WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State is hosting Texas A&M-Kingsville in the penultimate home game of the season. Both teams are one game behind Cameron and Arkansas-Fort Smith in the race for the final berth in the LSC Postseason Tournament.

The Mustangs are coming off one of their most impressive performances of the season, upending Angelo State, 75-73, in San Angelo on Saturday. Kertisa Amos scored 21 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 51.7 seconds remaining. Amos finished with her fifth 20-point performance of the season, while Zarria Carter contributed 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Nikki Green pitched in 14 points, including 10 in the second half, while Catalina Cortez knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with nine points.

Midwestern State improved to 7-18 overall and its conference record is 7-12.

Texas A&M-Kingsville (11-15, 7-12) is coming off a 62-59 loss to No. 9-ranked Texas Woman's at the Steinke Center in Kingsville on Saturday. Shelby Ray scored 18 points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked three shots for the Javelinas, who also lost to UT Tyler last week, 58-50, and closed out a four-game homestand with a 2-2 record.

Midwestern State is scoring 65.4 points per game this season, and opponents are scoring 75 points per game against the Mustangs.

Carter is leading Midwestern State and is third in the Lone Star Conference with 16.1 points per game, and she is the leading rebounder in the conference with 10.6 rebounds per game. The 6-1 junior from Mansfield, Texas, is eighth in the nation among NCAA Division II players with 266 total rebounds this season.

Amos is the ninth-leading scorer in the LSC with 14.5 points per game, and she sits 18th in the conference with 5.9 rebounds per game. The 5-9 swingman is 10th in the conference with 1.91 steals per game.

Coy, who is scoring 9.5 points per game for the Mustangs, is the 12th-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.6 boards per game. Coy scored a career-high 33 points against Tampa earlier this season. Coy hit the game-winning shot in a 76-74 victory at Oklahoma Christian with 15 seconds remaining. The 5-11 senior from Jarrell, Texas, had six points and seven rebounds in the victory at Angelo State.

Cortez has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.7 and leads the Mustangs with 2.9 assists per game. Cortez is playing 31.3 minutes a game.

Green is the third-leading scorer for Midwestern State with 9.9 points per game. Green is 37 of 125 from 3-point range (.296) this season. The 5-6 junior from Dallas (Richardson HS) hit five 3-pointers in a game for the second time this season and scored 29 points against Eastern New Mexico on Feb. 8. She has scored 20 or more points three times during the campaign. Green played a season-high 33 minutes against Eastern New Mexico and shot 60 percent from the field.

Midwestern State is the second-best rebounding team in the LSC with 38.5 rebounds per game. The Mustangs lead the conference and are 30th among NCAA Division II programs with 14.5 offensive rebounds per game.

Carter is hitting 82.2 percent of her free throws, which ranks fourth in the league, and she has attempted the fifth-most free throws in the LSC with 129. As a team, MSU is shooting 19.5 free throws per game, which is fifth-most in the conference, and has the sixth-best free-throw percentage at 73.7 percent.

The Mustangs have the fewest turnovers in the LSC with 13.6 per game and are eighth in the league with a 0.76 assists-to-turnover ratio. MSU forces 14.5 turnovers and the plus-0.92 turnover margin is seventh-best in the conference.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Texas A&M-Kingsville, 29-21, but the Javelinas have won the last three meetings. Jayde Tschritter hit seven 3-pointers and scored 25 points in an 82-72 victory for the Javelinas in Kingsville last season. The Mustangs are 16-8 when hosting TAMUK, which is making its first visit since a 54-50 victory in January of 2020.

The Javelinas are 4-7 on the road this season with wins at St. Edward's and Oklahoma Christian in the Lone Star Conference.

Texas A&M-Kingsville is scoring 60 points per game and its opponents are scoring 59.4 points per game. In conference play, TAMUK has scored 1,124 points and allowed 1,123 points. The Javelinas have played five games decided by three points or less in the LSC this season, and they are 1-4 in those contests.

Ray, a 6-2 sophomore from Lexington, Texas, is the leading scorer for the Javelinas with 11.4 points per game and scored a season-high 22 points in a 66-65 loss to Angelo State on Nov. 30. Last season, Ray scored seven points and grabbed nine rebounds in the 82-72 win over the Mustangs. Ray is second in the conference with 35 total blocks this season and 1.35 blocks per game.

Mia Rivers, who is scoring 10 points a game for TAMUK, leads the conference with 6.1 assists per game. Rivers had eight points, six assists and six rebounds against MSU last season, and the 5-6 junior from College Station, Texas, had a career-high 13 assists in a 58-53 loss at UT Tyler last month.

Tschritter is 46 of 128 (.359) from 3-point range this season and is scoring eight points a game for the Javelinas, who shoot 33.2 percent from beyond the arc as a team, which is third-best in the LSC. Tschritter has taken the fifth-most attempts from long distance in the conference and has hit the fifth-most 3-pointers in the league.

Texas A&M-Kingsville also has the third-best 3-point percentage defense in the conference as opponents are only hitting 28.3 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. Overall, opponents are shooting 37.9 percent against the Javelinas, which is the fourth-best field-goal percentage defense in the conference.

Michael Madrid, who graduated from Eastern New Mexico, is in his fifth season as the head coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Last season, the Javelinas finished with a record of 18-11, and he is 58-65 (.472) since taking over the reins in Kingsville.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 59-31 (.656) after two highly successful campaigns at Texas Wesleyan, where she won 80 percent of her games (52-13). Jackson coached junior college basketball for five seasons. She was 69-78 at Lon Morris, Cisco and San Jacinto combined. Jackson led the Ravens to a 23-7 record in her second season at San Jacinto after the team went 3-25 in the 2013-14 campaign.

Jackson played collegiate basketball at Southeastern Louisiana helping the Lions to the 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, and they are proud parents of their daughter, Kylee.

Midwestern State hosts Senior Day and welcomes Texas A&M International to D.L. Ligon Coliseum for the final home game of the season on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

--MSUMustangs.com--