the year over Texas A&M Kingsville. Wilson has now has started in 103 games in her career, breaking the previous record of 102 by Kiara Etheridge (2013-2017). Wilson had her double-double by halftime in two of the three games with 11 points and 10 boards against TAMIU and 10 points and 10 rebounds against TAMUK. For the season, Wilson now has the most points in a game in the LSC this year (37 vs. MSU), the most field goals made (17 vs. MSU) and the most rebounds (19 vs. TAMUK).
Grace Foster, Lubbock Christian, was huge in Lubbock Christian's 75-61 home win over Cameron, as the true freshman came off the bench and supplied a career-high 20 points and helped LCU overcome a nine-point deficit. In 19 minutes of play. As LCU trailed 13-5 in the opening quarter, Foster scored six points in the quarter, with two consecutive field goals opening an 11-4 scoring run for LCU. She continued with the opening field goal of the second quarter to give LCU the lead and eventually finished with 13 points in the first half. Foster finished the game 7-of-8 inside the arc, while also adding four rebounds and a pair of assists.
Lauren Catherman, St. Edward’s, led the Hilltoppers in points, averaging 16.5 per game this week while shooting nearly 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. She also led the team in steals with four and added three assists.
Liah Davis, UT Tyler, has been a crucial part to the early season success for the Patriots. Davis scored a strong 20 points against UAFS while going a perfect 6-for-6 from the line and helped lead the Patriots to a five-point win. Against Oklahoma Christian, Davis added 17 points and 5-for-5 from the charity stripe to lead the Patriots to their second consecutive five-point win. Davis chipped in five blocks and 20 total rebounds over the week as UT Tyler went 2-1.
Ashley Ingram, Texas Woman’s, has been a catalyst off the bench for the Pioneers throughout her freshman campaign. In a close loss to Texas A&M Commerce, she scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, and played an integral part in the Pioneer offense down the stretch. Then, in her first career start on Monday, Dec. 20 against UT-Tyler, Ingram stepped up in a big way. She recorded her first career double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds, seven of which were offensive rebounds. She helped lead the Pioneers to a 12-point over the Patriots. Ingram also recorded a career-high three assists against UT-Tyler. Ingram helped TWU go 1-1 on the week and head into the holiday break 7-3 on the season.
Tayjanna McGhee-Pleasant, Angelo State, led the offensive effort for the Rambelles as they extended their winning streak to three games. Against St. Mary's, she scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds as well; defensively, she nabbed six steals and blocked a shot. Against Huston-Tillotson, the Amarillo native scored nine points in 14 minutes, shooting 3-4 from the field and converting all three of her attempts from the free throw line.
Keslyn King, Texas Woman's, stepped up to defend the highest scoring player on the opposing team every night. She gets a substantial amount of deflections during games, which do not show up on the stat sheet but lead her team to make successful plays on the defensive end. She is a big reason the Pioneers held Texas A&M - Commerce to their lowest score of the season and forced UT-Tyler into 21 turnovers. King led the Pioneers on the defensive end for a week they split 1-1.
DesiRay Kernal, Texas A&M-Commerce, averaged a double-double in three wins for the No. 3 Lions this past week, highlighted by Thursday's performance at Midwestern State, in which the Mustangs were held without a field goal in a quarter for the first time in program history. Kernal had nine points and 13 rebounds in the game. She scored the game-winning layup in the three-point win at Texas Woman's, scoring the last three points, and had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds on Monday against UAFS. She is fourth in the LSC with 8.0 rebounds per game.
Channing Cunyus', Lubbock Christian, stellar defensive play helped hold Cameron to a season-low 61 points. She posted six rebounds, and she had two of LCU's nine steals, as LCU had 24 points-off-turnovers in the game. Cunyus had a +13 plus/minus in the game, and the team was +1 when Cunyus was not on the floor. She drew five fouls in the game while not committing any fouls. LCU's defensive unit held the LSC's leading scorer, Maighan Hedge (22.9 pts/g), to 11 points.
Payton Brown, Angelo State, imposed herself on the defensive side of the ball as the Rambelles improved their winning streak to three games. Against St. Mary's, she recorded a pair of steals as the Rambelles held the Rattlers to one field goal in the fourth quarter and a 28.6 field goal percentage for the game. Against Huston-Tillotson, she grabbed four more steals as the Rambelles held the Lady Rams to 25.4 percent shooting on the night. The guard is averaging 1.9 steals per game this season.
Kelsey Crouse, UT Tyler, has been one of the leaders of a strong Patriots defense so far this season. Over the last week, the Patriots went 2-1, and Crouse collected six rebounds per game and also added in one steal per contest. Her eight-rebound performance against Oklahoma Christian was a season-high so far this year. Crouse leads a Patriots defense that gave up just 59.6 points per game over the week and held them to just 32.9% shooting. On the offensive side, Crouse shot 40% from three and 60% from the free throw line to average nine points per game.