WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State celebrates Senior Day at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on Saturday afternoon and will recognize the contributions of seven players before facing Texas A&M International in the home finale at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Zarria Carter posted her 12th double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds, but Midwestern State fell to Texas A&M-Kingsville at home on Thursday night, 64-52. The Javelinas outscored the Mustangs in the fourth quarter, 20-6, and held MSU to 3-of-17 shooting in the final period. Makayla Coy scored 12 points and pulled nine rebounds for the Mustangs, who outrebounded TAMUK, 39-33. Kertisa Amos scored in double figures for the 17th time, finishing with 10 points before fouling out for the sixth time this season.

Coy and Amos are among the players that will be honored in a pregame ceremony on Saturday. Long-time Mustangs Eternity Jackson, Markayla Johnson and Maya Kendall will be recognized along with Keara Felix and Nikki Green.

The contributions of graduate assistant Madelyne Denslow will also be acknowledged during the ceremony.

Midwestern State (7-19, 7-13) is scoring 64.8 points per game this season, and opponents are scoring 74.6 points per game against the Mustangs.

Carter is leading Midwestern State and is fourth in the Lone Star Conference with 16 points per game, and she is the leading rebounder in the conference with 10.8 rebounds per game. The 6-1 junior from Mansfield, Texas, is sixth in the nation among NCAA Division II players with 280 total rebounds this season.

Amos is the ninth-leading scorer in the LSC with 14.3 points per game, and she sits 19th in the conference with 5.8 rebounds per game. The 5-9 swingman is 13th in the conference with 1.8 steals per game.

Coy, who is scoring 9.4 points per game for the Mustangs, is the ninth-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.7 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, has five double-doubles this season.

Cortez has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.7 and leads the Mustangs with 2.8 assists per game. Cortez is playing 31.2 minutes a game.

Green is the third-leading scorer for Midwestern State with 9.8 points per game. Green is 38 of 131 from 3-point range (.290) 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 28th among NCAA Division II programs with 14.5 offensive rebounds per game.

Carter is hitting 79.4 percent of her free throws, which ranks fifth in the league, and she has attempted the sixth-most free throws in the LSC with 136. As a team, MSU is shooting 19.2 free throws per game, which is fifth-most in the conference, and has the seventh-best free-throw percentage at 73.1 percent.

The Mustangs have the fewest turnovers in the LSC with 13.6 per game and are eighth in the league with a 0.75 assists-to-turnover ratio. MSU forces 14.5 turnovers and the plus-0.92 turnover margin is seventh-best in the conference.

Midwestern State is 3-3 in the all-time series with TAMIU, including a 3-1 record at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Dustdevils have won the last two meetings in Laredo, Texas, including an 88-85 triumph last season, when Rai Brown scored 28 points on 10-of-21 shooting despite fouling out with a little more than six minutes remaining in regulation.

The Dustdevils are making their first appearance at D.L. Ligon Coliseum since an 87-77 loss in February of 2020.

TAMIU (22-6, 14-6) has won seven of its last nine games and is coming off a 72-60 win at Cameron as the Dustdevils improved to 7-3 on the road this season.

With the win in Lawton, the Dustdevils became the winningest team in TAMIU women's basketball history. All five starters scored in double figures, led by Rai Brown, who finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Samiyah Worrell added 15 points. Malea Jackson and Ngozi Obineke both contributed 11 points. Telisha Brown pitched in 10 points and dished out four assists.

Rai Brown is the leading scorer in the LSC this season with 19.8 points per game and boast the second-best field goal percentage in the league at 57.1.

Ngozi Obineke, who transferred to TAMIU from Texas Woman's, is the leading rebounder for the Dustdevils with 6.8 boards per game, which is 12th-most in the LSC. The 6-0 senior post is averaging 11.3 points per game and dishing out 2.9 assists per contest.

Telisha Brown, a 5-6 sophomore transfer from Lamar, is handing the fifth most assists in the LSC with 3.9 per game and is contributing 6.7 points per game.

Malea Jackson is the second-most accurate 3-point shooter in the conference at 38.1 percent (59 of 155) and has the second-most attempts from long range. Jackson is the second-leading scorer for the Dustdevils with 12.8 points per game. Jackson is shooting 87.8 percent from the free-throw line (65 of 74), which is second-best in the LSC.

Samiyah Worrel is shooting 35.2 percent from beyond the arc and has hit 51 of 145 3-point shots this season. Worrel is scoring 10.1 points per game for TAMIU, which is the highest scoring team in the LSC with 78.9 points per game.

The Dustdevils allow opponents to score 67.4 points per game, which is 13th in the LSC, but they lead the league and are fifth in the nation with 25.5 turnovers forced per game. The plus-6.36 turnover margins is tops in the league and 11th among NCAA Division II programs.

TAMIU is averaging a league-leading 14.5 steals per game, which is sixth-most in the country, and Telisha Brown leads the conference with 3.1 steals per game. Obineke is fifth in the league with 2.27, and Rae Brown is sixth with 2.25 steals.

Led by Rai Brown, the Dustdevils shoot 23.75 free throws per game, which leads the conference and is fifth-most in the nation. TAMIU is making 17.3 free throws per game, which is second-most in the nation, and the Dustdevils shoot 72.9 percent from the foul line.

Nate Vogel is in his fifth season as the head coach at TAMIU and has a 76-56 record. Vogel came to Laredo after two successful seasons as the head coach at Miles Community College in Miles City, Montana. Vogel led the Pioneers to a 25-8 record in his first season at the helm.

Vogel was also named the head coach of Team USA's U19 women's basketball team at the United World Games in Klagenfurt, Austria.

As a player, Vogel was a four-year letter winner, three-year starter and team captain at Black Hills State. He led the Yellow Jackets to a No. 2 ranking in the 1998-1999 season as well as an appearance in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Division II Tournament. He also led his team to a Sweet 16 appearance his senior season in 2001-2002.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 59-32 (.648) 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 closes out the campaign on Thursday night with a trip to Lawton, Oklahoma, to renew the Red River Rivalry and faces Cameron at Aggie Gym in the season finale. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--

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