OKLAHOMA CITY -- Fifth-year senior Kertisa Amos is coming off a season-high 25-point performance at Arkansas-Fort Smith and leads the Mustangs into a showdown with Oklahoma Christian on Saturday afternoon. Midwestern State hopes to end its four-game losing streak against the Eagles, who have dropped eight of their last nine games. Tipoff at Payne Athletic Center is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Amos was 10 of 21 from the field at Fort Smith on Thursday night and finished with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block for the Mustangs, who went on an 18-0 run in the third quarter to take a 52-47 lead with 6:48 to play in the period. Amos scored 10 points during the run.

Baylee Fincher scored 29 points for the Lions, who shot 50.8 percent from the field. Fincher led a 3-point barrage as the Lions hit 12-of-26 shots from beyond the arc, and the junior from Ponca City, Oklahoma, was 4 of 6 from long range. UAFS had three players scored at least 20 points in the victory.

Amos and Zarria Carter are leading Midwestern State and tied for fifth in the conference with 16.2 points per game. Carter is shooting 47.1 percent from the field, and Amos is hitting 40.1 percent of her field goal attempts.

Carter is the leading rebounder in the Lone Star Conference with 11.1 rebounds per game. The 6-1 junior from Mansfield, Texas, has posted nine double-doubles this season, including a 12-point, 14-rebound performance at UAFS on Thursday night. Carter has a double-double in seven of her last nine outings for the Mustangs. Only Ashley Ingram of Texas Woman's has more in the LSC with 10 this season. Alisha Little of CSU-Pueblo leads NCAA Division II with 14 double-doubles this season.

Amos is 13th in the conference with 6.8 rebounds per game, and she had a season-high 10 rebounds in the 90-62 loss to UT Permian Basin last Saturday. The 5-9 swingman is ninth in the conference with 2.1 steals per game.

Makayla Coy, who is scoring 8.9 points per game for the Mustangs, is the eighth-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.7 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 2.57 and leads the Mustangs with three assists per game. Cortez is playing 31 minutes a game. The 5-2 sophomore has hit a 3-pointer in each of her last eight games and scored a career-high 12 points against UT Permian Basin on Jan. 20.

Nikki Green scored 18 points at UAFS on Thursday and is the third-leading scorer for Midwestern State with 9.8 points per game. Green is 27 of 94 from 3-point range this season. In her last eight games, Green is 17 of 40 from long distance and is averaging 12.4 points in that span.

Midwestern State is scoring 66.3 points per game this season, and opponents are scoring 77.2 points per game against the Mustangs.

Midwestern State is the second-best rebounding team in the LSC with 39.17 rebounds per game. The Mustangs lead the conference and are 12th among NCAA Division II programs with 16.1 offensive rebounds per game.

Carter is hitting 84 percent of her free throws, which ranks fourth in the league, and she has attempted the fourth-most free throws in the LSC with 94. As a team, MSU is shooting 20.6 free throws per game, which is fifth-most in the conference, and boasts the seventh-best free-throw percentage at 71.7.

The Mustangs have the 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 15.94 turnovers and the plus-2.17 turnover margin is fifth-best in the conference.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Oklahoma Christian, 10-9, but the Mustangs are 2-4 as the visiting team in the series. MSU has won the last three encounters and five of the last six meetings, including a 71-67 overtime victory at D.L. Ligon Coliseum last season. Markayla Johnson hit the shot that force overtime with eight seconds remaining in regulation.

Midwestern State won its last visit to Oklahoma City, 71-68, as Morgan Lenahan scored 28 points in December of 2021.

Oklahoma Christian (3-13, 2-10) has lost nine of its last 10 games following a 53-50 loss to Cameron on Thursday night. Nakia Cullom had 17 points and six rebounds in the loss. Kate Bradley finished with 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Eagles. Brooklyn Bain was 0 of 5 from beyond the arc but finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.

The Eagles fell to 1-6 at home this season as they shot 36.4 percent from the field and went 7 of 28 from 3-point range in the loss.

Bain, a 5-10 senior from Comanche, Oklahoma, is the leading scorer for OC and 11th in the conference with 14.1 points per game and is shooting 43.4 percent from the field this season. Bain also leads the team and is sixth in the LSC with eight rebounds per game.

In five previous appearances against the Mustangs, Bain posted a double-double in each outing. She is averaging 18.8 points and 11.2 rebounds against Midwestern State and will have 100 career points against the Mustangs if she scores six in the game on Saturday.

Asiyha Smith, a 5-8 guard from Conway, Arkansas, is scoring 11.4 points per game and leads the team with 11 blocks this season. Smith, who played three seasons at Texas A&M-Commerce, scored a season-high 21 points in a 75-71 victory at St. Mary's last week. Smith also matched a season-high with four assists in the triumph.

Bradley leads the Eagles with 2.9 assists per game and had season highs in assists (7), rebounds (6), blocks (2), made 3-pointers (4) and 3-point attempts (9) against Cameron on Thursday.

Oklahoma Christian is third in the LSC with 38.69 rebounds per game and 13.8 offensive boards per contest.

The Eagles average 17.6 turnovers per game but force 16.3 each game. The minus-1.38 turnover ratio is 12th in the conference. Bradley is eighth in the league with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.53.

Oklahoma Christian attempts the fourth-most free throws in the LSC with 21.4 per game, but the Eagles only convert 14.9 and the free-throw percentage (.694) is 12th in the league.

From the field, OC is shooting 37.7 percent, which is 13th in the LSC, and the Eagles are 13th in field-goal percentage defense as opponents shoot 42 percent against OC.

The Eagles boasts the sixth-most productive bench in the LSC with 22.6 points per game.

Bain, Smith and Bradley have started all 16 games for Oklahoma Christian, and Ahniya Melton, a 6-0 junior forward from Aurora, Illinois, has made 15 starts this season. Melton averages 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Eagles.

Markeith Brown is in his second season as the head coach at OC. His record is 11-31 (.262) after the Eagles finished 8-18 in his inaugural campaign. Brown spent seven seasons as an assistant at Texas A&M-Commerce. Brown was named as the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Small College Women's Assistant Coach of the Year in May 2017 and as the NCAA Division II World Exposure Women's Assistant Coach of the Year in March 2020.

He is only the third coach in the history of the OC program, following Max Dobson (1977-1985) and Stephanie Findley (1985-2022), both members of the OC Athletic Hall of Fame. During Brown's tenure at TAMUC, which began in July 2015, the Lions posted a 143-57 record.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 56-27 (.675) 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 Lubbock Christian on Thursday. Tip-off at Rip Griffin Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

--MSUMustangs.com--