COMMERCE, Texas – With a championship title on the line, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team will close out the regular season at A&M-Commerce on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Field House.
The Islanders (18-10, 13-4 SLC) are one win away from clinching at least a share of the Southland Conference regular season title, as they are currently tied for first with Southeastern. A&M-Corpus Christi can win it outright with the win on Wednesday paired with a Southeastern loss at HCU.
It would be just the second championship in program history, but also the second in four years after the Islanders won the regular season outright in 2019-20.
Wednesday will also determine the final seeding for the SLC Tournament, though, the Islanders have already clinched a double-round bye to the semifinals. Southeastern holds the tiebreaker over A&M-Corpus Christi, putting the Islanders at the No. 2 seed if the current standings hold.
The Islanders are coming off two 80+ point wins over A&M-Commerce and Northwestern State to close out the 2023 home slate. The Islanders held both teams to under 60 points, who are now 16-3 (11-3 SLC) when holding the opposition to under 60 points. They have held their opposition to under 60 points in 14 of 17 conference games, four of which were kept to under 50.
Prior to Saturday's game, the Islanders honored four in a Senior Day ceremony. It included
Makinna Serrata,
Alecia Westbrook,
Hayle Campbell, and
Kristen Daniels. Each took their last exit from the court with an ovation throughout the final five minutes of the game.
In game one against A&M-Commerce, the Islanders were hot-handed to go 9-of-19 (.474) from long-range and shot 85.7 percent from the free throw line, a season-high, while keeping the Lions at just a 32.2 mark all night for the offensive advantage.
Serrata matched her career-high of 10 made field goals for 25 points against the Lions. She is averaging 13.1 points per outing and leads the team in field goal percentage at .498, which ranks her second overall in the Southland. She is shooting .526 (92-of-175) from the field in conference play.
Joining Serrata in double figures is Westbrook, who is averaging a double-double of 12.4 ppg and 10.1 rebounds per game. Both surpassed the 1,000-career point milestone this season.
Junior
Paige Allen is scoring 10.2 ppg in conference play. Sophomore
Jaeda Whitner leads the Southland in 3FG percentage with a .415 mark (39-of-94) after having made multiple three-pointers in a game 12 times this season and at least a trio of them seven times.
A&M-Commerce (12-17, 10-7 SLC) has already clinched a spot in the SLC Tournament in their first season in the conference. In game one with the Islanders, the Lions were powered by the 29-point performance of Laila Lawrence who is averaging 12.4 ppg on the year.
The game can be watched live with a subscription to ESPN+. It can also be heard live for free on 1440 AM K-E-Y-S with Doug Kesterson on the call.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi leads A&M-Commerce 1-0 in the all-time record, as the teams met for the first time ever last Thursday in the first of two meetings this season. It will be the second meeting of the teams in the last three games.
- It will also be the first game in March where the Islanders hold a 39-27 record in the month. Under head coach
Royce Chadwick, the Islanders are 104-84 all-time in the Southland Conference.
- The Islanders are one win away from posting a 19-10 overall record for the second year in a row.
- A&M-Corpus Christi outrebounded the Lions 45-30 in game one which was at the time, the largest rebounding margin against a Southland opponent this season. The Islanders are 16-4 (12-2 SLC) when they outrebound the opposition and have outrebounded the opposition in 14 of 17 conference games this year.
- Additionally, the Islanders are 9-0 SLC when they shoot more free throws than their opponents.
- The Islanders nationally rank 19th in scoring defense (55.5), and 30th in opponent field goal percentage (.366), which they lead the Southland in along with opponent 3FG percentage (.274) in which they are nationally ranked 28th.
- Individually, Westbrook nationally ranks 17th in defensive rebounds per game (7.5), 22nd in rebounds per game (10.1), 19th in double-doubles (14), 21st in total rebounds (283), 34th in free throws attempted (169), and 38th in free throws made (128). She leads the Southland in all these categories.
- The Islanders are also looking to win their regular season finale for the second year in a row. Last year, the Islanders beat UIW in the final game of the season to clinch a double-bye into the 2022 SLC Tournament and also give Chadwick his 211
th league win, making him the winningest coach in SLC history. He is now up to 224 league wins and 726 career wins.
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