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No. 24 Tarleton (19-4, 6-2 LSC) vs. No. 8 West Texas A&M (23-2, 7-1 LSC)
Saturday, Feb. 13, 2010 • 5 p.m.
Wisdom Gym • Stephenville, Texas

WHAT'S ON TAP

The No. 24 Tarleton TexAnns (19-4, 6-2 LSC) return to Wisdom Gym this Saturday, Feb. 13, to face No. 8 West Texas A&M (23-2, 7-1 LSC) in a battle between top-25 teams for the second time this season. Saturday's game will be the first time in school history that Tarleton has hosted a nationally ranked team while being in the top-25 themselves. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. inside Wisdom Gym.

 

All Tarleton women's basketball games will be broadcast live on KSTV (93.1 FM) in Stephenville.  Play-by-play announcer Lucas Vance will have the call for all TexAnn home games. Dr. Ron Newsome will follow the action when the TexAnns play on the road. 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.

 

Live audio and video will be available for all home games throughout the season. The video and audio streams of the broadcast will be available on www.TarletonSports.com as part of Tarleton All-Access.

 

SEASON-SERIES REWIND

The TexAnns went into Canyon back on Jan. 23 hoping to build off its first-ever top-25 national ranking, but the then No. 11 Lady Buffs had something else in mind.

 

The TexAnns started out strong, scoring the game's first nine points. The Lady Buffs wouldn't score their first bucket until the 15:22 mark, but still managed to inch their way back into the game. Jamie Simmons gave WT its first lead of the game on a jumper with 9:07 remaining in the period. After each team traded baskets over the course of the next minute and half, Jones put the TexAnns back on top, 21-19, with 7:30 after a pair of free throws, but WT regained the lead at 7:19 with a pair of free throws from Megan McLain. Tarleton managed to tie  the game again at 27-27 with 3:40 left,  but a 9-0 run from the Lady Buffs put the home team back on top 36-27 with 1:42 still to go in the first-half. WT would then take a seven-point lead into the locker room, up 38-31 at the break.

 

The Lady Buffs built their lead up to as many as 17 points with 14:54 remaining in the game. Tarelton then sparked a comeback over the next nine minutes and pushed the deficit to just seven points on a lay-up from Stehling that made it a 61-54 game still in favor of the Lady Buffs with 6:16 left to play. The TexAnns were down 68-60 with 3:08 and neither team could come up with a basket of any kind over the next two minutes until Sonya Sundberg's three-pointer made it a five-point game at the 1:06 mark. Tarleton followed it up with the lay-up from Stehling to pull the game back to within three points.

With the TexAnns forced to foul, McLain and Holly Isaacs became the beneficiaries. McLain made all four of her attempts and Isaacs converted both of hers to keep the TexAnns out of striking distance.

 

ABOUT THE TEXANNS

Tarleton won its third straight game on Wednesday, defeating Eastern New Mexico 64-50 at Greyhound Arena in Portales, N.M. Brittnie Haley led all players with 18 points and 11 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season. The junior forward set a career-high with six blocks on the evening as well.

 

The TexAnns opened the scoring and never trailed in the game. Tarleton led 15-14 with 12:04 left in the first period before turning in a 19-3 run over the next 11-plus minutes to pull ahead 34-17. The TexAnns led 36-20 at the break and the closest ENMU would get in the second-half was within eight points before another run from the TexAnns put the game out of reach.

 

JoAnne Jones (15) and Shelby Adamson (10) each contributed with double-digit efforts and Morgan Stehling pulled down nine rebounds and dished out a team-high four assists.

 

ENMU's Cat Clay led the Zias in scoring, but she was held to just 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting. She was limited to just four three-point attempts all night as well. Vanessa O'Neal turned in 10 points and Tori Northcutt had a game-high seven assists.

 

The TexAnns shot just 35 percent from the field, but it was more than enough as the Tarleton defense held the Zias to just 30 percent shooting on the night. Both teams finished tied in points off turnovers (15-15) and second-chance points (5-5), but it was Tarleton's fast break points (15-4) that pushed the TexAnns over the top. That, combined with a sluggish performance from the free-throw line by the Zias (6-17, .353) helped Tarleton to its 19th win on the season.

 

BACK IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

The TexAnns returned to the USA Today/ESPN National Top-25 poll this week after dropping out of the rankings last week. Following the pair of wins against Midwestern State, Tarleton moved back into the No. 24 spot where it debuted for the first time in school history back on Jan. 19.

 

REGIONALLY SPEAKING

The TexAnns stayed at No. 6 in this week's South Central regional rankings after going 2-0 against Midwestern State last week. West Texas A&M remained No. 1 while Texas A&M-Kingsville (No. 9) and Abilene Christian (No. 10) traded spots after splitting a two-game set during LSC Rivalry Week.

 

HOME SWEET HOME

Tarleton is a perfect 11-0 when playing inside the friendly confines of Wisdom Gym this season. With the win over MSU, the TexAnns pushed the home winning streak to 15 games dating back to last season. Tarleton's last home defeat came to West Texas A&M (70-63) back on Jan. 24, 2009.

 

WINNING WAYS

The TexAnns' 61-35 win over Angelo State back on Jan. 16, assured Tarleton its sixth consecutive winning season - all under head coach Ronnie Hearne. Hearne and the TexAnns went 15-15 in his first season giving him seven consecutive non-losing seasons as head coach of the TexAnn basketball program.

 

GET DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY

The TexAnns are now just one win away from netting head coach Ronnie Hearne his first 20-win season as head coach of the TexAnns. Hearne led the 2005-06 South Central Regional team to 19 wins as well.

 

DOUBLE VISION

Brittnie Haley recorded her fifth double-double of the season against ENMU on Wednesday, giving her five for the season. She has recorded 11 double-doubles in her career with the TexAnns.

 

SCOUTING THE LADY BUFFS

West Texas A&M comes into Stephenville with a current six-game winning streak that began with an 82-62 thumping of Midwestern State back on Jan. 20. The Lady Buffs have averaged 77.6 points a game since then and have allowed opponents to just 56.6 points. WT has outscored it's opponents 466-340 over the course of the current streak.

 

WT downed Midwestern State 88-54 this past Wednesday in Canyon. Jamie Simmons scored a game-high 21 points and Megan McLain followed with 17 points. Simmons led the team with eight rebounds and Joni Unruh had four takeaways.

 

WT had two players (McLain, Callie Schniederjan) with six assists each and tallied 25 assists as a team.

 

The Lady Buffs shot .561 from the field while holding the Mustangs to just .386 percent from the floor and not allowing an MSU starter to score in double-digits.

 

LADY BUFF LEADERS

Jamie Simmons lead WT wih 14.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. She is followed by Joni Unruh (13.6 ppg) and Megan McLain (11.8 ppg). Unruh tops the squad with 85 assists and 69 steals. Holly Isaacs has netted a team-high 58 shots from beyond the arc.

 

The Lady Buffs are shooting .475 from the field as a team, including a .359 percent effort from downtown. WT converts .712 percent of its shots from the free-throw line.

 

THE SERIES

The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series 25-4 and come into Stephenville with an eight-game winning streak over the TexAnns. Tarleton's last win against WT came back on Jan. 28, 2006 when the TexAnns downed the Lady Buffs 55-50 at Wisdom Gym.

 

The TexAnns are just 3-11 all-time against the Lady Buffs at home. Head coach Ronnie Hearne is 2-10 against the Lady Buffs. Meanwhile, WT head coach Krista Gerlich is a perfect 7-0 against Tarleton.

 

A LOOK AHEAD

Tarleton gets an early start to next week's games, playing on the road at Abilene Christian next Tuesday, Feb. 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside Moody Coliseum.

 

Tarleton then returns back to Wisdom Gym next Saturday, Feb. 20 to host Texas A&M-Kingsville. Saturday's game will be the WBCA's Think Pink night. All fans in attendance are encouraged to wear pink to help promote breast cancer awareness. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.

 

Coming up next week, the TexAnns will travel to Abilene on Tuesday, Feb. 16, to face the Wildcats at Kimbrell Arena on the campus of McMurry before heading back home to host Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, Feb. 20.

 

DID YOU KNOW?

• Shelby Adamson is averaging 11.3 points a game this season, one point higher than she finished with last season where she claimed LSC South Division Freshman of the Year honors.
• Brittnie Haley set a new season-high in rebounds on Wednesday. She has 149 total rebounds on the season going into Saturday's game with West Texas A&M. Her previous season-high was 144 rebounds that she had in 2006-07.
• Tarleton is allowing opponents to just 35.3 rebounds per game. That number is on pace to break the single-season school record that was set back in 1990-91 when the TexAnn opponents pulled down just 35.7 boards a game.