LSC Roundup 1-20

Recruiting Center (Updated)

Men's Basketball News
Buffs try to hand MSU second loss of season
The Midwestern State Mustangs opened men's Lone Star Conference play last week by losing to Angelo State. Tonight, it will be the West Texas A&M Buffs who receive the chore of playing a ticked off Midwestern State squad, which happens to be regarded as the best team in the LSC men's race.

"I can promise you they are very aggressive and their transition offense is very, very good," said WT coach Rick Cooper when asked of his opinion on Midwestern State. "We do have our work cut out for us."

ASU basketball capsule
The Rams look to get back on track and move back over .500 in LSC South play tonight when they travel to Kingsville to face the Javelinas. ... ASU is coming off a 78-62 loss to Tarleton State on Saturday. LaMarshall Corbett led the Rams with 25 points. Shavar Burch added 12. Derrick Webster and Johnny Barnes each had seven rebounds to lead the team. ... Kingsville is coming off a 72-62 loss to Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. ... Kingsville leads the all-time series 45-43. The teams split their two meetings last season. ... ASU will be back in action Saturday when the Rams host Abilene Christian.

ENMU Basketball Capsule
ENMU beat the Texans 77-72 in overtime at Greyhound Arena in the regular-season finale in February 2007. That was the Hounds’ last South win until beating Abilene Christian last week to open division play. It’s also the only win for ENMU over Tarleton in the last 23 meetings. The Texans lead the all-time series 25-7, including 14-2 at Stephenville. … Tarleton leads the LSC in scoring defense (56.4 ppg) and FG percentage defense (35.8), and ranks second in scoring margin (14.7) and 3-point FG percentage (30.7). … Scoring leaders for the Texans are 5-11 junior G Corin Henry (11.9 ppg), 6-8 senior F Jeremiah Wilson (11.7) and 6-4 junior G Devon Hllls (11.6). Wilson tops the team in rebounding (9.4 rpg) and blocks (28). … Tarleton is 11-1 at home this season. … The Texans took last year’s meetings 64-41 at Portales and 64-55 at Stephenville.

MSU seeks to bounce back
The basketball season is only two months old, and first-year head coach Grant McCasland is about to find out something about his Midwestern State team that he hasn’t had to learn in the first 66 days on the job — how it rebounds from a loss.

That’s both literally and figuratively.

After winning their first 14 games, the Mustangs finally lost last week, 84-76, on the road at Angelo State.

Not good timing since this was the first of 12 important Lone Star Conference South Division games.

“If practices are any indication — and you don’t know if they are until you go play — we have improved on the glass,” said McCasland, whose team was out-rebounded 45-30 in the loss to ASU.

MSU slips to No. 11 in the NABC Coaches Poll
No other LSC school receives votes.

LSC Weekly Basketball Release
LSC Basketball Quick Notes
After one week of divisional play, six men's and four women's teams have jumped to the top of the standings with perfect conference records. Teams are competing for one of 16 spots, eight on both the men’s and women’s side, in the Lone Star Conference Championship to be held in Bartlesville, Okla., March 3-7.

The LSC men have a 134-94 overall record so far this season, including a 71-43 mark in the South Division and 63-51 in the North. In league crossover play the South has the advantage, 26-22. In the NCAA South Central Region, the men’s teams are currently 24-11 combined versus Heartland Conference teams and 3-2 against the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA).

In men’s games played last week, the LSC had one player score more than 30 points, eight over the 20-point mark and eight double-digit rebounders, while six recorded double-doubles.
Points, Men: 32, Dominique Gaines, NSU at CU
Rebounds, Men: 14, Jamaar Burke, CU vs NSU
Assists, Men: 10, Eric Cazenave, UCO at ECU
Steals, Men: 7, Eric Cazenave, UCO vs SE

Players of the Week
NORTH MEN’S OFFENSIVE
Dominique Gaines, Northeastern State, Jr., Guard, Muskogee, Okla./Muskogee HS
Gaines helped lead Northeastern State to a 3-0 week by scoring 71 points, 54 of those coming in a pair of LSC North Division contests. For the week, the 6-3 junior guard connected on 18-of-36 shots from the field (.500), was 5-of-12 from the arc (.417) and 30-of-40 from the charity stripe (.750). After a 17-point output against Rhema (68-33 win) where he played 28 minutes, Gaines came back to score a career-high 32 points in a 70-62 decision at Cameron, which snapped the Aggies’ eight-game home winning streak. Gaines was 6-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-4 from the arc and made 17-of-21 free throws. He narrowly missed a rare triple-double with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the RiverHawks’ 70-66 win at home against Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday. NSU is 11-5 overall, 2-0 in LSC North action, and has won its last five outings.

NORTH MEN’S DEFENSIVE
Dauntae Williams, Central Oklahoma, Jr., Guard, Missouri City, Texas/Elkins HS
Williams had another dominating week, especially on the defensive end, as UCO opened LSC North Division play with a pair of easy wins. The junior guard averaged 8.5 defensive rebounds (9.0 overall), 4.0 steals and 1.5 blocked shots in routs of East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma while adding 21.0 points and 6.0 assists a contest. Williams had 26 points, a season-high 12 rebounds (11 defensive), five steals and a block in a 106-88 road win over ECU, then had 15 points, six rebounds (all defensive), three steals and two blocks in a 94-62 home victory over SOSU.

SOUTH MEN’S OFFENSIVE
Victor Reid, Eastern New Mexico, Jr., Forward, El Paso, Texas/Cochise CC
Reid shot .542 from the field and averaged 16.5 points per game, enabling Eastern New Mexico to snap a 24-game LSC South Division skid, including 12 straight road games. He scored 20 points and grabbed seven boards against Abilene Christian and followed with 13 points and eight boards at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Reid’s performance allowed the Hounds to snap the Javelinas’ 13-game home winning streak.

SOUTH MEN’S DEFENSIVE
Bijan Dotson, West Texas A&M, Sr., Forward, Oakland, Calif./Hamilton HS
Dotson grabbed four defensive rebounds while blocking two shots a recording a steal in WT’s 79-68 win at ACU. He also grabbed eight rebounds and played a role in the Buffs holding TAMUK to just 38 percent from the floor in the win over the Javelinas. For the week, he had 14 rebounds (nine defensive) while blocking three shots and recording two steals to help WT to a pair of wins to open LSC South play.

Women's Basketball News
Lady Buffs seek new start after seeing win streak end
The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs will try to start another basketball win streak when they meet Midwestern State today at Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls. WT had its 11-game win streak snapped at Abilene Christian on Saturday as it dropped to 1-1 in the Lone Star Conference South Division.

The Lady Buffs are 31-8 all-time against Midwestern State and have won 10 straight meetings dating to Feb. 2, 2004. WT is playing its second straight road game and is in the midst of a six-game stretch in which the Lady Buffs will play four road games.

''We treat every division game as a big one, and this is no different,'' Lady Buffs head coach Krista Gerlich said. ''We haven't had to come back from a loss very often this season. Our goal is to go there and try to take care of business and come away with a win.''

Javelinas women seek ninth straight home win
The Texas A&M-Kingsville women’s basketball team goes after its ninth consecutive home victory tonight when it hosts Angelo State in a Lone Star Conference South Division game at the Steinke Physical Education Center. A&M-Kingsville’s men, meanwhile, face the Rams and are attempting to snap a five-game skid and revive an offense that has struggled of late. The women’s game starts at 6 p.m. followed by the men.

The women (13-4) are coming off a 77-61 victory over Eastern New Mexico on Saturday to improve to 1-1 in the South.

“As long as we play good enough to win, that’s what counts. I think we’re back on the upswing,” A&M-Kingsville women’s coach Scott Hyland said.

“Right before Christmas we were really playing well. We did some really good things up in Austin at the tournament there against Texas A&M-International and St. Ed’s. At times we looked really good.”

ASU basketball capsule
The Rambelles look to get back over .500, both overall and in LSC South play tonight when they travel to Kingsville to face the Javelinas. ... ASU is coming off a 61-35 loss to Tarleton State on Friday. Camille Perkins led the ’Belles with six points. The 35 points was ASU’s lowest point total since the 1976-77 season and the third-lowest point total in school history. ... Kingsville is coming off a 77-61 victory over Eastern New Mexico on Saturday. ... ASU leads the all-time series between the two schools 35-25. The ’Belles have won four of the last five meetings between the two teams including both meetings last season. ... ASU will be back home Saturday when the ’Belles host Abilene Christian.

ENMU Basketball Capsule
ENMU has lost five in a row overall, and the Zias have dropped 14 consecutive South games dating to a 75-56 home win over Midwestern State in their 2007-08 finale. … The TexAnns were coming off a loss at Texas-Permian Basin on Jan. 11 before winning their last two. They are 8-0 at home this season, winning by an average margin of 33 1/2 ppg, and have won 12 consecutive home contests dating to last season. … Tarleton ranks first in NCAA Division II in scoring margin (29.2) and third in scoring defense (50.8 ppg). … Scoring leaders are 5-11 junior P Brittnie Haley (12.4 ppg), 6-0 senior C JoAnne Jones (11.6) and 5-6 sophomore G Shelby Adamson (10.6). Haley and Jones both average more than six rebounds. … Jones, who is shooting 61 percent from the field, needs 19 points to reach 1,000 for her career. … Tarleton won last year’s meetings 68-63 at Portales and 77-56 at Stephenville. The TexAnns lead the all-time series 10-5 and have won eight of the last nine.

MSU women home to face No. 11 West Texas A&M
It has been 30 days since the Midwestern State women played a home game, and for the first time in several seasons the Mustangs had some good fortune while on the road.

Tonight they’ll be trying to duplicate that success in the friendly confines of D.L. Ligon Coliseum as the No. 11 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs come calling for a Lone Star Conference South contest.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. as both the Mustangs (6-8, 0-1) and the Lady Buffs (17-2, 1-1) are coming off losses in their last ball game.

West Texas A&M drops two spots to #11 in the latest USA Today WBCA poll. Tarleton enters the poll at #24 and Northeastern State and Texas A&M-Kingsville receive votes.

LSC Weekly Basketball Release
LSC Basketball Quick Notes
After one week of divisional play, six men's and four women's teams have jumped to the top of the standings with perfect conference records. Teams are competing for one of 16 spots, eight on both the men’s and women’s side, in the Lone Star Conference Championship to be held in Bartlesville, Okla., March 3-7.

The LSC women are 134-102 overall, with a 75-41 mark in the South and 59-61 in the North this season. In league crossover action, the South Division holds a 38-18 record over its North opponents. In the NCAA South Central Region, the women’s teams are currently 25-11 combined versus Heartland Conference squads and 5-4 against the MIAA.

On the women’s side, the league had one player score over 30 points, 16 score more than 20 points and 18 double-digit rebounders, while 14 posted double-doubles in action last week. Top performances included:
Points, Women: 30, Mattilyn McIntyre, A&M-C vs CU
Rebounds, Women: 16, Destiny Brown, SE vs TWU
Assists, Women: 9, Kat Kundmueller, ACU vs ENMU
Steals, Women: 7, Two players

NORTH WOMEN’S OFFENSIVE
Mattilyn McIntyre, Texas A&M-Commerce, Jr., Guard, Texarkana, Texas/Arkansas-Little Rock
McIntyre scored a season-best 30 points and grabbed a season-best eight rebounds as the Lions’ snapped a six-game losing streak in an 84-78 win over Cameron. Four of her rebounds came on the offensive side to match a season-high. Prior to that, she had 18 points and five rebounds against Southwestern Oklahoma State. She went 10-for-11 from the free-throw line against Cameron and a perfect 4-for-4 against SWOSU. Five times in 2009-10, she has made all of her free throw attempts.

NORTH WOMEN’S DEFENSIVE
Kayla Weaver, Texas Woman’s, Jr., Guard/Forward, Aquilla, Texas/Aquilla HS
Weaver averaged a double-double with 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in three games including 15.5 points and 12.0 rebounds in two LSC North Division games. She scored 13 points and then-career-high 10 rebounds (9 defensive) in an overtime victory at Southeastern Oklahoma in the LSC North Division opener. Weaver then recorded career-high 18 points and 14 rebounds (10 defensive) in an 18-point victory over East Central. She also added two key blocks in the first half to help the Pioneers build a 12-point halftime lead and added two steals in the second half as TWU built a 24-point lead. Weaver also had a team-high 12 points and 7 rebounds (5 defensive) in LSC Crossover game against Tarleton State. TWU started 2-0 in the conference for the first time since 2006-07 season.

SOUTH WOMEN’S OFFENSIVE
Jody Meyer, Abilene Christian, Sr., Center, Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock HS
Meyer helped push ACU’s winning streak to five straight games last week with wins over Eastern New Mexico (71-55 in Portales, N.M.) and No. 9 West Texas A&M (69-67 in Abilene). ... Meyer -- ranked eighth in the nation in rebounding and No. 1 in the LSC in offensive rebounding -- averaged 17.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, including her 11th double-double of the season (19 points, 13 rebounds) in the win over the Lady Buffs. ... Meyer filled up the stat sheet in ACU’s third straight home victory against West Texas A&M, hitting 7 of 12 shots from the field for 19 points, converting all five of her free throw attempts, collecting 13 rebounds (seven offensive boards), two assists and two blocked shots.

SOUTH WOMEN’S DEFENSIVE
Sonya Sundberg, Tarleton State, Jr., Guard, Keller, Texas/Central HS
Tarleton had allowed Angelo State to pull within four points (18-14) with 7:32 left in the first-half on Saturday until Sundberg forced a turnover and a steal that led to a 6-0 run by the TexAnns. The run helped propel the TexAnns to a 14-point halftime lead and an eventual LSC South Divison-opening win (61-35). Sundberg was mostly responsible for guarding ASU’s leading scorer, and held her to just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting, with three of her nine points coming from the foul line. Sundberg and the TexAnns held ASU to just .220 shooting on the night and their lowest point total in over 33 years when Stephen F. Austin held ASU to 32 points back in 1976-77. Sundberg then went on to hold a TWU guard to just seven points, which was almost half her average, in Tarleton’s 71-50 win over the Pioneers on Monday. She had 10 steals for the week with three against UTPB, three versus ASU and four at TWU.


Recruiting News
From the Waco Tribune: Centex 25 Players considering LSC schools
16. Jarrod Hall WR - 6-5 205 - University HS - offers from WTAM, ACU, and TAMC
22. Nick Richardson DT - 6-2 205 - Waco HS - ACU
23 Davionte Dobbins DB - 6-1 180 - University HS - ACU, ASU, WTAM
24. Cruz Chaires DB - 6-1 175 - McGregor HS - Commit to Tarleton State
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Layton Dworaczyk (RB - Blanco HS) has interest from TAMK and ACU (as well as Mary Hardin Baylor).

Kelo Webster (RB - Keller HS) is looking at Angelo State and Wheaton College in Illinois.

Junior Tivao tells us that he and his brother Johnny Tivao will be playing for Texas A&M-Kingsville. They both played ball at Cerritos College where Junior was a starting linebacker and Johnny was a JC Gridwire 2nd team All-American defensive tackle.

Torian Oakley (RB - Conroe Oak Ridge) has committed to West Texas A&M.

Ryan Cyr (QB - Conroe Oak Ridge)reportedly has a visit set up to Eastern New Mexico and Bryant University..

Glenn Hill (San Antonio Churchill HS) has committed to Incarnate Word. He threw for 652 yards and 5 TDs and ran for 444 yards and 6 TDs last year in just five games. UIW recruited him as an athlete.

Football News
Buffs will open season against Grand Valley St.
The 2010 football season for the West Texas A&M Buffs features a season-opener at the second-best team in the nation last year and five teams that qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The Buffs kick off the season Sept. 2 at Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich., home of the Lakers, who opened the 2009 season with a 37-23 win over the Buffs at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. GVSU fell to Northwest Missouri State, 30-23, for the D-II national title, and returns nine starters on both sides of the ball. Matt Mitchell was named head coach at GVSU earlier this month, replacing Chuck Martin, who resigned to be defensive backs coach at Notre Dame.