The Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team will put its 4-0
home record on the line Thursday night in it first-ever Southland
Conference home game when the Islanders host Northwestern State at
the American Bank Center at
7 p.m.
All tickets are $1
and the first 500 fans will receive a free Southland Conference
T-Shirt. Area students in first to eighth grade will be able to get
free admission with an "A" or "S" mark on their report card, while
Upward Bound and
Corpus Christi Parks and Recreation players can also get in free if
in their uniform.
The Islanders
(6-7, 1-0) opened Southland Conference play last Saturday at
McNeese State with a 66-54 win for their second win in a row. The
Lady Demons (4-11, 0-2) lost Texas State, 73-69, and
Texas-Arlington, 65-48, to open league play.
Chassidy Jones, who has played in seven games
after missing the first eight games, is the Lady Demons top scorer
with 19.6 points a game and was the Southland Scholar-Athlete of
the Week last week. She is joined in double-digit scoring by Tena
Matthews and Ashli Barnum. Led by Matthews with 7.9 rebounds a
game, the trio is all averaging 7.1 rebounds a game or more.
Matthews is among the national leaders in steals as the Lady Demons
are ranked in the top 25 in the nation swiping 12.2 a game. Shonte
Kennedy is 49th in the nation in assists and second in the league
to Kirbria Lewis with 4.9.
The Islanders will look to answer with the
backcourt tandem of Nicole Duncan and Kirbria Lewis. Duncan is
third in the Southland in scoring with 16.4 points a game and is
among the national leaders in made threes with 2.9 a game to rank
11th. Lewis is second in the nation with 4.1 steals and 25th in
assists with 5.5. The point guard, who is averaging 13 points a
game, is four points shy of reaching 1,000 in her career. Lewis is
also third in rebounding with 5.4 a game.
Up front, the Islanders have been getting
contributions from a trio of players. Jillianne Duffey is third on
the team in scoring with 11.6 points and second with 6.9 rebounds a
game, while sophomore Elisa Beagle is scoring 9.8 points. Beagle,
who is averaging 8.4 boards a game, has averaged a double-double
the last six games with 12.3 points and 11.5 rebounds. Jenesis Shaw
is averaging 9.5 points and 5.3 boards.
