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Tarleton (14-2, 1-0 LSC) vs. Eastern New Mexico (5-12, 0-2 LSC)
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 • 6 p.m.
Wisdom Gym • Stephenville, Texas

 

WHAT'S ON TAP

The Tarleton TexAnn basketball team returns to Wisdom Gym, Wednesday, Jan. 20, to host the Eastern New Mexico Zias in Lone Star Conference South Division action. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Stephenville.

 

The match-up will be broadcast live on KSTV (93.1 FM) in Stephenville.  Play-by-play announcer Lucas Vance will have the call for all TexAnns. Fans can listen to the action live via the Tarleton Athletics Radio Network by logging onto the KSTV web site or by clicking the Listen LIVE button in the game preview. The video and audio streams of the broadcast will be available on TarletonSports.com as part of Tarleton All-Access.

 

ABOUT THE TEXANNS

Following a loss to UT-Permian Basin last Monday, the TexAnns regrouped and posted two wins this past week. Tarleton hosted Angelo State in the teams Lone Star Conference South Division opener and came away with a 61-35 win over the Rambelles. Shelby Adamson scored a career-high 24 points and JoAnne Jones added 18 points as both players scored more points combined than ASU did all night.

 

On Monday, the TexAnns traveled to Denton to face Texas Woman's in a make-up game that was cancelled back on Jan. 7 due to inclement weather. Tarelton opened the game on a 10-2 run and never looked back on its way to a 71-50 win over the Pioneers at Kitty Magee Arena. Adamson again led the TexAnns in scoring, as she poured in a game-high 16 points. Morgan Stehling made just her second start of the season followed with 15 points. Sonya Sundberg tallied just two points on the night, but she made her presence known with her defense as she had four takeaways on the night.

 

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Tarleton has trailed its opposition by just 95:22 over the 16 games, spanning a total of 560 minutes. The TexAnns have either led or have been tied for more than 83 percent (460+ minutes) of the time during their games.

 

SEEING DOUBLE VISION

JoAnne Jones recorded her first double-double of the season in Tarleton's 61-35 win over Angelo State last Saturday. The senior center poured in 18 points while pulling down a season-high 14 rebounds. It was Jones' 11th double-double of her career, but first since March 4, 2009 (18 pts, 10 reb). Brittnie Haley leads the TexAnns with four double-doubles on the season. Kelsey Benford has also recorded a double-double as well.

 

HOME SWEET HOME

The TexAnns are a perfect 8-0 inside the friendly confines of Wisdom Gym this season. Tarleton's average margin of victory inside Wisdom Gym is +33.5.  The TexAnns are shooting over 48 percent from the floor while at home and allowing opponents to shoot under 31 percent. Jones leads the team in scoring at home, averaging 12.5 points a contest. Stehling follows as she averages 10.3 points a game at Wisom Gym.

 

The TexAnns have won 12 straight home contests dating back to last season. Tarleton's last home loss came to West Texas A&M (70-63) back on Jan. 24, 2009.

 

CONTROLLING THE INSIDE

The TexAnns have out-rebounded the opposition in 14 of their 16 games this season and are 12-2 during those contests. Currently, the TexAnns have out-rebounded their opponents in nine straight games and are 7-2 during that span.

 

Tarleton has been out-rebounded just twice this season, but are a perfect 2-0 in those two games. Pittsburg State out-rebounded the TexAnns 46-41 in Tarleton's 75-46 win over the Gorillas. Tarleton was then out-rebounded 34-27 against Northeastern State, but Tarleton came back to win that game, 56-42.

 

JONES OFFICIALLY ON RECORDS WATCH

JoAnne Jones (989) is now just 11 points shy from becoming the 19th player in Tarleton TexAnn history to score 1,000 points in a career.

 

Here is a look at the other career marks the senior is within striking distance of: She currently ranks tied at No. 13 all-time in free throws made (211), needing to make 15 more to overtake Melanie Richburg (225) for 12th-place; No. 11 in total rebounds (564), needing just four more to overtake Tina Tibbs (567) for 10th; No. 5 in offensive rebounds (229), needing six more to overtake Karla Dick and Amanda Franklin (235 each) for third-place; No. 5 in defensive rebounds (335), needing just four more to overtake Helena Smith (338) for fourth-place. Jones stands all alone in at No. 2 in blocks (140). The Arlington native enters tonight's game having played in 98 games during her career and is just 10 games shy from being tied for 15th most all-time (108).

 

MORE RECORDS TO WATCH

Sonya Sundberg has made 82 three-pointers in her career, good enough for seventh most all-time. She is 11 three-pointers shy of tying Casey Davies (93) for sixth most in school history. She also ranks ninth all-time in assists (274), 16 away from tying Tina Proctor (290) for eighth most in Tarleton history.

Brittnie Haley currently ranks ninth all-time in blocked shots (55) and is just six blocks away from tying assistant coach Misty Wilson's total of 61 blocks for eighth all-time.

 

LEADING THE PACK

Brittnie Haley has been the leading scorer in seven of Tarleton's 16 games, including the past two contests. Shelby Adamson has recently led the team in scoring the past two games. Tori Skarke has been the leading scorer in four games, JoAnne Jones has led in three games and Tara Towns has led the team in scoring once.

 

HELPING THEIR OWN CAUSE

The TexAnns have scored more points off turnovers than their opponents in 15 of their 16 games this season, with UTPB becoming the only team to score more (21-20). In all, Tarleton has out-scored opponents 417-178 in points off of turnovers.

 

TEXANNS IN DIVISION OPENERS

Division openers had not been nice to the TexAnns since joining the Lone Star Conference back in 1995. Tarleton was just 5-10 overall in division opening games before the win over Angelo State last Saturday. Tarleton is now 2-0 all-time in division-opening games against the Rambelles.

 

DOMINATING THE LSC

The Texans (13-2) and TexAnns (14-2) are a combined 25-4 (.845) on the season. That is tops in the Lone Star Conference for two teams at the same institution. West Texas A&M is behind Tarleton with a combined 28-8 (.778) record. Fort Hays State leads the South Central Region schools with a combined record of 28-4 (.875).

 

SUNDBERG NAMED LSC SOUTH DIVISION DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Tarleton had allowed Angelo State to pull within four points (18-14) with 7:32 left in the first-half on Saturday until Sundberg forced a turnover and a steal that led to a 6-0 run by the TexAnns. The run helped propel the TexAnns to a 14-point halftime lead and an eventual LSC South Divison-opening win (61-35).

 

Sundberg was mostly responsible for guarding ASU's leading scorer in Camille Perkins, and held her to just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, with three of her nine points coming from the foul line. Sundberg and the TexAnns held ASU to just .220 shooting on the night and their lowest point total in over 33 years when Stephen F. Austin held ASU to 32 points back in 1976-77. Sundberg then went on to hold Texas Woman's guard Jessica Hanna to just seven points, which was almost half her average, in Tarleton's 71-50 win over the Pioneers on Monday.

 

Sundberg is the first TexAnn to be named defensive POW and third  player overall. She joins Morgan Stehling and Brittnie Haley who each received offensive POW honors earlier this season.

 

TARLETON STILL AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE

Coach Ronnie Hearne's squad is again well represented in the latest NCAA national statistics released this past week. The TexAnns lead the nation with a +29.2 scoring margin and rank third nationally in scoring defense, allowing opponents to just 50.8 points a game. Tarleton ranks eighth in field goal percentage defense (.332) and seventh in offensive field goal percentage (.486). The TexAnns find themselves ranked in the top 100 nationally in multiple categories including: blocks (10th, 5.2), scoring (11th, 80.1), three-point field goal percentage (23rd, .378), rebound margin (29th, +6.9), assists (33rd, 16.9) and steals (54th, 11.2).

 

JoAnne Jones currently ranks fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (.630) and 59th in blocked shots (1.5). Brittnie Haley ranks 62nd overall in free throw percentage (.824) and Sonya Sundberg ranks 95th in assists (4.0) to round out the TexAnn players in the top 100.

 

SCOUTING THE ZIAS

Eastern New Mexico (5-12, 0-2 LSC) come in having lost five straight, including a pair of LSC South Division games last week to Texas A&M-Kingsville (77-61) and Abilene Christian (71-55). ENMU's last win came against Texas Woman's (69-68) back on Dec. 21 in Portales, N.M.

 

The Zias are on a current 14-game losing streak in LSC South Division play. ENMU's last win in division play came back on March 1, 2008, when the Zias defeated Midwestern State 75-56 at home.

 

The Zias are led by Cat Clay who averages 15.3 points per game. Til-Lois Fifer follows averaging 10.3 points a contest. Fifer also leads the team in rebounds (5.5) and blocked shots (10). Tori Northcutt leads ENMU with 79 assists and 31 steals on the season.

 

ENMU averages 66.8 points per game and is shooting .380 as a team from the field, which includes a .332 percentage from beyond the three-point line. ENMU is converting .712 of its shots from the charity stripe.

 

ENMU's defense is allowing opponents to score 75.6 points and shoot .419 from the field. Opponents are making .335 of their shots from downtown and .736 from the foul line.

 

Head coach Linden Weese is in his fourth season with the Zias. He comes in with an overall record of 33-67 at ENMU.

 

THE SERIES

Tarleton has owned the series in recent years, having won four straight and eight of the last nine. The TexAnns are 17-12 all-time against the Zias and 10-5 when playing inside Wisdom Gym.

 

Tarleton has won eight straight homes games against ENMU with its last loss coming back on Jan. 29, 2000.

 

Tarleton owns the longest winning streak in the series having won five straight from Jan. 25, 2001 to Dec. 3, 2002.

 

A LOOK AHEAD

The TexAnns will travel to Canyon this Saturday to face No. 11 West Texas A&M in a showdown of Top-25 teams. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at United Bank Center in Canyon. The TexAnns return home next Wednesday to hosts Abilene Christian. Tip-off against the Wildcats is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wisdom Gym.

 

The TexAnns will return to the road next Saturday against West Texas A&M. The TexAnns and Lady Buffs are scheduled to tip-off at 4 p.m. in Canyon.

 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES (TexAnn Streaks)

• Sonya Sundberg has started in every game that she has played in as a TexAnn (72 games).
• Shelby Adamson's consecutive free throws made came to an end on Monday. The sophomore made 27 straight before missing her second shot at the 17:32 mark in the second-half.
• The TexAnns have out-rebounded their opponents in nine straight games.