Women's Basketball to Begin 2022-23 SLC Campaign at Northwestern State

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Southland Conference preseason favorites of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team will head to Northwestern State to play its inaugural conference game of the 2022-23 season on Friday at 1 p.m. in Prather Coliseum.

The Islanders (5-6, 0-0 SLC) and the Lady Demons (4-6, 0-0 SLC) will be the conference opener for the women's side of the Southland with the 1 p.m. tip-off. It will begin A&M-Corpus Christi's journey towards a regular season title, which would be its second in four years after being crowned the champions in 2019-20. 

A&M-Corpus Christi will be going for its second true road win of the season after defeating Texas State 56-47 in San Marcos. In the win, junior Violeta Verano drove the offense with a season-high 18 points and six assists. She ranks second in the conference in assists with 3.4 per game and third in assist:turnover ratio at 1.0. 

Senior Alecia Westbrook leads the Southland in rebounding with 9.2 per game, surpassing 100 total rebounds already this season. She earned a Southland Player of the Week nod after averaging a double-double of 13.0 rebounds and 11.5 points over the pair of games against UTRGV where she grabbed at least 10 rebounds in each meeting. She is averaging 9.0 points per game and leads the team with eight blocks this year. 

Redshirt senior Makinna Serrata has scored in double figures seven times this season and is the only Islander to average in double digits with 11.3 ppg. She and Westbrook were both tabbed to the SLC Preseason All-Conference First-Team after being two of the league's top-three leading scorers last season.

As a team, A&M-Corpus Christi leads the Southland in rebounding margin (+2.5) and ranks second in defense scoring (57.2 ppg), opponent FG percentage (.376), combined opp. rebounds (34.2 rpg), opponent 3FG percentage (.263), assist:turnover ratio (0.78), and assists (13.0 apg).

Northwestern State was picked eighth in the preseason poll after finishing last year's regular season in fifth place. Candice Parramore was a preseason All-Conference First-Team selection and is averaging 9.5 points per game this year.

The game can be watched live on ESPN+, and can also be heard live for free on Islanders Digital Network with Doug Kesterson on the call. 

NOTES

- The Islanders are 14-5 all-time over the Lady Demons, including winning the last seven consecutive games, and 6-2 when playing in Natchitoches.

- A&M-Corpus Christi is 5-0 this season when holding the opposition to under 60 points. The Islanders held the opposition to 60 points or less in 12 of 14 conference game last season and have not allowed Northwestern State to score 60+ points against them since 2015-16.

- The Islanders are also 5-0 when posting a positive turnover margin and 4-0 when they score more second chance points. 

- All 15 student-athletes have seen time on the court, with at least 14 Islanders playing in a single game four times this year. 

- Both Serrata and Westbrook are on track to reach the 1,000 career points-milestone this season. Serrata has 821 career points and Westbrook is at 872.

- In 2021-22, A&M-Corpus Christi finished in second-place in the Southland Conference regular season and earned a double-bye to the semifinals of the SLC Tournament. The Islanders beat SLC Tournament champion UIW four times during the year.

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