FORT SMITH, Arkansas -- Midwestern State looks to end its three-game slide as it visits Arkansas-Fort Smith on Thursday night. The Mustangs are coming off a 90-62 loss to UT Permian Basin but have won three of their last four meetings with the Lions. Tipoff at Stubblefield Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Kertisa Amos notched her second double-double of the season, finishing with a team-high 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting while going 7 of 11 from the free-throw line. She also pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss at home on Saturday. Kyla Speights connected on 3-of-6 3-point shots on her way to a career-best 15 points.

Midwestern State fell to 4-13 overall and dropped to 4-7 in Lone Star Conference play.

Zarria Carter is the fourth-leading scorer in the LSC with 16.5 points per game, and the 6-1 junior forward is leading the conference with 10.9 rebounds per game. Carter, who is shooting 47.4 percent from the field, has posted eight double-doubles this season for the Mustangs, and only Ashley Ingram of Texas Woman's has more in the LSC with nine this season. Alisha Little of CSU-Pueblo leads NCAA Division II with 14 double-doubles this season.

Amos is sixth in the league with 15.6 points per game and shooting 40.2 percent from the field. Amos is 13th in the conference with 6.8 rebounds per game, and she had a season-high 10 rebounds in the loss to UT Permian Basin. The 5-9 fifth-year senior is eighth in the conference with 2.2 steals per game.

Makayla Coy, who is scoring 8.9 points per game for the Mustangs, is the seventh-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.8 boards per game. Coy scored a career-high 33 points against Tampa earlier this season. The 5-11 senior has three double-doubles this season.

Catalina Cortez has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.52 and leads the Mustangs with 3.1 assists per game. Cortez is playing nearly 32 minutes a game. The 5-2 sophomore has hit a 3-pointer in each of her last seven games and scored a career-high 12 points against UT Permian Basin.

Nikki Green scored a career-high 23 points last week against Angelo State and is the third-leading scorer for Midwestern State with 9.3 points per game. Green had a streak of six consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer snapped in the loss to UTPB, when she made her seventh start of the season. Green has attempted the ninth-most 3-point shots in the LSC with 87 attempts from long distance and is shooting 34 percent from beyond the arc in conference games (18 of 53).

Midwestern State is scoring 65.3 points per game this season, and opponents are averaging 76.1 points against the Mustangs.

Midwestern State is the second-best rebounding team in the LSC with 38.94 rebounds per game. The Mustangs lead the conference and are 19th among NCAA Division II programs with 15.7 offensive rebounds per game.

Carter is hitting 85.2 percent of her free throws, which ranks third in the league, and she has attempted the fifth-most free throws in the LSC with 88. As a team, MSU is shooting 20.2 free throws per game, which is fifth-most in the conference, and boasts the seventh-best free-throw percentage at 72.3.

The Mustangs have the second-fewest turnovers in the LSC with 13.8 per game and are seventh in the league with a 0.77 assists-to-turnover ratio. MSU forces 16.06 turnovers and the plus-2.29 turnover margin is fifth-best in the conference.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Arkansas-Fort Smith, 4-3, and won its last visit to the Stubblefield Center, 66-64, in December of 2021, when Midwestern State limited the Lions to one field goal over the final 7:13. This will be the final meeting as conference opponents. UAFS is joining the MIAA in the 2024-2025 academic year.

Last season, Aaliyah Prince poured in a game-high 28 points to lead Arkansas-Fort Smith to a 68-65 win at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. UAFS controlled the boards, 45-37, and made 18 of their season-high 26 free-throw attempts in the victory.

Arkansas-Fort Smith (5-12, 3-8) has a three-game losing streak and has lost five of its last six games. The Lions are 3-5 at home, including a 55-54 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 11.

UAFS is returning home following an 84-57 loss at St. Edward's last week. The Lions were unable to overcome a season-high 29 turnovers, which led to 33 points for the Hilltoppers. Morgan Browning scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the loss. Zyniah Thomas scored 10 points, and Riley Hayes finished with nine points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Lions.

The Lions average 62.4 points per game and allow their opponents to score 67.2 points per contest.
Hannah Boyett, a 5-9 senior guard, is the leading scorer for UAFS with 9.8 points per game, and Baylee Fincher, a 5-7 junior guard, is scoring 9.1 points per outing. Morgan Browning, a 5-7 junior guard, is contributing 8.6 points a contest, and Kayla Brundidge, a 6-2 senior forward, is averaging 7.2 points per game.

Brundidge is the leading rebounder for the Lions with 6.4 boards per game, and the Lions are eighth in the league with 36.3 rebounds per game.

UAFS is attempting more than 21 3-point shots per game and is shooting 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. Boyett has made the fifth-most 3-pointers among LSC shooters with 33 on 92 attempts (.359) this season. The Lions shoot 30.8 percent from 3-point range as a team, which is seventh-best in the conference.

Arkansas-Fort Smith has been prone to turnovers with 19.9 per game, but it forces 19.2 turnovers per game, which is fifth-best in the LSC.

Brundidge and Sinetra Jones, a 6-3 junior forward, have each blocked 17 shots this season and are tied for the seventh-most blocked shots in the conference.

Ryan McAdams is in his third season as the head coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith and is 22-48. McAdams was assistant coach at New Mexico State prior to taking over the reins at UAFS. He also spent seven seasons as the head coach Eastern Arizona, where he was 137-82 and led the Gila Monsters to three NJCAA Tournaments, including advancing to the second round for the first time in program history.

Midwestern State graduate Shatoia Gober is on the staff at UAFS. Gober averaged 9.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game during the Mustangs' run to the South Central Regional final in 2013. Gober earned All-Lone Star Conference honorable mention as a senior, scoring 8.9 points, grabbing 5.5 rebounds, and dishing out 3.2 assists per game in 2014-15. Gober coached four All-LSC performers in her three seasons as an assistant at MSU.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 56-26 (.683) 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 a Southland Conference East Division title in 2006-07, earning all-conference and all-academic honors as a senior. She is married to Kevin Jackson, assistant coach for the Mustangs.

Midwestern State visits Oklahoma Christian on Saturday. Tip-off at the Eagles Nest is scheduled for 1 p.m.

--MSUMustangs.com--