CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Getting its season underway at home, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program will finally be back in action Tuesday at 5 p.m. against St. Thomas (TX) in the Dugan Wellness Center.
It will start the 25th season of basketball on The Island after beginning the program in 1999-00. The game will be a White Out.
Royce Chadwick begins his 12
th year at the helm and 40
th overall as a head coach. He has led the Islanders to two regular season championships in four years, including a postseason appearance in the WNIT last season. It was the program's first trip to the postseason since 2005 when the Islanders went to the WNIT as a Division I Independent.
The program returns 10 student-athletes from the championship squad, including four starters and leading scorer graduate
Alecia Westbrook who averaged a double-double of 12.5 ppg and 10.2 rpg.
Westbrook is coming off a campaign that had her become the first SLC Player of the Year in program history, as well as making history as the first Islander to repeat as the SLC Defensive Player of the Year. She was the only player in the league to average a double-double.
She was tabbed to the SLC Preseason All-Conference First-Team while senior
Paige Allen was named to the Second Team. Allen averaged 8.2 ppg and seconded the team with 4.7 rpg and 57 steals last year.
Multiple active roster members have already etched their names into the program record book. Westbrook broke the program records for career free throws made (416), career free throws attempted (553), career defensive rebounds (661), and career double-doubles (34) last year alone and is chasing the program's career record of total rebounds, total points, and minutes played.
Allen's 57 steals last year helped her get to seventh all-time in career steals with 159. Senior
Violeta Verano has led the team in assists for the last two consecutive seasons and now ranks seventh all-time in assists with 233 in just two years. In a single-season, sophomore
Jaeda Whitner was the first Islander to enter the program's top-10 for three point field goal percentage sinc the 2015-16 season after shooting .398 (41-of-103) from long range last year.
It will be the sixth meeting between A&M-Corpus Christi and St. Thomas with the Islanders being a perfect 5-0 against the Celts. In last year's meeting with the Celts, the Islanders won 80-23 to make history as the 23 points broke the program record for fewest points allowed in a game.
The game can be watched live on ESPN+ with Doug Kesterson on the call.
NOTES
- It will be A&M-Corpus Christi's first season opener to be played at home since the 2020-21 season. It will be the third time the Islanders' season opener will be at home against St. Thomas most recently being in 2019-20, the last time the Islanders won their season opener.
- It will also be the first of 17 home games this season and first of six to be played at the Dugan Wellness Center. The Islanders are 225-148 all-time at home and 59-29 in the Dugan Wellness Center. The program has won at least 10 games at homes in both of the last two seasons.
- The roster features a heavy veteran presence with five senior/graduates, the most since the 2019-20 season which marked Westbrook's freshman year.
- In addition to its 10 returners, the roster features four newcomers including three freshmen and one transfer.
Claudia Diez and
Andrea Montesinos come to the Island from Valencia, Spain, as the roster now has seven international players.
- The Islanders finished last year nationally ranked 21st in scoring defense (56.4) and 40th in opponent field goal percentage (.370), which they led the Southland in.
- A&M-Corpus Christi will begin its 25
th season of basketball. They are coming off a 19-12 (14-4 SLC) season that saw a regular season championship and a trip to the WNIT.
- Chadwick became the winningest coach in SLC history in 2021-22 after securing his 211th career league win, surpassing James Smith's mark of 210 from 1987-04 at Northwestern State. He now sits at a 225-104 SLC record including 13 wins at Sam Houston, 111 at Stephen F. Austin and 101 at A&M-Corpus Christi.
Stay Social
Keep up with the women's basketball program via its Facebook page (
Islanders Women's Basketball) and follow the program on Twitter (
@Islanders_WBB) and Instagram (
@IslandersWBB).
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