LAWTON, Okla. -- Midwestern State closes out its first season under the direction of head coach Brenita Jackson with a trip north of the Red River to face Cameron for the second time this season. Tipoff at Aggie Gym is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

The last time the two teams met was a week before Christmas at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Nikki Green hit five 3-pointers and scored 20 points in a 68-56 triumph for the Mustangs, who hit season-high 10 3 pointers on 18 attempts from beyond the arc. MSU also scored 27 points off 15 turnovers in the victory.

Midwestern State played its final home game of the season on Saturday, and Texas A&M International won an entertaining game, 76-68. Zarria Carter had her 13th double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Carter also had seven of the 14 steals for the Stangs. Nikki Green finished with 25 points and four steals in her final performance at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

Cameron is coming off a 64-61 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville at Aggie Gym on Saturday. The Aggies had 15-point performances from Katie King and Korie Allensworth. Shamica Smith scored 13 points and Kailyn Lay finished with 12 in a game that featured five ties and seven lead changes.

Midwestern State (7-20, 7-14) is scoring 65 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 — 11th in the nation — with 10.8 rebounds per game. The 6-1 junior from Mansfield, Texas, is seventh in the nation among NCAA Division II players with 291 total rebounds this season.

Amos is the 13th-leading scorer in the LSC with 14 points per game, and she sits 19th in the conference with 5.6 rebounds per game. The 5-9 swingman is 13th in the conference with 1.8 steals per game.

Coy, who is scoring 9.2 points per game for the Mustangs, is the ninth-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.8 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 2.6 and leads the Mustangs with 2.8 assists per game. Cortez is playing 31.5 minutes a game.

Green is the third-leading scorer for Midwestern State with 10.4 points per game. Green is 41 of 139 from 3-point range (.295) 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 four 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 38.2 rebounds per game. The Mustangs lead the conference and are 31st among NCAA Division II programs with 14.4 offensive rebounds per game. Carter, Coy and Amos are three of the top six offensive rebounders in the LSC. Carter is eighth in the nation with 4.1 offensive boards per game.

Carter is hitting 80 percent of her free throws, which ranks sixth in the league, and she has attempted the fifth-most free throws in the LSC with 140. As a team, MSU is shooting 19 free throws per game, which is fifth-most in the conference, and has the seventh-best free-throw percentage at 73 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 14.7 turnovers and the plus-1.11 turnover margin is sixth-best in the conference.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Cameron, 51-34, and won the last two meetings. The Mustangs have lost their last four visits to Aggie Gym, including a 99-77 loss last season, when King poured in 18 points and dished out nine assists as the Aggies shot 58.6 percent from the field. King connected on 7-of-13 shots from the floor and connected on three 3-pointers to lead a group of five Aggies in double figures. MSU is 20-23 as the visiting team in the Red River Rivalry.

Cameron, which is 5-8 at home, is scoring 57.8 points per game and opponents are scoring 63.6 points against the Aggies this season.

Cameron shoots 38.6 from the field overall and 26.5 percent from 3-point range.

The Aggies, who have the sixth best scoring defense in the league, boast the fourth-best 3-point percentage defense in the conference, holding opponents to 28.6 shooting from beyond the arc. Overall, opponents are shooting 40.1 percent when facing Cameron.

The reserves are only scoring 5.9 points per game for Cameron, the lowest production of bench points in the LSC.

King, who leads the Aggies with 15.6 points per game, takes the most shots in the LSC and is shooting 38.5 percent from the field (151 of 392). She is 33 of 113 (.336) from long distance. King leads the conference and is fourth in the nation in playing time at 37.8 minutes per game. The 5-6 junior guard from Harrah, Oklahoma, also leads the league with 76 steals. She is averaging 2.8 steals per game, which is second in the conference.

Smith is scoring 14.1 points per game and is the leading rebounder for the Aggies with 9.1 boards per game.

Cameron grabs the fewest rebounds in the LSC with 30.9 per game and the minus-6.4 rebounding margin is last in the league.

Allensworth is the third-leading scorer for Cameron with 13 points per game, and she hits 39.6 percent (38 of 96) of her shots from 3-point distance. As a team, the Aggies are 14th in the LSC with a 3-point percentage of 26.5.

Kailyn Lay, who is scoring 6.2 points per game, leads the team with 2.9 assists per game.

Jeff Mahoney is in his second season as the head coach at Cameron and has a record of 23-33 (.411). Mahoney named the head coach of the Aggie women's basketball program in May of 2022 after three seasons as the assistant coach.

Mahoney also took the reins of the men's team halfway through the 2021-22 season after the resigning of the previous coach. During that time, he earned his 300th win as a men's basketball coach.

Before coming to Cameron, Mahoney was the head girls' basketball coach at Harrah High School in Harrah, Oklahoma. In 2017, he led his squad to a 4A State Championship with a 28-1 record and was named the OGBCA Central Region Coach of the Year.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 59-33 (.641) 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.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--