Islanders Look to Knock Off Preseason Favorite SFA in Midweek Conference Action

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NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Continuing its road swing to begin Southland Conference play, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program will travel to Stephen F. Austin for a 6:30 p.m. tip Wednesday at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
 
It will be the second consecutive road game for the Islanders (2-7, 0-1 SLC) to open conference play. They are setting out to defend their Southland Conference regular season title after finished 17-3 in the league last season.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi opened SLC action with a tough 71-58 defeat at Southeastern Louisiana. The Islanders trailed by 12 at intermission when they came back to make it a one-point game in the second half, but the Lady Lions were able to pull away in the end.
 
Juniors Makinna Serrata and Alexandria Pollard both registered career-highs against the Lady Lions. Serrata tallied a game-high 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Pollard netted 12 points and swatted a career-high six blocks. Sophomore Alecia Westbrook was also of note with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Westbrook leads the Islanders in both scoring (13.4 ppg) and rebounding (8.9 rpg). She's scored in double-figures in eight of nine games.
 
Also averaging in double-figures is freshman Paige Allen with 10.2 points per game. She's submitted six double-figure scoring games this year including a career-high 21 points against Concordia (Texas).
 
SFA (9-2, 1-0 SLC) was picked to win the SLC in the preseason poll. The Ladyjacks have a 67-54 win over Auburn on their resume and opened conference play with a lopsided 88-29 victory over New Orleans.
 
The Ladyjacks have outscored the opposition 77-52 on average this year. Zya Nugent leads the team with 13.6 points per game.
 
A&M-Corpus Christi's first conference home game will be Saturday at 1 p.m. against Abilene Christian in the Dugan Wellness Center.
 
NOTES
- The Islanders rank seventh in the nation in total steals (111) and 15th in steals per game (12.3). Individually, Allen ranks fifth in the country in steals (30) and 16th in steals per game (3.3).
 
- A&M-Corpus Christi leads the SLC in blocks with 4.3 per game. The program has three student-athletes ranked in the top-10 in the league individually, including Pollard (1.7 bpg), Westbrook (1.0 bpg) and Serrata (1.0 bpg). The Islanders rejected a season-high eight blocks against Southeastern Louisiana.
 
- Westbrook ranks 17th in the country in double-doubles with four. She leads the conference in both rebounding (8.9 rpg) and defensive rebounds (6.0 rpg), and is third in both field goal percentage (.586) and minutes per game (30.7).
 
- Giana Wright is the lone senior on the squad. At UTRGV, she posted her best career game with 12 points. She's recorded 171 career points and 142 rebounds.
 
- Head coach Royce Chadwick is the reigning SLC Coach of the Year winner. He's in his ninth season at the helm and 37th year overall as a head coach. Chadwick is 15 conference wins away from becoming the winningest coach in an SLC career. He's chasing James Smith's mark of 339 wins at Northwestern State from 1987-04. Chadwick has 324 wins including 31 from SHSU, 173 from SFA and 120 as an Islander.
 
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