Three Lone Star Conference women’s basketball teams are tied atop the league standings at 2-0 after recording undefeated starts in the conference over the weekend. Texas A&M-Kingsville’s upset of No. 1 Lubbock Christian highlighted the post-winter break week, as the Javelinas won their first game over a top-ranked team in program history. Cameron and West Texas A&M also started LSC play at 2-0, while St. Edward’s and UT Tyler recorded 1-0 starts in the league.
LSC women's basketball teams are 104-90 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
Maighan Hedge, Cameron, JR, Sports and Exercise Science, G, Melbourne, Australia, Rowville Secondary
Hedge continued her dominance on the offensive end this season, leading the Aggies to two wins to open Lone Star Conference play. The fourth-year guard opened the weekend with 23 points, six rebounds, and five steals while making a quartet of shots from long range in the win over Oklahoma Christian. Hedge followed that up with 28 points, 18 of which came in the second half, and a pair of steals while hitting six three-pointers to beat UAFS on Sunday. She maintained her spot on top of the LSC scoring rankings (22.3 ppg) with her performance over the two-game span.
DEFENSIVE
Devon Williams, Texas A&M-Kingsville, FR, Kinesiology, F, Gonzales, Texas, Gonzales HS
Williams anchored a stout Javelina defense that made history this week with the program's first win over a top-ranked team with a 59-42 victory versus Lubbock Christian on Friday. Williams pulled down a game-high nine rebounds and added two steals and a block alongside eight points as TAMUK held LCU to its lowest scoring output since 2010. It was also the largest margin of defeat for LCU since December 10, 2016, as the Javelinas snapped LCU's 22-game conference winning streak. The 29.4 percent (15-for-51) shooting clip was the lowest by LCU all season and lowest shooting percentage since 2017-18, while the 14.3 percent (4-for-28) rate from long range was also the lowest since the 2018-19 campaign. Williams wrapped up her weekend with a career-high 11 points to go with four rebounds and two more steals in a 63-51 win over Eastern New Mexico as the Greyhounds were held to a 36.7 percent shooting clip from the floor, including an 0-8 mark from three-point range. On the weekend, TAMUK held its opponents to 46.5 points per game, the lowest of any LSC school during the first week of league play.
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)
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
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Lovisa Hevinder, UT Tyler, caught fire for the Patriots in a dominating win over Midwestern State on Jan. 2 to help UT Tyler start conference play at 1-0. Hevinder knocked down a school-record nine three-pointers on 12 attempts on her way to scoring a career-high 29 points. She had nine of the Patriots' 13 three-pointers and helped UT Tyler tie a school record for three-point percentage in a game at 61.9%. In addition to setting a school record, Hevinder added six crucial rebounds and four assists.
Zamorye Roberts, West Texas A&M, continued to lead the way offensively for the Lady Buffs this past weekend as they opened Lone Star Conference action with road wins at Arkansas-Fort Smith and Oklahoma Christian. The Portales product went 13-of-26 (50%) from the floor, including 8-of-18 (44.4%) from deep and 4-of-7 (57.1%) from the free throw line to average 19.0 points per game to go along with six rebounds, two assists and six steals. Roberts led the Lady Buffs with 15 points on New Year's Eve in a win at UAFS, followed by a 23-point performance on Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City. She has reached double-digit points in 10 of her 13 games this season while scoring at least 20 on four different occasions.
Iyanna McCurdy, Eastern New Mexico, posted two double-doubles and career highs in points and rebounds during the start of conference play over the weekend. The grad student posted a career-high 19 points and 11 rebounds in the Hounds 71-43 loss against Texas A&M International. McCurdy went 8-17 from the field, and 3-4 from the free-throw line, while grabbing 11 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. The Philadelphia, Pa. native followed with another double-double, 19 points, and 11 rebounds in a 63-51 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville. McCurdy posted a stat line of 9-19 from the field, 1-3 from the charity stripe, and 11 rebounds, eight of those rebounds on the offensive glass.
Morgan Gary, St. Edward’s, was outstanding offensively for the Hilltoppers as they opened Lone Star Conference action. She scored 18 points in SEU's win over Angelo State, shooting over 50 percent from the field and perfect from three-point range, going 3-3. She added in one assist, one block and two steals.
Kryslyn Jones, Texas A&M-Kingsville, helped pave the way for the Javelinas, who made program history this week to start the LSC schedule with a sweep. In Friday's thrilling upset win over No. 1 Lubbock Christian, she surpassed 1,000 career points as she finished with 10 in the 59-42 win over the Lady Chaps. Jones finished with six rebounds, two steals and one assist while shooting 44.4 percent from the field. It was the first time the Javelinas defeated the top-ranked team in the nation in program history and the first ranked win since 2019 (86-84 over No. 2 West Texas A&M on January 10). She followed that performance with a season-high 17 points in the 63-51 win over Eastern New Mexico on Sunday, shooting 50.0 percent from the floor. She added two rebounds and an assist to help TAMUK start 2-0 in the conference in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2000-01.
Kendall Blackburn, Oklahoma Christian, just missed a pair of double-doubles this week for Oklahoma Christian. She tied her career-best scoring mark with 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds in an 89-68 loss to West Texas A&M on Sunday, after scoring nine points to go with 10 rebounds in a 78-70 loss to Cameron on Friday.
Alexus Wykoff, UT Permian Basin, scored 18 points in her 19 minutes of playing time in the Falcons’ only game of the week. She missed just one shot from the field in her 8-for-9 performance. She was a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe and recorded five offensive rebounds in the team’s victory.
Allie Schulte, Lubbock Christian, combined for 15 steals in two games, setting career-high marks in a pair of LSC road games. At Texas A&M-Kingsville, she set a career-high mark with seven steals and followed at Texas A&M-International, topping the mark with eight steals, which matches the highest individual mark by an LSC player this season. The eight steals were the most by a Lady Chaps member since Tabitha Quibty-Sellers had eight steals on Nov. 18, 2002. Her 15 steals moved her to second all-time in LCU career steals with 273 (moved past Sherry Brown, who had 271 from 1979-1983), which is actively second in NCAA Division II. At TAMIU, her eight steals were part of the team's 21 steals, which was the highest steals total by the Lady Chaps since swiping 21 on Dec. 9, 2004, against Southwestern Assemblies of God (SAGU). Along with the defensive performances, Schulte averaged 15.0 points per game, with 23 points against TAMIU to help LCU hand the Dustdevils their first home loss (7-1) of the season. Her final line against TAMIU included 23 points, eight steals, five assists and a block.
Alivia Lewis, West Texas A&M, continues to prove why she is one of the top post players in the nation as the Lady Buffs picked up road wins at UAFS and Oklahoma Christian to begin Lone Star Conference action. The Los Lunas, New Mexico product picked up a pair of double-doubles in the road wins as she went 6-of-18 (33.3 percent) from the floor, including 8-of-10 (80 percent) from the charity stripe to average 10 points per game to go along with 20 rebounds, three assists, two steals and eight blocks. Lewis has now registered five double-doubles this season while leading the LSC in blocked shots (36).
Liah Davis, UT Tyler, grabbed double-digit rebounds for the third time this year and scored in double figures for the eighth time this season as the Patriots ran away from Midwestern State 86-60. Davis grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds with nine coming on the defensive side of the ball. She was part of a defensive effort that held the Mustangs to just 32.8 percent shooting from the floor and 24 percent from beyond the arc.
McCall Hampton, St. Edward’s, led the SEU defense with seven rebounds as they secured their first Lone Star Conference win of the season, defeating ASU at home. Hampton was also strong offensively, making the most of her limited opportunities to go perfect from three-point range and 50 percent from the field.
Stephanie Peterson, Cameron, was all over the place for the Aggies as they went 2-0 to open Lone Star Conference play this past week. The third-year forward nearly averaged a double-double with 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game over the weekend. Peterson opened the week with 16 points, eight rebounds, and two steals against OC and then followed that up with 18 points and nine boards against UAFS. The Broomfield, Colo. native also added seven assists on the offensive end of the floor.