LARAMIE, Wyoming – Readying for its first postseason appearance since 2005, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team begins its stint in the WNIT on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST against Wyoming in Arena-Auditorium.
The Islanders (19-11, 14-4 SLC) are coming off a regular season conference title, their second in four seasons, to earn the league's automatic bid to the WNIT. With the regular season finish, A&M-Corpus Christi secured a double bye into the semifinals of the SLC Tournament for the second year in a row.
The championship came in the regular season finale when the Islanders won 61-53 at A&M-Commerce. In the effort, junior
Paige Allen turned in season-highs 17 points off eight made field goals. It took A&M-Corpus Christi's road record in SLC play to 8-1, the best in program history since joining the league in 2006. The 9-4 overall road record this year is also a program best since it began in 1999-00.
The Islanders nationally rank 19th in scoring defense (55.8), and 34th in opponent field goal percentage (.368), which they lead the Southland in along with opponent 3FG percentage (.280) in which they are nationally ranked 39th.
Senior
Alecia Westbrook was named the SLC Player of the Year, in addition to repeating as the Defensive Player of the Year. It is the first time in program history that an Islander was named Player of the Year, as well as the first time a player repeated a superlative. Westbrook was named to the All-Defensive team for the second year in a row, also a first for the Islanders.
Westbrook was the only player in the Southland to average a double-double on the year with 12.6 ppg and 10.0 rpg.
She and redshirt senior
Makinna Serrata were both named to the All-Conference First-Team for the second year in a row. It marks the first time the Islanders had a player be named to the First-Team multiple times, let alone two.
Serrata led the Islanders in scoring for the second year in a row with 12.8 ppg, along with posting the highest field goal percentage at .489 to finish second in the Southland. In conference play, she averaged 14.0 ppg and was .511 from the floor. She scored in double figures over 20 times this year in addition to posting four 20+ scoring performances, all in conference play.
In league play, the Islanders shot .423 from the field as a team while keeping their SLC opponents to just a .358 mark, the best in the league. A&M-Corpus Christi posted the highest scoring margin through the conference slate (+10.83).
Wyoming (22-10, 13-5 MWC) finished second in the Mountain West after posting a 20+ win season to receive the league's automatic bid to the WNIT. The Cowgirls are entering familiar territory, as it will be their fifth postseason appearance in the last six seasons. They are 19-9 all-time in the WNIT and won the title in 2007.
The game can be watched live on the Mountain West Digital Network, and can also be heard live for free on 1440 AM K-E-Y-S with Doug Kesterson on the call.
NOTES
- The winner of the match-up will advance to round two of the WNIT, scheduled for March 18-21. The championship game is set Saturday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast by CBS Sports Network.
- It will mark the third ever meeting between Wyoming and A&M-Corpus Christi and first since 2001. The Cowgirls won both previous meetings, edging out the Islanders 64-60 in 1999-00 and 72-70 in 2000-01.
- It marks just the second appearance in a postseason tournament in program history and first since the Islanders went to the WNIT 2005 when the program was a Division I Independent.
- The Islanders were predicted to win the league prior to the start of the season for the first time in program history, making it the first time the Islanders won the regular season after being picked to win it.
- A win would bring A&M-Corpus Christi's win-total to 20 this year, the first 20+ win season since 2019-20 when it won its first regular season title.
- The Islanders are 40-28 all-time in the month of March.
- The Islanders closed out the regular season on a five-game winning streak and held the opposition to under 60 points in four of them. The Islanders ended the year 17-3 (12-3 SLC) when they hold the opposition to under 60 points. They held their opposition to under 60 points in 15 of 18 SLC play, and four to under 50 points.
- Additionally, the Islanders ended 16-4 (12-2 SLC0 when they outrebounded the opposition, and did so in 14 of the 18 SLC games.
- Nationally, Westbrook ranks 19th in defensive rebounds per game (7.4), 21st in rebounds per game (10.1), 18th in double-doubles (15), 27th in total rebounds (304), 42nd in free throws attempted (179), and 46th in free throws made (134). She leads the Southland in all of these categories.
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