Lady Mustangs Close Out Regular Season Against Tarleton State and Texas A&M - Commcerce

Women's Basketball 2/27/2019 12:32:00 PM

Lady Mustangs Close Out Regular Season Against Tarleton State and Texas A&M - Commcerce

Silver City, N.M – Western New Mexico women's basketball enters the last weekend of conference play, vying for a spot in the conference tournament. The Lady Mustangs are currently tied for the eighth and final spot for the tournament, tied with Texas A&M – Kingsville. This weekend presents top-seeded matchups between Tarleton State Thursday and Texas A&M- Commerce Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT:

On the road for the final time last weekend, the Lady Mustangs were at Angelo State and Texas A&M- Kingsville hoping to secure a win and move back into the conversation of making the playoffs. Thursday's game, saw the Rambelles and Western go head-to-head through the first two quarters. The second half was a different story, with Angelo shooting over 50 percent in the third in every category, while holding WNMU to 20 percent from the field. ASU outscored WNMU 41-17 in the second half to run away with an 88-51 win.
Cassandra Vickery (Tularosa, NM/Tularosa) led the team with 15 points, shooting 5-10 from the floor, 2-4 from the perimeter and 3-4 from the foul line. Sara Lopez (El Paso, Texas/Horizon High School) and Ciara Fields (El Paso, TX/El Dorado) followed up with 10 points each.
Saturday's game was a must win for Western. A win would put the two teams in a tie breaker and for the first time under head coach Lauren Unger, a conference tournament appearance. TAMUK came out in the first taking a six-point lead, before a 20-8 second quarter gave WNMU a 33-27 edge. Despite the Javelina's 23 –point fourth, the Lady Mustangs held on for a 62-59 win, their fifth in conference play and 10^th overall.
Ciara Fields (El Paso, TX/El Dorado) connected six times from the floor, and twice from beyond the arc to tally 15 points and her seventh game in a row in double-digit scoring. Tatyana McFarland (Riverside, California/Valley View High School) grabbed 16 boards for her team, on top of 12 points for a double-double.

SCOUTING THE TEXANNS:

Tarleton State's TexAnns step on Drag's Court with a 12-6 record in LSC, 19-7 overall, tied with Texas A&M- Commerce in the current standings. After a 62-76 loss to top-seed West Texas, TSU bounced back to take an 80-75 win over Eastern New Mexico.
Outscoring their opponents on a 7.5 point margin, with the fourth highest scoring offense in the LSC, the TexAnns rely on Hailey McKenzie. The junior forward, averages 15.1 ppg, fourth best in the LSC, shooting 53.9% from the field. Not only does she fuel the Tarleton offense, but she takes care of the other side of the ball averaging 7.1 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks with 27 on the season.

HISTORY VERSUS THE TEXANNS:

Their meeting earlier this season in Stephenville, the Lady Mustangs kept it close but could not recover from a low scoring first quarter. Kayla Clark (Mesa, Arizona/Dobson High School) was the only player for Western in double-figures with 11 points, while Paulina Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico/Montverde Academy ) grabbed 7 rebounds for the team.
The Texanns have won seven of their last eight games, while also sitting safely in the middle of the conference standings going into the last weekend of the regular season. Despite their LSC position, last week's regional release had the TexAnns at #7 behind Eastern New Mexico. The new regional rankings will be released later this week.

SCOUTING THE LIONS:

The Lions of Texas A&M – Commerce are tied for with Tarleton State in the LSC with a 12-6 record, 17-9 overall. The TexAnns hold the tie breaker over the Lions having beat them earlier this season, and stole a game from WT who is the #1 seed.
Similar to Tarleton, the Lions finished last weekend 1-1 with a win over Eastern New Mexico and a loss to West Texas. As a team, the Lions average 75.4 ppg, rounding out the top-three scoring offenses. With 13.2 ppg, Princess Davis wears the crown for the Lion's offense. Davis's 4.8 assists per game ranks her second in the LSC, and fourth in assist/turnover ratio at 1.4. Sophomore, Agang Tac leads the defensive efforts with 6.5 rebounds a game, and 0.9 blocks.

HISTORY VERSUS THE LIONS:

The Lions took a 73-60 victory while hosting Western back in January. They outscored the Mustangs in all four quarters, holding WNMU to 43.4% shooting, and grabbing 41 rebounds to Western's 33.
Princess Davis led all scorers with 18 points, going 6-14 from the floor.

Thursday's match will feature a "Pink Night" theme with tip-off at 5:30 p.m, leading up to Senior Day on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The women will be honoring three seniors that day, Ciara Fields (El Paso, TX/El Dorado), Tatyana McFarland (Riverside, California/Valley View High School) and Ashton Carrasco (El Paso, TX/Canutillo).

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Players Mentioned

#50 Ashton Carrasco: F; 6' 4"; Junior

#20 Ciara Fields: G; 5' 9"; Junior

#13 Cassandra Vickery: G; 5' 7"; Freshman

#12 Tatyana McFarland: F; 5' 10"; Senior

#32 Kayla Clark: F; 5' 10"; Junior

#4 Paulina Rodriguez: G; 5' 11"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#50 Ashton Carrasco
: 6' 4"; Junior
: F

#20 Ciara Fields
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

#13 Cassandra Vickery
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: G

#12 Tatyana McFarland
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

#32 Kayla Clark
: 5' 10"; Junior
: F

#4 Paulina Rodriguez
: 5' 11"; Junior
: G