Listen LIVE | Complete Gamenotes
Tarleton (18-4, 5-2 LSC) at Eastern New Mexico (6-16, 1-6 LSC)
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 • 7 p.m. (CST)
Greyhound Arena • Portales, N.M.
WHAT'S ON TAP
The Tarleton TexAnns (18-4, 5-2 LSC) will travel to Portales, N. M., this Wednesday, Feb. 10 to finalize its 2010 series match-up against the Eastern New Mexico Zias (6-16, 1-6 LSC). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CST) at Greyound Arena.
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.
ABOUT THE TEXANNS
Tarleton upended the Midwestern State Mustangs last Wednesday, 70-47, but had a rough go of it when the team traveled to Wichita Falls, coming away with just a 56-54 win on the road. The two wins - no matter how they earned them - kept the TexAnns in second-place in the LSC South Division behind West Texas A&M (6-1 LSC) and ahead of both Texas A&M-Kingsville (5-2) and Abilene Christian (4-3).
Shelby Adamson led the TexAnns this week averaging 1.40 points a game while going 8-for-19 (.421) from the field that included a 1-for-1 effort from the three point line. She went 11-for-17 at the charity stripe as well. Sonya Sundberg led the team with seven assists. Three players -Adamson, Morgan Stehling and Brittnie Haley - each had nine rebounds on the week.
REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The TexAnns stayed at No. 6 in last week's South Central regional rankings after going 1-1 in games a week prior. West Texas A&M remained No. 1 and Texas A&M-Kingsville debuted in the poll for the for first time this season at No. 10. St. Mary's was the only team to fall out of the poll.
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
Tarleton's 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 two wins away from netting head coach Ronnie Hearne his first 20-win season as head coach of the TexAnns. The 2005-06 team won 19 games under Hearne.
ROAD WARRIORS
The TexAnns are 7-4 when playing away from Wisdom Gym. Tarleton is 5-4 in true road games and 2-0 in neutral site games.
The TexAnns have lost by a combined 13 points in the four road losses, with every game coming down to the wire. Although Tarleton has a tougher time in road games, the TexAnns are still shooting .432 percent from the floor as a team. Tarleton is making .304 percent of its shots from beyond the arc and .717 percent of its attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, the TexAnns are allowing home teams (in true road games) to shoot just .393 from the field, .336 from the three-point line and .670 from the charity stripe.
Tarleton has turned the ball over 149 times on the road, but has forced 177 turnovers themselves. Tarleton is outrebounding its opponents 341-318 and has 44 blocks compared to their opponents 14 blocks.
SCOUTING THE ZIAS
Eastern New Mexico heads into Wednesday's game having lost its previous three games and nine of its last 10. The Zias last win came back on Jan. 23 when ENMU defeated Midwestern State, 70-56, at Greyhound Arena.
The Zias went 0-2 during LSC Rivalry Week, falling to No. 9 West Texas A&M 75-57 in Portales, N.M., before giving way to the Lady Buffs 84-45 in Canyon. Tori Northcutt and Til-Lois Fifer were the only two Zia players to score in double figures in Saturday's contest, as both players netted 10 points each. Nikki Ingram had the next highest point total for ENMU with six points on the day.
The Zias shot just .255 from the field while allowing the Lady Buffs to make .474 percent of its shots from the floor. ENMU turned the ball over 22 times and limited WT to just 11 turnovers.
ZIA LEADERS
Cat Clay leads the team averaging 14.4 points an outing. Tarleton limited her to just 11 points when the Zias came into Stephenville back on Jan. 20. Til-Lois Fifer follows Clay with 10.2 points a game while Tori Northcutt averages 8.2 points per contest.
Clay leads the Zias from downtown, having made 68 shots from beyond the three-point line. She averages .442 from beyond the arc this season. She is shooting .814 percent from the free-throw line as well. Fifer leads the team in field goal percentage, making .452 percent of her attempts from the floor.
Northcutt leads the team with 106 assists and 34 steals on the season. Fifer leads the squad with a 5.8 rebounds per game average and 12 blocks.
As a team, the Zias are shooting .386 percent from the field that includes a .339 percentage from beyond the arc. ENMU is making .704 of its attempts from the free-throw line.
ENMU averages 14.8 assists, 36.0 rebounds, 19.9 turnovers, 6.9 steals and 2.9 blocks per game.
THE SERIES
The TexAnns have won five straight games against the Zias, including a 55-43 win earlier this season in Stephenville. Tarleton leads the overall series 18-12 that dates back to 1980. ENMU's last win against the TexAnns came back on Feb. 24, 2007 when the Zias won 59-54 in Portales.
The TexAnns average margin of victory over the Zias in the last five home games is +15.4. The average margin of victory over the Zias in the previous five away games (with one loss included) is +18.4.
HEAD COACH LINDEN WEESE
Zias head coach Linden Weese is in his fourth season at ENMU. He brings in a 34-71 overall record into Wednesday's game as both the head coach for ENMU and his career.
Weese spent his previous 13 years as an assistant head coach at Texas Tech where the Lady Red Raiders tallied a combined record of 555-173. In between that time, Weese spent spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at West Texas A&M (2000-02).
Weese began his coaching career at Floydada High School where he was the head coach of girl's basketball and girl's track & field in 1977-78. From there he went to become the head girl's basketball coach at Stratford High School before begining his tenure at TTU.
A LOOK AHEAD
The TexAnns return to Wisdom Gym this Saturday for a highly anticipated rematch with West Texas A&M. The Lady Buffs got the best of Tarleton in the first game of the series back on Jan. 23, in Canyon. The Mavs ManiAAC's will be in town to perform at both half-time ceremonies.
Coming up next week, the TexAnns will travel to Abilene on Tuesday, Feb. 16, to face the Wildcats at Moody Coliseum before heading back home to host Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday, Feb. 20.
