Listen LIVE (KSTV 93.1 FM) | Live Stats | Live Web Streaming Video | Complete Game Notes
WHAT'S ON TAP
The No. 25 Tarleton TexAnns (22-5, 9-3 LSC South) are headed back to Bartlesville, Okla., for the 2010 Lone Star Conference Championships where they will face the Texas Woman's Pioneers (15-11, 9-5 LSC North) in the first round of the conference tournament. Tip-off is set for Noon, Thursday, March 4, at Bruin Field House in Bartlesville, Okla.
All Tarleton women's basketball conference tournament games will be broadcast live on KSTV (93.1 FM) in Stephenville. Play-by-play announcer Lucas Vance will have the call for the TexAnns. Fans can listen to the action live via the Tarleton Athletics Radio Network by logging onto the KSTV web site or by clicking the Listen LIVE button in the game preview.
In addition to Tarleton's broadcasts, all of the championship games will be aired live via internet video streaming as well. The webcasts are available free of charge. Each webcast includes both audio and video, with viewers needing only a computer with a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection to the internet. Veteran broadcaster Chris Needham has the call for all the games for the LSC.
SEASON REWIND
The TexAnns opened the season winning their first eight games and tying the school record for a best start to a season (1982-83, 8-0). A four-point loss to then No. 25 Southeastern Oklahoma on the road gave the TexAnns their first loss of the season, but Tarleton rebounded with a four-game winning streak to improve their record to 12-1 before heading to Odessa to face Texas-Permian Basin.
Tarleton dropped it's second game of the season in Odessa with an 86-83 loss to the Falcons. The TexAnns again rebounded for a three-game winning streak that included a win over Tarleton's first opponent in the LSC Championships, Texas Woman's. The TexAnns downed the Pioneers 71-50 in Denton before defeating Eastern New Mexico with a second-half come-from-behind win, 55-43.
Tarleton, ranked No. 25 in the nation at the time, was set up for a battle with then No. 11 West Texas A&M in Canyon. The TexAnns found themselves behind by as many as 17 points before reeling off an impossible comeback to pull within three points of the Lady Buffs. Tarleton was forced to foul down the stretch and WT made all six of its free throw attempts to pull out the 74-69 victory.
Tarleton countered with just its fifth win over Abilene Christian inside Wisdom Gym, downing the Wildcats, 70-64. But a one-point road loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville (63-62) put the TexAnns at 3-2 in LSC South Division play and in a tie for second-place with both the Wildcats and the Javelinas in the south division.
The TexAnns regrouped and closed out the remainder of the season with a 6-1 record, falling just to WTAMU (82-78) at Wisdom Gym back on Feb. 13. A buzzer-beater win over ACU (66-64) in Abilene followed by a 91-52 blowout victory over TAMUK in Stephenville helped the TexAnns clinch their seventh straight conference championship berth and just eighth overall in school history.
TAMUK dropped its next game to WTAMU and propelled the TexAnns to the No. 2 seed in the south going into the last game of the season with Angelo State. Tarleton found themselves down by as many as 13 points to the Rambelles, but Tarleton showed a gritty comeback on the way to a 69-42 win over ASU. It was Tarleton's first win in the last 10 tries in San Angelo and first-ever win inside the Junell Center.
ABOUT THE TEXANNS
The TexAnns finished off the regular-season with a 22-5 record overall and a 9-3 mark in the south division. It is the most wins by a TexAnn team since the 1991-92 season when the TexAnns notched 30 wins as a NAIA member school. The 22 victories are the most ever since becoming a part of the NCAA Division II and Lone Star Conference.
TEXANN SEASON LEADERS
The TexAnns finished the season with four players averaging double-digits. Shelby Adamson led the team with an 11.9 points per game average, while Brittnie Haley followed averaging 11.5 ppg. JoAnne Jones, the team's only senior, finished the regular season averaging 11.0 ppg while Morgan Stehling averaged 10.7 ppg in just 13 starts.
Jones led the LSC for most of the season in shooting percentage and finishes the regular-season shooting .593 percent from the field. Adamson follows making .505 percent of her shots from the floor. Sonya Sundberg led the team from beyond the arc with a .390 percentage. Tori Skarke followed with a .359 shooting percentage from the three-point line. Adamson led the TexAnns at the free-throw line as she converted .803 percent of her shots from the charity stripe.
Haley leads the team on the boards, averaging 6.5 rebounds a game. Jones follows averaging 5.7 rpg. Kelsey Benford averaged 4.0 rpg while coming off the bench for the TexAnns.
Haley also led the team with 36 blocks, while Jones added 33 blocked shots on the season. Adamson led the TexAnns with 62 steals and 107 assists.
Tarleton closed out the regular-season averaging 74.0 points a game on .459 shooting from the field and a .321 shooting percentage from beyond the three-point line. Tarleton converted .666 percent of its shots from the charity stripe.
SEASON ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Along with the 8-0 start and the 22 wins, Tarleton had a few more accomplishments to show for during the 2010 campaign.
The TexAnns broke the school record for margin of victory back on Nov. 24 against Concordia. The TexAnns defeated the Tornadoes 109-29, giving them an 80-point margin of victory that broke the previous mark of 78 that was set against Centenary back on March 8, 1981. The 100 points scored were the most by a TexAnn team since Tarleton defeated Dallas Christain 105-29 back on Dec. 31, 2004. The 109-point total was the most since Dec. 12, 2002 when Tarleton defeated Dallas Christian 117-54.
The TexAnns' 61-35 win over Angelo State back on Jan. 16, assured Tarleton its sixth consecutive winning season - all under head coach Ronnie Hearne. Hearne and the TexAnns went 15-15 in his first season giving him seven consecutive non-losing seasons as head coach of the TexAnn basketball program.
The TexAnns swept the season series over ACU for just the second time in school history and first time since the 2005-06 season.
With Tarleton's 66-64 win over ACU, head coach Ronnie Hearne earned his first 20-win season at the helm of the TexAnn basketball program. Hearne led the 2005-06 team to a 19-win season which had been his previous high in wins for a single-season.
Tarleton made its debut in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Coaches Poll for the first time in school history when the TexAnns received the No. 24 ranking back on Jan. 19.
JoAnne Jones became just the 19th player in TexAnn history to score 1,000 points in a career. She scored 11 points in Tarleton's 55-43 win over Eastern New Mexico, giving her exactly 1,000 points at the time. She enters the conference tournament with 1,104 career points and needs just 16 more points to take over 15th all-time in the school record books.
REGIONALLY SPEAKING
The Tarleton TexAnns moved up to No. 5 in last week's NCAA Division II South Central Region Rankings.
Tarleton's move to No. 5 proved to be the only movement made in the top seven spots as West Texas A&M took the top spot in the rankings with a 22-2 in-region record. Following the Lady Buffs at No. 2 and No. 3 were Emporia State (17-3) and Washburn (19-3). Following Southeastern Oklahoma (18-6) was Central Oklahoma (16-6) at No. 7.
With a pair of losses two weeks agp, Abilene Christian fell out of the rankings and making the biggest move last week was Incarnate Word (19-5), who moved up to No. 8 on the week after a No. 10 ranking the previous week. St. Mary's (18-7) remained at No. 9 last week, while Central Missouri (13-8) debuted in the regional rankings for the fist time this season at No. 10.
With losses coming from WTAMU, Emporia State, SOSU and UIW over the last week - the rankings are sure to have another shake-up before conference tournaments get under way.
DOWNTOWN ADAMSON
Shelby Adamson is 5-of-5 from three-point range in the past four games for the TexAnns. Over the last seven games she is 6-of-8 from just beyond the arc. Adamson is shooting just 25 percent from downtown on the season, but is shooting well over 40 percent in her last 12 games.
STEHLING STRIVING IN STARTING ROLE
Morgan Stehling has only started in 13 of Tarleton's 27 games and is averaging 10.7 points a game on the season. Stehling got her first start on Jan. 16, against Angelo State and kept the starting role throughout the remainder of the season. She scored a career-high 22 points against West Texas A&M back on Feb. 13, and has averaged just under 12 points a game since making her way into the starting role.
HALEY BACK ON TRACK
Brittnie Haley sat out all of the 2008-09 season to rehab a knee injury that she suffered mid-way through the 2007-08 season. Haley set career highs in field goal percentage (.491), rebounds (175), blocks (36) and assists (34) so far this season.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Texas Woman's is making just its eighth appearance in the LSC Championships and first since 2005-06. The Pioneers won four of their last five games to finish the season with a 9-5 record in the north division, earning the No. 3 seed in the north. The No. 3 seed is the largest seeding the Pioneers have ever received in school history.
PIONEER LEADERS
The Pionners also have four players averaging in double-figures following the regular season. Jessica Hanna leads the way with a 14.3 ppg average and Megan Hashman follows averaging 13.3 ppg. Kayla Weaver (12.7) and Jessica Durr (10.6) are the other two players with double-digit scoring averages.
Weaver leads the Pioneeers on the boards with 7.2 rebounds a game. Durr follows averaging 7.0 boards a game. Tiandrea Dixon leads TWU with 103 assists and Hanna tops the team with 46 steals.
The Pioneers are shooting .427 percent from the field following the regular-season. That includes a .340 percentage from beyond the arc. TWU is converting .695 percent of its shots from the charity stripe.
LAST TIME OUT WITH THE TEXANNS
Tarleton and Texas Woman's were to have played each other in Denton on Jan. 7, before an ice storm cancelled the original game date. The two teams then met a few weeks later at Kitty Magee Arena on Jan. 18, with Tarleton defeating the Pioneers 71-50.
The TexAnns jumped out to a 35-16 lead at the break thanks in large part to shooting nearly 45 percent from the field while holding TWU to just 33 percent from the floor. The TexAnns had the luxury of sitting their starters for most of the second-half and still outscored the home team 36-34 on the way to the 21-point lead.
Shelby Adamson scored a game-high 16 points for the TexAnns and Morgan Stehling followed with 15 points. Tori Skarke scored 10 points and Shedera Bowman grabbed five rebounds coming off the bench for Tarleton.
THE SERIES
The TexAnns improved its overall record to 20-9 all-time against the Pioneers with their win in Denton earlier this season. Tarleton has now won two straight over the Pioneers and four of the last six contests. Thursday's game will be the first neutral meeting between the two teams.
A LOOK AHEAD
If the TexAnns advance to the semifinals on Saturday, March 6, Tarleton will face the winner of Game No. 6 between Northeastern State and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
SCOUTING THE RIVERHAWKS
Northeastern State is coming off a 24-5 season overall with a 13-1 mark in LSC North Division play on its way to earning the No. 1 seed in the north. The RiverHawks have won eight straight games going into the conference tournament and 14 out of its last 15 games with their only loss coming to Central Oklahoma (77-74) in Edmond, Okla., back on Feb. 1. NSU is making its ninth overall and third straight appearance in the tournament.
RIVERHAWKS LEADERS
Jasmine Webb leads the RiverHawks with a 12.1 points per game average. She is the only player to average double-digits on the season. Cristy Nitz is second on the team in scoring as she averages 8.8 ppg. Webb leads the team with a 6.6 rebounds per game average and leads NSU with 17 blocks.
Megan Fraley leads the RiverHawks with 77 assists, while Alix Perkins leads the team with 28 steals.
The RiverHawks come into the tournament shooting .451 percent from the field, .362 from beyond the arc and .710 percent from the charity stripe.
LAST TIME OUT WITH THE TEXANNS
The RiverHawks took a 24-20 lead into the break when the two teams met in Stephenville back on Dec. 3. But Tarleton outscored NSU 36-18 over the final 20 minutes to capture a 56-42 win over the visiting RiverHawks.
NSU shot 53 percent from the field in the first-half compared with Tarleton's 35 percent effort from the floor. The second-half saw Tarleton shoot 43 percent, while NSU shot just 30 percent. The TexAnns had just 10 turnovers on the night and forced NSU to 22 turnovers.
Brittnie Haley led the TexAnns with 13 points and Morgan Stehling scored 12 points off the bench. Alix Perkins and Sarah Millar led NSU with nine points apiece as Tarleton held the RiverHawks players to under double-digits on the night.
THE SERIES
Tarleton snapped a three-game losing streak to NSU with the win in Stephenville earlier on the season. It was just Tarleton's fifth win over the RiverHawks, but NSU still leads the all-time series 8-5. If the two teams should meet in the semifinals, it will be the first neutral site game between the TexAnns and RiverHawks.
SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS
Despite losing its last three games of the season, TAMUK finished the season with an 18-9 record overall and 6-6 in the LSC South Division, earning the No. 4 seed in the south. The Javelinas suffered a 75-61 loss to Eastern New Mexico in the regular-season finale, but Tarleton's win over Angelo State propelled the Javelinas to their 16th conference tournament appearance and first since 2002.
JAVELINAS LEADERS
Felica Soza leads the Javelinas in scoring (15.7) while Rochelle Ikeni leads the team on the boards (5.9). Kayla Naylor is second in scoring (11.6) and leads the team in assists (107) and steals (53).
The Javelinas are shooting .440 from the field, .387 from beyond the arc and .693 from the free-throw line.
LAST TIME OUT WITH THE TEXANNS
The TexAnns avenged a 63-62 loss to the Javelinas in Kingsville the first time around with a 91-52 win over TAMUK in Stephenville back on Feb. 20. The TexAnns held TAMUK to just four field goals over the first 20 minutes on their way to a commanding 49-15 halftime lead. Tarleton shot 50 percent from the field in the first-half and added to it with another 50 percent effort in the second period on the way to the 39-point win.
Morgan Stehling scored a game-high 18 points and Shelby Adamson followed with 16 points. Felicia Soza led the Javelinas with 11 points.
THE SERIES
The Javelinas hold an 18-13 all-time series lead over the TexAnns after splitting the season series the past two years. Prior to last season's split, the TexAnns had won eight straight over TAMUK.
The two teams have never met on a neutral floor.
