Kingsville - Fresh off of its largest win of the season, the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's basketball team will be hosting the team at the top of the Lone Star Conference West Division, the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds for a Tuesday-afternoon clash.

The Javelinas will be taking momentum from their 80-44 thrashing of West Texas A&M into the matchup. That game saw Kingsville not only post its highest scoring total of the season, but also hold the Lady Buffs to their lowest.

Among many Javelinas who had stellar performances in the win, junior forward Shelby Ray's stood out. She posted her first double-double of the season and the second 10-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist game of her career, collecting 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block. For her efforts, Ray became the first player for the program to win LSC Offensive Player of the Week since 2022, and just the third since 2014. 

"Shelby had a solid game and has continued to get better," Head Coach Michael Madrid said. "Anytime one of our players is fortunate to be recognized, we know it's a team award as well."

The game pushed Ray up the conference's statistical leaderboards, as she now averages the 11th-most rebounds, the 10th-highest FG%, and the 12th-most blocks in the Lone Star. She joins a number of her teammates, whose names are all over those leaderboards. Senior forward Janessa Payne shoots the best three-point percentage in the LSC, and makes the second-most threes per game. Senior guard Abby Bala paces the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio and averages the fifth-most assists per game, with junior guard Aina Maynou not far behind - averaging the sixth-most.

As a team, Kingsville has held teams to 55.0 points per game, the fifth-lowest number in the LSC. Despite the team's low offensive totals in the scoring department, the squad has been uber efficient, it averages the second-best FG%, the third-best three-point percentage, and the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Loen Star. The team is also fourth in most assists, and third in both fewest turnovers and total turnover margin in the conference.

While the team has hung its hat on the defensive side of the floor from day one, it has posted season-high scoring efforts in each of its past two games - scoring 79 on the road against UT - Permian Basin, then 80 on WT.

"We have shared the ball and found the hot hand," Madrid said. "We find more success when we move the ball and share it. Team basketball mentality."

They'll certainly have their hands full with the Greyhounds, who have impressed in nearly all facets of the game so far this season. ENMU is 9-1 and carries a seven-game winning streak into the matchup. The team's only loss so far this season was in mid November on the road versus Southwestern Oklahoma State. 

"We have to be sound defensively and concentrate on our assignments," Madrid. "They are very good offensively in all areas of the game and continue to get better each week."

They boast the 18th-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 78.8 points per game. Though they were held to 63 points against Texas A&M - International on Sunday, the Greyhounds had scored 82 or more in each of their previous three games. They top the conference in both field goal and three-point percentage, while also pacing the LSC in both combined and offensive team rebounds - they're 12th and 13th in the nation respectively in those stats.

Amazingly, ENMU's excellent offense has come by committee, with no players averaging more than 11.1 points per game, but with seven who tally at least eight a contest. In a similar way, the team's nation-topping rebounding numbers come via a team effort as well. No Greyhound averages a top-nine amount of rebounds in the LSC, but seven different players average at least four. 

The team's leading scorer, senior Hunter Ishuana, shoots 51.2% from the field, the fourth-best mark in the conference. Freshman forward Kaitlyn Edmondson has already made an impact for her squad - she is fifth in the conference in blocks.

This will be Kingsville's final regular season game before the team takes its Christmas break, though the Javelinas will play an exhibition game against Texas Lutheran on Friday at 2 p.m..