Women's Basketball 11/15/2025 12:19:00 PM Grant Cohen

Tarleton State Women’s Basketball set for Sunday home matchup with McNeese

STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Women's Basketball returns to the EECU Center to face McNeese on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tarleton State will face McNeese for the second time in program history. The Texans won the first matchup with McNeese, winning 88-64 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Jakoriah Long had a career-high 34 points.

McNeese, who is led by former Southeastern Louisiana coach Ayla Guzzardo, has nine transfers from SLU. Southeastern Louisiana won the Southland Conference regular season championship, qualifying for the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament.

The Texans will be hosting its annual canned food drive presented by Surepoint Emergency Center during Sunday's game. Fans who donate a canned food item will receive a free ticket to the game.

The Tarleton State Ticket Office will accept donations during normal operating hours, which fans can claim their tickets then, or at Sunday's game. All canned goods will benefit St. Luke's Food Pantry ahead of Thanksgiving.

Fans can watch Sunday's game on ESPN+ and can listen to Clayton Neville's radio call on Tarleton Sports Network.

MAKING IT RAIN

Tarleton State shot lights out from 3-point range last season. In their regular season home finale against CBU (3/6), the Texans shot a season-high 52.4% from beyond the arc.
The Texans went undefeated with a 7-0 mark when they knocked down at least 40% of their 3-pointers.
Sophomore guard Mar'Cyah Willis made four 3-pointers en route to 16 points, shooting 66.7% from beyond the arc against Schreiner (11/3).
Senior guard Jakoriah Long currently has theDivision I program record for most 3-pointers in a game with seven. She hit that mark twice last season. Long shot 70% from 3-point range against CBU (3/6).
The Texans shot 50% (7-of-14) from 3-point range in the first half at Texas A&M (11/13). It was Tarleton State's best first half shooting performance from the 3-point line in a minimum of 10 attempts since Feb. 6, 2025 (7-of-12 vs. Seattle U). That allowed them to hold a double digit lead against the Aggies.

PEAK PERFORMER

Tarleton State signed former All-WAC First Team player Gia Adams this past season. She scored 12 points in her Texan debut against Schreiner (11/3) and had a season-high 21 points at Texas A&M (11/13), leading all scorers.
Adams, the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, has averaged 13.8 points per game over her college career. She was named to the 2023-24 All-WAC First Team at UT Arlington before transferring to North Texas. The Cypress, Texas, native was the Texans' first transfer to sign with the Texans.
Averaging 14.5 points per game in her junior season at UT Arlington, Adams led the Lady Mavs in scoring and was the third-leading scorer in the WAC during the 2023-24 season. The Dave Campbell's Honorable Mention All-Texas guard won four straight WAC Newcomer of the Week honors and registered six 20-point games in a UTA uniform. She dropped a season-high 30 points at CBU, the eventual 2024 WAC Champions.
Prior to joining UTA, Adams spent her first two seasons at Tennessee State. Adams had one of the best seasons by a Tennessee State freshman in the program's history, averaging 12.9 points per game en route to winning the OVC Freshman of the Year award. Dropping a career-high 33 points against SIUE on Feb. 17, 2022, Adams became just the third TSU freshman to score at least 30 points and became the first player in the program to accomplish that feat since 2012.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Tarleton State Women's Basketball welcomes 12 newcomers on its 15-player roster in 2025-26. The Texans have the seventh-most newcomers in all NCAA Division I Women's Basketball.
The Texans have four Division I transfers, one Division II transfer, a pair of junior college transfers and four freshmen.
Tarleton State replaced eight seniors from 2024-25.
Five transfers (Tessa Engelman, Jailynn Brill, Gia Adams, Shadasia Brackens, and Caroline Lyles) all have previous experience in Division I.

LEADERS OF THE WAC

Tarleton State led the conference in four categories in 2024-25: Field Goal Percentage Defense (38.5), Free Throw Percentage (75.8), Rebounding Margin (7.6) and Rebounds Per Game (38.03)
The Texans finished second in the WAC in Offensive Rebounds Per Game (13.2), and Scoring Defense (58.2) last season.
Tarleton State was third in the WAC in Bench Points per Game (19.7), Offensive Rebounds Per Game (12.9), Scoring Margin (5.8), Three Point Percentage (32.0), and Winning Percentage (60.6).

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