West Texas A&M ended No. 2 Texas A&M-Commerce’s unbeaten start to the season and sits atop the Lone Star Conference women’s basketball standings at 4-0 after two weeks of conference play. Five other teams also earned perfect weeks, including No. 6 Lubbock Christian, Eastern New Mexico, Midwestern State, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas Woman’s. TAMUK and TWU, along with Cameron, remained undefeated in conference games.
LSC women's basketball teams are 113-99 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
Ashley Ingram, Texas Woman’s, FR, Kinesiology, F, Bridgeport, Texas, Bridgeport HS
Ingram helped lead the Pioneers to a perfect 2-0 week as TWU opened 2022 and conference play undefeated. Ingram averaged 20 points across the two games in just her second and third starts of the season. Against St. Mary's, she scored a career-high 22 points, marking her second 20-point game of the season. In TWU's game against St. Edward's, the Bridgeport native finished with 18 points, hitting 5-of-8 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Ingram shot 84.6 percent from the charity stripe and 56 percent from the field during the week.
DEFENSIVE
Karley Motschenbacher, West Texas A&M, FR, Business, G, Moorhead, Minn., Park Christian HS
Motschenbacher was a driving force behind a pair of stellar defensive performances for the Lady Buffs this past weekend as they moved to 4-0 in Lone Star Conference action and moved atop of the league standings following victories over No. 2 Texas A&M-Commerce and UT Tyler. The Moorhead, Minnesota product averaged 10.0 rebounds per contest and went 8-of-21 (38.1 percent) from the field, including 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) from behind the arc, to average 10.0 points per game. She also added seven assists and three steals. In Thursday's win over the previously unbeaten Lions, Motschenbacher hit 5-of-11 from the floor with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
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
J-3 Maighan Hedge, Cameron (2)
J-10 Ashley Ingram, Texas Woman’s
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
J-3 Devon Williams, Texas A&M-Kingsville
J-10 Karley Motschenbacher, West Texas A&M
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Lauren Taylor, West Texas A&M, paced the West Texas A&M offense this past weekend as the Lady Buffs picked up wins over No. 2 Texas A&M-Commerce and UT Tyler to move to 4-0 in Lone Star Conference action to sit atop of the league standings. The Collierville, Tennessee product went 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from the floor, including 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from behind the arc and 1-of-2 (50%) from the charity stripe to average 14.0 points per game to go along with 15 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Saturday afternoon saw the junior go 6-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from deep for a career-high 16 points in WT's 250th win at the First United Bank Center.
Frances King, Midwestern State, continued to lead the Mustangs from the point as MSU secures back-to-back Lone Star Conference wins. Against St. Edward's, the sophomore turned in nine points, going three of nine from the field. She added seven assists and one steal in the 72-58 home victory. The guard followed with a 13 point performance versus St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon. She was three of nine from the floor again and went six of eight from the line. King collected five boards, one steal, and one block against the Rattlers. In the narrow 79-73 win, the Rockdale, Texas native set the single-game assist record for Midwestern State with 16 helpers.
Natalie Stice, Eastern New Mexico, led the Hounds to its first win in 2022, after 21 points and nine rebounds during a 75-59 victory over the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith on Saturday, Jan. 8th. The redshirt sophomore posted a season's best 21 points while knocking down a career-high five three-pointers during the contest. The Tahoka, Texas native also led the Greyhounds in rebounds with nine and nailed all four of their free throws in the Hounds' first LSC win of the season.
Dyani Robinson, Texas A&M-Commerce, scored 20 points at West Texas A&M on Thursday, including 16 points in the first half, which is the most any Lion in the first half this season. Robinson made both of her three-point attempts while grabbing four rebounds and two assists. She is fourth in the conference with a scoring average of 15.8 points.
Sydney Hardeman, St. Mary's, drained nine three-pointers, shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. She averaged 16.5 points per game, leading the team for the first time this season with a career-high-tying 18 points at TWU. In the last four games, Hardeman has made 16 three-pointers and has made at least one in 11 of the team's 12 contests.
Allie Schulte, Lubbock Christian, helped LCU the Lady Chaps to a 71-34 win over UAFS, in just 17 minutes of court time, with 12 points, four steals, three assists and a whopping +38 (plus/minus). Her four steals places her with 19 seals in conference play, for an average of 6.3 per game. She was 5-of-6 from the field, including 1-of-2 from three-point range. Her made free-throw has her 19-of-19 at home from the line.
Agang Tac, Texas Woman's, helped lead TWU to 2-0 in their opening week of 2022 and in Lone Star Conference action. In the Pioneers game against St. Mary's, Tac was the Pioneer leader in blocks, steals and rebounds. The Pioneers defeated St. Mary's by a margin of 13. Then, on Saturday against St. Edward's, Tac led the Pioneers with two blocks, as TWU beat St. Edward's by 13. Tac also scored 13 points against St. Mary's, a personal season high.
Hannah Reynolds, Midwestern State, was a force inside the paint for the Mustangs in their two-win week. The graduate senior was six of ten from the field to total 12 points in the 72-58 victory over St. Edward's. She grabbed nine defensive rebounds and two steals while helping to hold the Hilltoppers to one of their lowest scoring outputs of the season. Reynolds added three blocks to push her record as MSU's all-time career block leader. Against St. Mary's, the forward tied her career-high of 24 points, going 11 of 14 from the floor. She collected nine boards again while making two assists. Reynolds concluded the weekend with a block to continue her streak of 12 games with at least one blocked shot or more.
DesiRay Kernal, Texas A&M-Commerce, totaled a double-double at West Texas A&M on Thursday night. She 12 points on 6 for 11 shooting from the line and recorded 11 rebounds, including eight defensively. Kernal also had a blocked shot and is fourth in the LSC with an average of 8.3 rebounds per game.