SILVER CITY, N.M. -- Midwestern State has won three of its last four games as it embarks on its first road trip of 2024. The Mustangs visit Western New Mexico on Thursday, and tip-off at Drag's Court is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CST.

Lubbock Christian hit 11 of its first 12 shots, including five 3-pointers, en route to a 27-12 lead at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. MSU rallied to force overtime as Kertisa Amos scored a season-high 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in a 68-61 loss.

Amos earned her first double-double as a Mustang, and Zarria Carter completed her sixth of the season with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Carter, who has the second-most double-doubles in the LSC, has posted one in each of her last three games and has scored at least 20 points four times this season.

Midwestern State (3-10, 3-4) is seeking its second road win of the season after defeating St. Edward's 66-64 in its last game away from home on Dec. 8. The Mustangs are 1-3 as the visiting team this season.
The Mustangs are scoring 64.9 points per game this season with a 66.71 scoring average in conference games.
Amos is fifth in the Lone Star Conference with 16.9 points per game, and Carter is sixth with 15.7 points per game.

Midwestern State is third in the LSC with 40 rebounds per game and leads the league with 16.8 offensive rebounds per game, which is ninth-most among NCAA Division II programs.

Carter is one of three Mustangs among the conference top-10 in rebounding. Carter is second with 11 rebounds per game. Makayla Coy is seventh in the league, grabbing 8.2 caroms per game, and Amos is ninth with 7.2 boards per contest.

Carter leads the conference with 5.1 offensive rebounds per game. Coy is third in the LSC with 3.5 offensive rebounds per game, and Amos is sixth with 2.9 per contest.

The Mustangs are taking care of the basketball this season with just 14.2 turnovers per game, which is the third-fewest in the LSC and is 44th in the nation.

Catalina Cortez, who is averaging 3.1 assists per game, is playing a team-high 31.6 minutes per game and is second in the conference with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.11.

Midwestern State is allowing opponents to score 75.8 points per game this season, but conference foes have been held to 68.57 points per game.

The Mustangs, who are averaging 8.2 steals per game, are forcing 17 turnovers a game, and are ninth in the conference in both categories. MSU is fourth in the league with a turnover margin of 2.77.

Amos is seventh in the league with 2.27 steals per game and has a total of 25 this season.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Western New Mexico, 12-5, but lost both encounters with the Western Mustangs last season.

Last season in Silver City, WNMU took a 17-point lead 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, but MSU staged a furious comeback in a 64-62 loss. Eternity Jackson played 34 minutes and finished with 10 points for the MSU Mustangs.

In Wichita Falls last year, Western New Mexico snapped a string of 17 consecutive road losses to NCAA Division II opponents with a 53-47 victory. WNMU took an early 7-1 lead and never trailed. Sydney Wright scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting with three rebounds and two assists to lead Western New Mexico.

Western New Mexico (7-4, 2-4) has lost four of its last five games after starting the season 6-0. The Western Mustangs are 4-0 at home this season, including an 80-72 victory over Northern New Mexico in their last game at Drag's Court on Dec. 28. Dating back to last season, WNMU has a six-game home winning streak.

WNMU is coming off back-to-back losses at Angelo State (81-68) and UT Permian Basin (72-55). The Western Mustangs have lost four-straight conference games but have won both of their LSC matchups at home, including a 54-51 victory over St. Edward's on Dec. 2.

Western New Mexico is 12th in the conference with 61.7 points per game, and the Western Mustangs are conceding 63.1 points per game, which is sixth most in the LSC.

Sydney Wright is the leading scorer for Western New Mexico, averaging 11.7 points per game, and she is the only player on the roster averaging double figures in scoring. Diamond Moore is the second-leading scorer with 8.5 points per game.

WNMU shoots 38.7 percent from the floor — 11th in the conference — and from 3-point distance the Mustangs from Silver City are shooting 27.5 percent, which is 13th in the league.

Wright is 20 of 57 (34.8 percent) from beyond the arc and leads the team in 3-point shooting.
At the free-throw line, WNMU is hitting 65.3 of their shots. Jayde Goynes is the most frequent visitor to the foul line (19 of 30), and she is shooting 63.3 percent. Wright is 17 of 22 from the foul line and shoots the highest percentage for the purple and gold Mustangs at 77.3 percent.

Western New Mexico is averaging 17.3 turnovers per game and forcing 15.4, which is fourth-fewest in the conference. The minus-1.83 turnover margin is 13th in the league.

The leading rebounder for WNMU is Eliza Joynes, a 6-3 junior center from Adelaide, South Australia, and a transfer from Loyola Marymount. She is 18th in the conference, pulling down 6.1 rebounds per game. WNMU is sixth in the LSC, averaging 36.9 rebounds per game.

Western New Mexico is averaging 16.7 turnovers per game and forcing 15.5, which is fourth-fewest in the conference. The minus-1.2 turnover margin is 13th in the league.

Joynes is blocking 1.36 shots per game, and she has 15 total blocks this season.

Brooke Rodgers, Milan Tuttle and Wright have combined for 45 of the 92 steals made by WNMU this season.

Josh Pace is in his fourth season at the helm of the WNMU program and is 24-40 (.375). Pace won an NCAA championship as a player at Syracuse in 2003 under head coach Jim Boeheim and played professionally both abroad and in the U.S. for 10 years.

As a starter in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Pace averaged better than 10 points and five rebounds per game for Syracuse. He earned All-Big East honorable mention and was named to the Big East All-Tournament team as a senior, as well as garnering the Big East Sportsmanship Award.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 55-23 after two highly successful campaigns at Texas Wesleyan, where she won 80 percent of her games (52-13).

Jackson played collegiate basketball at Southeastern Louisiana helping the Lions to Southland Conference East Division title in 2006-07 earning all-conference and all-academic honors as a senior.

Midwestern State visits Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off at Greyhound Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m. CST.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--