Kingsville - The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's basketball team will be in San Antonio for the holiday weekend, where it will face off with a pair of talented opponents at the St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic.
The team will begin its weekend with a 4:00 p.m. CT contest on Black Friday against the Oklahoma Baptist Bison, before turning around quickly for a 2:00 p.m. CT matchup with the RV Washburn Ichabods on Saturday.
"Both teams are talented and well-coached," Head Coach
Michael Madrid said. "Our focus is always to control what we can control, defend to the best of our ability, and execute offensively."
The Javelinas have already gone toe-to-toe with a ranked team this season, falling to No.21 Colorado Mesa at the Westminster Classic last weekend, and will play against teams that are either ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes in the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Poll in five of their next seven games.
"We want to play a competitive schedule," Madrid said. "The LSC is an incredibly tough conference. You want to be tested every time you step on the floor and I feel we have, and will continue to, play quality teams."
So far this season, Kingsville is one of just two in the conference to have two different players who rank top-10 in rebounding, with redshirt freshman forward
Caitlyn Benally averaging 7.5 (eighth) and sophomore forward
Thalia Daniels just behind her tallying 7.0 (T-ninth).
The team's leading scorer, freshman forward
Justine Aguilar, has been doing damage at the free-throw line, making eight of her nine attempts so far this year and holding the sixth best percentage in the conference.
"We are continuing to improve daily," Madrid said. "We have a lot to clean up. Excited about our last couple days of practice. Our players understand this is a marathon. Our best basketball is ahead of us."
Scouting the Competition: The Oklahoma Baptist Bison
The Bison have started the season 3-1, including three straight wins heading into Friday's matchup with the Javelinas. Their two most recent wins came over Lone Star Conference opponents, taking down Eastern New Mexico in their home opener before beating UT-Dallas in Richardson on Saturday.
OKB averages the third-best scoring offense in the Great American Conference and the third-best scoring margin. Additionally, the team has been uber efficient, averaging north of 42% from the field (2nd in GAC), while also holding opponents to under 28% shooting from three (3rd in GAC). Senior forward Jaedyn Getman has led the team in scoring so far in the young season and is off to a blistering paste. She averages 28.8 points/s (1st in GAC), 9.3 rebounds/g (5th in GAC), and 1.5 steals/g (18th in GAC) on 50.7% FG (12th in GAC) and 66.7% from three (3rd in GAC).
Scouting the Competition: The Washburn Ichabods
The Ichabods have had an impressive start to their season as well and are receiving votes to the WBCA National Poll after a 3-1 start. Just like TAMUK's first opponent, they bring a three-game win streak into the weekend, including a pair of lopsided victories at the Washburn Classic last weekend.
Defense has led the way for Washburn early in the year, as they boast the best scoring defense in the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association and holding opponents to just 21.5% shooting from three (1st in MIAA). Offensively, while no single player averages a top-10 scoring number in the conference, four different players average double figures for the Ichabods. Three of those four players add at least 4.3 rebounds/g as well, led by senior center Yiibari Nwidadah, who averages 7.0 rebounds per game (T-6th in MIAA).
