TIPOFF
Midwestern State advanced to the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament against No. 5 West Texas A&M. Tipoff against the Lady Buffs is set for 6 p.m. Friday at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas.
Midwestern State vs. West Texas A&M
Thursday, March 7 | 6 p.m.
Allen Event Center | Allen, Texas
Records: Midwestern State (18-10, 9-7); West Texas A&M (25-2, 15-1)
Live Video: CSNHouston.com
Live Audio: MSUMustangs.com
Live Stats: MSUMustangs.com
On the Air: 95.5 ESPN Wichita Falls
Game Notes (PDF)
SCOUTING THE LADY BUFFS
West Texas A&M holds a 25-2 overall record, is the Lone Star Conference Champion at 15-1 and tournament's top seed. They advanced to the semifinal by beating Cameron 64-53 on Wednesday. The No. 5 Lady Buffs of coach Mark Kellogg are led by senior forward Devin Griffin of Lubbock, Texas/Coronado who is fourth in the Lone Star Conference in scoring at 14.9 points a game and is seventh in the LSC rebounding with 6.8 rebounds a game, while ranking sixth in the league by shooting 50.3 percent from the floor (146-of-290). Junior forward Chontiquah White of Dallas, Texas/Life School Oak Cliff is sixth in the LSC with 12.9 points, is ninth in boards with 6.5 rebounds and ranks fourth in field goal percentage at 54.8 (115-of-210). Senior guard Casey Land of Canyon, Texas chips in 11.3 points (12th in the LSC) and averages 2.3 3-point field goals a game (second in LSC) with 2.9 assists (11th in LSC) and 2.3 steals (third in LSC), while junior forward Lacee Logan of Sudan, Texas provides 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds an outing. WTAMU leads the LSC averaging 81.7 points a contest, and allowing opponents 59.5 points.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Midwestern State takes on West Texas A&M for the 59th time, the third time this season and the second time in LSC Tournament play when they meet on Friday evening in the Lone Star Conference Tournament semifinals in Allen. It's a rematch of the 2013 Tournament Championship game that the Mustangs won 85-83 in overtime. WT holds a 42-16 series lead. MSU trails 9-18 at Ligon Coliseum, but leads the series 1-0 on neutral floors and in unknown locations 2-1. MSU trails in the series 4-23 in Canyon, including a 2-10 record at the First United Bank Center. WT has won two straight after beating MSU 87-77 in overtime on Feb. 12, 2014 at Ligon Coliseum and 71-54 on Jan. 8, 2014 in Canyon. WT snapped a three-game MSU winning streak, all last season, including a 74-55 win on Dec. 5, 2013 in Wichita Falls, a 58-55 win on Feb. 6, 2013 in Canyon and the 85-83 triumph in overtime to claim the Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship in Allen.
LAST TIME OUT VS. WT
The Mustangs stretched No. 5 West Texas A&M as far as they could, sending the contest to overtime before falling to the Lady Buffs 87-77. MSU overcame a six-point deficit with 3:04 to play by going on a 7-1 run to end regulation, capped by a Dianna Jones 3-pointer with 24 seconds in regulation to tie the game. MSU trailed by four until forced to foul with 37 seconds left when the Lady Buffs nailed all of their final six free throws. Andrea Carter led MSU with 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Jones and Kirsti Degelia each scored 10 points. Jones also notched six assists. The Mustangs shot 48.3 percent from the floor (29-of-60), including 4-of-13 from the arc (30.8 percent), and were nearly perfect from the foul line, hitting 15-of-16 (93.8 percent). WT connected on 47.2 percent from the floor (25-of-53), with 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from the arc and 29-of-40 (72.5 percent) from the charity stripe. MSU outrebounded West Texas A&M by six, 35-29.
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
Midwestern State is 18-10 on the season, fourth in the Lone Star Conference at 9-7 and carry the tournament's fourth seed. Coach Noel Johnson's Mustangs are led by junior All-America forward Andrea Carter who is second in the LSC averaging 16.0 points and third in the conference with 8.9 rebounds, to go with shooting 53.3 percent (fifth in the LSC) and grabbing 1.9 steals (fifth in the LSC). Senior guard Kirsti Degelia adds 11.1 points (13th in the LSC) with 1.3 three-pointers a game (15th in the LSC), to go with 3.1 assists (ninth in the LSC) and 1.2 steals. Junior guard Dianna Jones adds 9.8 points a game (20th in the LSC) to go with her LSC leading 4.7 assists and 1.86 assist-turnover ratio and her 1.4 steals (11th in the LSC). Junior guard Shatoia Gober chalks up 7.1 points a contest, as she pulls down 4.9 rebounds (19th in the LSC) with 2.4 assists and 1.0 steals. MSU averages 72.6 points a contest, while allowing 67.0.
LAST TIME OUT
The Mustangs came back from a 15-point first half deficit, then had to go to overtime before beating Angelo State 70-66 in the Lone Star Conference quarterfinals. MSU rode two-time All-LSC first teamer Andrea Carter who's layup and later two free throws in the last 41 seconds of overtime gave the Mustangs the win. Carter led all scorers with 18 points with a game-high nine rebounds. Shatoia Gober produced a season-high 15 points with six boards and a MSU LSC Tournament record two blocked shots. Taylor Dowd scored 10 points for the Mustangs. The triumph gave MSU its first three-game win streak over ASU since 1987. MSU shot 44.6 percent from the floor, connecting on 25 field goals on 56 attempts, including just 1-of-12 3-pointers (8.3 percent). MSU buried 19-of-27 from the foul line (70.4 percent). Angelo State shot 46.2 percent from the field (24-of-52), including 5-of-12 from the 3-point arc (41.7 percent) and connected on 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) from the free throw line.
MSU UNDER NOEL JOHNSON
Noel Johnson is 90-75 in her sixth year as the head coach of the Mustangs. She was the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year in 2012 after turning the program around with a 19-8 season, then earned the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Small College Coach of the Year award for leading MSU to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 with a 26-6 record and the Lone Star Conference Championship.
MSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Midwestern State started the season at number 10 in the WBCA's USA Today Sports Division II Top 25, but early losses dropped them to the first team receiving votes for the next three weeks. The Mustangs are currently not receiving votes in the poll.
REGIONAL RANKINGS
The third NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings of the season were issued on Wednesday. Midwestern State fell to ninth despite winning in its final regular season game in the important rankings that determine the tournament field. West Texas A&M returned to the top of the rankings after Colorado Mesa lost the final regular season game to Fort Lewis to stand second. Tarleton State remained third with Colorado State-Pueblo fourth and Texas A&M International fifth. St. Mary's climbed to sixth, with Fort Lewis seventh after its big win. Texas Woman's fell to eighth, MSU to ninth and Colorado Christian 10th. The NCAA Tournament selections are made on Sunday at 8 p.m. The postseason tournament winners of the Lone Star Conference, Heartland Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference are automatic qualifiers with the five at-large bids selected from the regional rankings.
LONE STAR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
The Mustangs are the number four seed in the Lone Star Conference Tournament in Allen and meets top seed WT on Friday at 6 p.m. in one semifinal On the other side of the bracket, number two seed Tarleton State faces number three seed Texas Woman's on Friday at noon. In the quarterfinals, MSU beat Angelo State 70-66 in overtime, West Texas A&M downed Cameron 64-53, Tarleton State beat Texas A&M-Commerce 84-55 and Texas Woman's got by Texas A&M-Kingsville 68-61.
THREE...DOT...THOUGHTS...
MSU beat Angelo State 70-66 in overtime, marking the fourth time the Mustangs have played in an overtime contest this season and winning one for the first time. This matched the 2005-06 campaign when MSU dropped three OT contests before winning one, which was the last time MSU lost multiple overtime games in a season … MSU overcame a 15-point deficit to win the contest … The game was eerily similar to their overtime win in the LSC Tournament Championship game against West Texas A&M last season where they trailed by 10 at the half and won it in the extra period … MSU was outrebounded by Angelo State 37-31, snapping a string of six straight games where MSU ruled the glass. It evened MSU's mark to 5-5 when being outrebounded. The Mustangs are 11-3 when gaining a higher number of boards than their opponent (two of the three losses were to WT) and 2-2 when the boards are tied … after connecting on a season-best 10 3-point field goals against Cameron, MSU hit only one against Angelo State going 1-of-12 … Senior Kirsti Degelia of Denton, Texas/Krum continues to add to her career scoring total as she has amassed 1,376 points – seventh all-time at MSU. She is 19 points away from Lounette Adkins Decker (1978-79, 80-81, 93-95) with 1,395 points in sixth … Degelia moved to fifth at MSU with 329 career assists passing Glenda Washington (1981-86) in fifth with 325 … Degelia is seventh in MSU career 3-point field goals made with 109 passing Lynn Buckmaster (1992-94) and J.J. Anderson (1997-2001) with 108. She is one more trey from Heather O'Neal (1998-2000) in sixth with 110, two from Trish Young (1990-92) in fifth with 111 and three from Mindy Myers (1990-94) with 112 in fourth … Degelia is 13th on the MSU career steal's list with 151 … Junior forward Andrea Carter of Angleton, Texas is second in the Lone Star Conference in scoring, third in rebounding and fifth in steals, averaging 16.0 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals a game. She is also fifth in field goal percentage (53.3 percent), seventh in free throw percentage (75.0 percent) and 11th in blocked shots (0.5) … Carter is the 19th MSU woman to score 1000 points and is 17th in MSU career scoring with 1,040 points, passing Emily Dill (1990-94) with 1,029 … Carter is sixth on the MSU career rebound chart with 738, passing Shannon Boase (1995-99) with 731 … Carter is 10th in career steals at MSU, with 175 equaling Alanna Albrecht (1986-90) … Junior Diana Jones of Hewitt, Texas/Midway leads the Lone Star Conference with 4.7 assists per game and leads the league with a 1.86 assist/turnover ratio. Jones is third in the LSC with a 79.6 free throw percentage (82-of-103) and 11th in steals (1.4 per game) … Jones is 11th in MSU career assists with 252 and is four from joining the career top 10 by matching Lindy Lombard (1998-02) with 256 …
