Kingsville - After playing just two home games in its first 13 regular season contests, the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's basketball team now begins a four-game homestand of Lone Star Conference matchups as it looks to build on back-to-back wins.
The homestand starts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday when the Javelinas' game against Cameron tips off. They will be looking to beat the Aggies for the third game in a row and the fifth in their last six meetings.
"We love to play at home and have been fortunate to have had success over our tenure here," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "Our main focus is to play one possession at a time. Concentrate on what we do on both ends of the floor and compete."
The team enters this weekend fresh off of a perfect 2-0 start to the new year, beating St. Mary's and St. Edwards on the road last weekend. Along with improving to an 8-5 record, the weekend also got the Javelinas back above .500 in conference play for the first time since they were 1-0.
The coming weekend is an opportunity for them to add to an undefeated, 3-0, start to divisional play. Their opponent, however, has been battle tested throughout the season, losing in a number of very tight conference contests. The Aggies have lost seven straight games heading into Thursday's matchup, but three of their last four losses came by two or fewer possessions.
"Cameron is a solid team with some great players," Madrid said. "They have a solid inside player and guards that can score. We will certainly have our work cut out for us and are excited about the opportunity."
Indeed Cameron boasts one of the best inside presences in the conference in senior forward Shamica Smith. Smith averages 14.7 points, and 9.5 rebounds per game while shooting 50.4% from the field - each of those three numbers ranks top five in the LSC. Alongside her is the team's second leading scorer, senior guard Grace Alverson. At 2.4, she makes the third-most threes per game in the LSC, while shooting the seventh-best percentage. Additionally, freshman Madison Griggs has been contributing offense as of late. She scored 15 points in the team's two-points loss to UT - Tyler on Sunday.
They will hope to challenge the Kingsville defense, which, while strong all season, has been tremendous as of late. TAMUK touts the 13th-best scoring defense in the nation, holding opponents to 53.4 points per game and allows the second-fewest field goal attempts per game in the LSC.
"We defend as a team," Madrid said. "We want to force all players to take tough, contested shots. We will work extremely hard to make all their players work for shots."
In each of its wins last weekend, Kingsville held its opponent to 46 or fewer points while also adding another offensive weapon to its arsenal. Redshirt sophomore
Kaycee Groves made the first two starts of her collegiate career and played stellar basketball. Across the weekend, she averaged 16 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game, while posting single-game career highs in points and rebounds along the way.
Groves' emergence only adds to a team that is able to hurt opposing defenses in a number of ways. While shooting the fourth-best FG% and the sixth-best three-point % in the LSC, the team utilizes three different players who average at least 8.8 points per game, and, over the course of the season, has seen four different Javelinas score 18 or more points in a game.
Following Kingsville's Thursday bout, the Javelinas will be back in the SPEC less than 48 hours later to host Oklahoma Christian at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
