Islanders Open Season With Weekend Doubleheader

Women's Basketball | November 09, 2017

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi opens its Women's Basketball season with a home doubleheader this weekend, facing off with in-state foes Texas Lutheran and McMurry.

The Islanders are coming off a Southland Conference Championship semifinals appearance, after dropping both Northwestern State and New Orleans in the conference tournament last year. The Blue and Green returns four of its top-five minutes eaters for the 2017-18 season, with rising sophomores Dalesia Booth, Emma Young and Dae Dae Evans combining for 57 starts the previous campaign.

Corpus Christi enters the year in search for its first Southland Conference regular season title, with Head Coach Royce Chadwick sitting at the helm for a sixth consecutive year. Chadwick has coached over 1,000 contests while holding coaching positions at six different institutions, and boasts a 61-79 record since coming to the Island.

WHAT TO KNOW
GAME 1
Who: Islanders vs. Texas Lutheran
When: Friday, 5:00 PM
Where: Dugan Wellness Center
Watch: Islanders Digital Network powered by AEP Texas

GAME 2
Who: Islanders vs. McMurry
When: Saturday, 7:00 PM
Where: Dugan Wellness Center
Watch: Islanders Digital Network powered by AEP Texas

SERIES HISTORY

• This will be just the second time the Islanders have faced the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs, taking down TLU 83-43 in an exhibition to start the 2012-13 season
• Saturday's contest will be Corpus Christi's first against McMurry all-time
• The Blue and Green went 3-0 against non D-1 schools the previous year, outscoring those opponents 219-134
• Corpus Christi is looking to open the season with a win for a third time over the past five years
• Both of the Islanders' games this week are inside the Dugan. Coach Chadwick's squad went 5-1 when playing at the Wellness Center in 2016-17
• The Islanders poured in 68.8 points per game when playing inside of Dugan last year, in comparison to an average of 60.7 for the season
• The Blue and Green has won its last three games inside of Dugan, beating opponents by an average of 20.67 points in those contests

SEASON IN REVIEW

• The Blue and Green entered last year's Southland Conference Championship as a seventh seed, getting to the tournament semis before falling to eventual champs Central Arkansas
• Redshirt-senior Brittany Mbamalu set an Islanders career record with her 210th three-pointer against the Bears
• Corpus Christi closed out the 2016-17 season with a record of 5-1, scoring 65-plus points in four of those contests
• Islander freshmen combined for 57 starts the previous year, the most by an Islander freshman class in history
• Mbamalu led her team with 260 points overall, with freshman guard Dalesia Booth posting 242 in her first campaign on the Island
• Emma Young is the only active Islander to have participated in all 32 of the team's contests last season, as the rising sophomore averaged six points and three rebounds per game
• Mbamalu also dished out a career-high 39 assists the previous year, while Young led the team at 50 and an average of 1.6 per game
• The Islanders boasted one of the stingiest defenses in the conference last year. The squad's 61.4 points allowed per game ranked third in the Southland and their 4.4 blocks were the top mark in the SLC

SCOUTING TEXAS LUTHERAN

• Texas Lutheran finished second in the SCAC regular season, compiling a conference record of 12-2
• The Bulldogs were one of the top offensive teams in the SCAC last year, trailing only Trinity for the top conference mark in points per game (70.6), scoring margin ( 8.1) and field goal percentage (.412)
• TLU lost its top-three scorers to graduation this offseason, but return starting forward Kasey Hairell
• Hairell averaged 7.1 points per game in 2016-17, along with 4.2 boards per contest while playing in the post 

SCOUTING MCMURRY

• The War Hawks allowed a total of 68.6 points per game during the 2016-17 season, dropping 15 of the 24 games they competed in over the course of the year
• Guard Sham Hunter was the bright spot of the McMurry offense in the previous campaign, averaging team-highs in both points (12.7) and rebounds (8.6) per game
• While the War Hawks averaged 63.5 PPG, they registered an impressive 5.2 threes made per game
• McMurry ball-hawked opponents during the previous campaign, causing opponents to turn the ball over a total of 19.8 times per game while grabbing an average of 10.3 steals 

STAY SOCIAL
For more information on Islanders women's basketball, follow the team on Twitter (@IslandersWBB), Instagram (@IslandersWBB) and like their Facebook page (Islanders Women's Basketball).