SLC Road Continues With Bearkats & Privateers

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Coming off its first Southland Conference win of the season, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi hopes to continue its sustained success on the road against Sam Houston State and New Orleans.


WHAT TO KNOW
Who: Sam Houston State
When: Wednesday, 6:30 PM
Where: Bernard Johnson Coliseum | Huntsville, Texas
Listen: Islanders Digital Network, Powered by AEP Texas

WHAT TO KNOW
Who: New Orleans
When: Saturday, 2 PM
Where: Lakefront Arena | New Orleans, Louisiana
Listen: Islanders Digital Network, Powered by AEP Texas

SERIES HISTORY

•  The Islanders hold a 16-9 record against SHSU all-time, proving successful against the Bearkats in four of the pair's last five meetings
• The Blue and Green is near perfect against New Orleans, with a 6-1 record against the Privateers
• The Islanders earned their first loss against UNO to start last year's conference season but reenacted revenge in March, dropping the Privateers 88-77 in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Championship tournament
• Corpus Christi held SHSU to just 37 points in their game last season, just five point more than the program record-low of 32 points they allowed against UTEP in 2001
• The Privateers 72.1 points scored per game ranked third in the SLC and 50th in D-I basketball last year, forcing the Islanders to put up a season-high 88 points to vanquish UNO in the postseason
• The Blue and Green's win over New Orleans last year marks the last time the Islanders had two players score 20-plus each in a single game. Active Islander Brittany Mbamalu put up 22 in that contest, hitting four-of-eight from beyond the arc
• The Islanders are a combined 9-2 against SHSU and UNO over the past three years

ISLANDER NOTES

• The Islanders earned their first SLC win of the season against Northwestern State last weekend, dropping the Demons 62-56
• While Emma Young scored a game-high 18 points on the afternoon, Brittany Mbamalu came within a rebound of her second career double-double, with 10 points and nine boards
• Young set a career-high with 10 made free throws against NSU, hitting every shot she took from the charity stripe. The sophomore has poured in her last 14 shots from the line
• Dalesia Booth is shooting 62.3% from the field since the start of December, averaging a team-best 14 points per game over that span
• Mbamalu's 10 points put her just 16 away from becoming the eighth Islander in program history to reach the 1,000-point marker. She is set to reach the milestone against New Orleans this approaching Saturday
• Corpus Christi took a loss in each of its first two Southland conference matchups. The Islanders earned the same result at the start of the 2016-17 season however, and went on to reach the semifinals of the SLC Championship tournament
• With 69 wins, Head Coach Royce Chadwick and his staff are just fove victories away from becoming the winningest islanders coaching staff in program history, in just their sixth year on the Island
• The Islanders' defense has held opponents to an average of just 55.6 points per game, the 15th-lowest total in all of Division I women's basketball. The team's win over NSU marked just the sixth time this season an opponent has reached the 60-point mark
• The Islanders' board play has been a key to their success this season, with their 8.0 rebounding margin standing as the 35th-widest in Division I basketball 

SCOUTING THE BEARKATS

• After opening the SLC season 0-3 the SHSU Bearkats are on a six-loss skid in conference play, and have loss their previous six games of the 2017-18 season
• The Bearkats narrowly escaped a loss to Saint Thomas this year in a 68-66 victory over the Celts at home in early December. In comparison, the Islanders beat that same Saint Thomas squad in Dugan by a count of 72-42
• With 16 rejections over 12 games, Kiera McKinney ranks third in the Southland with 1.33 blocks per contest
• Jenniffer Oramas is the only player on SHSU averaging in double digits this season. The sophomore guard is dropping 10.8 per game. Sam Houston is 2-4 when Oramas is the lead scoreer, and 1-5 when that title belongs to anyone else

SCOUTING THE PRIVATEERS

• Senior guard Randi Brown has consistently been one of the top players in the conference this season, leading the SLC in field goals made (105), total points (339) and free throws made (85). Brown currently owns two Southland Player of the Week honors for the current campaign alone
• After starting the SLC season at 1-2 with losses to the two top-ranked teams in the conference (Lamar & Abilene Christian), the Privateers evened their work in Southland-play with a 77-64 victory at McNeese last week
• UNO has outshot its opponent from beyond the arc in all but one of its wins this season, putting the side at 1-7 when a team beats them from deep
• With eight rebounds and 11 points per game, starting center Shania Woods is averaging near a double-double per contest, and has nearly twice as many boards as any other Privateer this season (120)

COMING UP NEXT
The Blue and Green return home for the first time in the year 2018 to host Southland opponent Nicholls, inside Dugan Wellness Center. Corpus Christi is an even 7-7 against the Colonels all-time, but sees that record improve to 5-2 when playing back home on the Island. The Islanders' coming matchups, along with all road contests, can be heard via the Islander Digital Network, powered by AEP Texas.

STAY SOCIAL
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