West Texas A&M's undefeated week kept the Lady Buffs atop the LSC women's basketball standings as the Lady Buffs led a group of seven teams with a perfect week. Eighth-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce remained half a game behind WT at 10-2, and Angelo State rode a 3-0 week to an 11-3 record in third place. Texas Woman's sits fourth at 10-3, heading into the final week.
Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M International, Texas A&M-Kingsville, UT Permian Basin and UT Tyler were also unbeaten, with the final week of the season looming.
LSC women's basketball teams are 212-197 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
2022 LSC BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The LSC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships are set for March 1-3-4-5-6, 2022, with the opening round on-campus on Tuesday, March 1. The final eight teams will advance to the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas, for the quarterfinal, semifinal and championship rounds March 3-6. The top 12 men’s and women’s teams will qualify and be seeded based on the league standings following a single-round robin conference schedule (16 games).
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Rai Brown, Texas A&M International, SO, Multidisciplinary Studies, F, Wheatley Height, N.Y., North Babylon HS
Brown was again the offensive leader for TAMIU, helping the Dustdevils to a 2-0 week and securing a spot in the LSC Tournament. In Thursday's 74-73 win over Texas Woman's, Brown finished the night with a game high 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a block. Brown again posted the game high in scoring in Saturday's 79-53 win over Midwestern State. She finished the game with a game-high 28 points and nine rebounds, as well as one block and three steals.
DEFENSIVE
Liah Davis, UT Tyler, SR, Marketing, C, Colorado Springs, Colo., Sand Creek HS
Davis led a defensive effort that shut down St. Mary's and St. Edward's in succession during the Patriots' weekend homestand. Against the Rattlers, Davis spearheaded an effort that held StMU to its lowest shooting performance of the season at just 23.9-percent. The Colorado native nearly notched a double-double, coming up with eight points and nine rebounds while adding a steal, a block, and two assists. Against the Hilltoppers, the senior led a unit that held a team to its lowest shooting percentage of the season for a second consecutive game at 28.3-percent. Davis had 14 points to go along with six rebounds and a team-high three steals in the game as the Patriots moved to 9-3 in conference games.
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
J-17 Dyani Robinson, Texas A&M-Commerce (2)
J-24 Maighan Hedge, Cameron (3)
J-31 Ashley Ingram, Texas Woman’s (2)
F-7 Rai Brown, Texas A&M International (2)
F-14 Chania Wright, Texas A&M-Commerce
F-21 Rai Brown, Texas A&M International (3)
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
J-17 Anastacia Mickens, Texas A&M-Kingsville
J-24 Kelsey Crouse, UT Tyler
J-31 Kelsey Crouse, UT Tyler (2)
F-7 Juliana Robertson, Lubbock Christian (2)
F-14 Madeline Stephens, Angelo State
F-21 Liah Davis, UT Tyler
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Kryslyn Jones, Texas A&M-Kingsville, paced the Javelinas offensively on the week, averaging 23 ppg, at an incredibly efficient 53.8 percent shooting clip. The sophomore went 14-26 from the floor while hitting 7-13 from beyond the arc and dropped four dimes in matchups against Midwestern State and Texas Woman's. She accounted for half of TAMUK's points in Thursday's contest against the Mustangs, scoring 31 to help the Javs complete a 62-57, 18-point comeback win. Additionally, she compiled seven assists in the victory over MSU Texas before scoring 15 against TWU on Saturday.
Brooklin Bain, Oklahoma Christian, increased her season double-double total to 12 with 21 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday in an 84-73 loss to Angelo State. She is tied for 21st in NCAA Division II this season in that statistical category. That followed a 21-point, six-rebound effort on Thursday in a 75-61 loss to Texas-Permian Basin. Bain ranks third in the Lone Star Conference this season in scoring (17.2) and second in rebounding (10.0).
Sadie Moyer, Texas Woman’s, lead TWU to a 1-1 record on the road this week. Moyer shot 54.5 percent from the 3-point line and 92.9 percent from the charity stripe. In TWU’s win against Texas A&M-Kingsville, Moyer scored a career-high 30 points.
Blakely Gerber, Angelo State, was important for the Rambelles as they closed their road schedule this past week with a trio of wins. Against St. Mary's, she scored 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, while grabbing eight rebounds as the Rambelles shot 53 percent against the Rattlers. Against UAFS, she scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. Gerber closed the week against Oklahoma Christian, where she recorded her first collegiate double-double with a season-high 21 points to go with 10 rebounds.
DesiRay Kernal, Texas A&M-Commerce, had 32 points in wins over St. Edward’s and St. Mary’s this past week, shooting 75 percent from the field. Kernal had 26 points in Thursday’s win over the Hilltoppers. She averaged six rebounds in the two games, grabbing seven against St. Edward’s and five against St. Mary’s. She also shot 8-for-11 at the free throw line and is 20th in the conference with a scoring average of 11.7 and 12th with a rebounding average of 6.8.
Destini Whitehead, UT Tyler, was a crucial key to success for the Patriots as they swept their final homestand of the season. Against St. Mary's, Whitehead scored 13 points on an efficient 5-for-6 from the field and added three steals and three defensive rebounds to chip in on both sides of the ball. Against St. Edward's, she had a team-high 17 points on 6-for-14 shooting and 2-for-5 from beyond the arc. She also added in two defensive rebounds, two assists, and two steals in the contest.
Rory Carter, UT Permian Basin, tied a career high with 18 points on Thursday, going 4-of-7 from three-point range. The sophomore added nine points as the Falcons came back from down 18 to beat UAFS and stay alive in the LSC postseason race. The Falcons were 2-0 last week.
Madison Kast, West Texas A&M, led the Lady Buffs to a pair of victories last week as WT ran its win streak to six contests with a home win over Cameron followed by a Thursday night road trip to Western New Mexico. The Visalia, California product went 11-of-21 from the floor and 4-of-8 from the free throw line to average 13.0 points per contest to go along with 12 rebounds (six offensive, six defensive), three blocks and three steals in the pair of wins. Thursday night saw Kast score a career-high 21 points in Silver City as she went 9-of-17 from the floor including 3-of-7 from the free throw line to go along with nine rebounds, three steals and a block.
Juliana Louis, Texas A&M-Commerce, totaled 12 rebounds, five blocks, and four steals in the two wins for the Lions this past weekend. She had nine rebounds, two blocks, and a steal on Thursday and had three blocks, three steals, three rebounds in the win over St. Mary’s on Saturday. She also averaged five points in the two games. Louis is 18th in the LSC with a rebounding average of 6.2 and 15th with an average of 0.8 blocks.
Ogechi Nwodo, UT Permian Basin, has turned into a force in the paint for the Falcons. On Thursday she came within two points of a double-double with an eight-point, 14-rebound performance. In the win over Oklahoma Christian, she had three blocks and four steals as the Falcons held the Eagles to just four points in the fourth quarter. Foul trouble limited her on Saturday, but she finished with five rebounds and a block as the Falcons came back from down 18 to beat UAFS.
Eva Langton, Texas A&M International, had a great week to close out her career at home, as the senior helped lead TAMIU to a 2-0 week. In Thursday's win over Texas Woman's, Langton secured a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding five assists, two blocks and a steal to the stat sheet. She followed that performance on Senior Day, Saturday, in the 79-53 win over Midwestern State with two points, seven rebounds, six assists, two more blocks and another steal.
Sawyer Lloyd, Angelo State, was a difference maker for the Rambelles on defense as they picked up a trio of road wins. Against St. Mary's, nine points, six rebounds, seven assists and five steals in their 24-point win over the Rattlers. Against UAFS, she added in four steals and five rebounds to go with 12 points as the Lady Lions were held to 33.8 percent shooting on the day. Against Oklahoma Christian, she grabbed seven rebounds and a pair of steals to go along with 20 points and eight assists. The Wall native is fifth in the LSC with 2.3 steals per contest.
Mia Rivers, Texas A&M-Kingsville, got the job done on both ends of the floor this week, averaging 12 ppg while snagging 8.5 RPG in a pair of contests against MSU Texas and TWU. She scored 10 points while collecting eight rebounds in a 62-57 win over Midwestern State, before finishing one board shy of a double-double against Texas Woman's logging 14 points and a steal.
Stephanie Peterson, Cameron, was all over the place this past week in the Aggies games against West Texas A&M and Western New Mexico. The third-year guard scored 24 points on 10-18 shooting while grabbing seven rebounds and adding a block and two steals in a close loss to WT. Peterson then scored 12 points, had six rebounds, seven assists, a block, and five steals in a dominant win over Western New Mexico; it was her fourth game with five or more steals this season. She also helped CU hold their opponents to under 35 percent shooting from the field and under 27 percent from three.
Ashley Ingram, Texas Woman’s, had a great week on the offensive and defensive end. Ingram averaged 20 points on 52 percent shooting from the field. She also grabbed six total offensive rebounds and 10 defensive rebounds. Against Texas A&M International, Ingram recorded her third double-double of the season.