Ponies go for 20th win Wednesday on Senior Night

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

W-Basketball Hosts Tulsa In Regular Season Finale Wednesday At 7 P.M.
Seniors Will Be Honored In Pregame Ceremony

March 2, 2010

Game Notes

DALLAS (SMU) - The Mustangs host Tulsa in the final regular season game Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum. Not only will the game mark the final time three seniors will suit up in Moody, but it also has conference tournament implications for both teams. The Mustangs (19-9, 9-6 Conference USA) are tied for third, but could finish either second, third or fourth, while Tulsa (12-14, 6-9 C-USA) is in a four-way tie for eighth. The Mustangs will celebrate "Senior Night" with a pregame ceremony.

Against Tulsa

• The Mustangs are 20-11 against Tulsa all-time, but just 4-6 against the Golden Hurricane since joining Conference USA in 2005. • Tulsa won the first meeting of the season 57-54 on Feb. 18. SMU trimmed a 13-point deficit to one late in the game before falling at Tulsa. • Haley Day led the Mustangs with 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the first meeting of the season, and Brittany Gilliam scored 13 points with nine rebounds. • Current SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola was a senior for the Mustangs during the first meeting between the two schools. SMU won 84-64 on Nov. 30, 1981 in Dallas. • SMU has won three of the last four meetings, all by at least 11 points. • Seven of the 31 games in the series have been decided by five points or less, including two of the last five.

The Golden Hurricane This Season

• Tulsa is 12-14 this season, with a 6-9 Conference USA record, but are just 3-9 on the road. • Larrissa Williams leads the team and ranks third in the conference, averaging 17.5 points per game. The senior is also fifth in the league with 9.1 rebounds per contest. She is also tied for second in the league with 13 double-doubles this season, and second among active players with 43 in her career. • Tatum Beer gives Tulsa a spark off the bench, leading the team with 33 3-pointers in 98 attempts, ranking 18th in C-USA shooting 33.7-percent from behind the arc. • The Golden Hurricane is sixth in the league in both scoring offense and scoring defense, averaging 65.3 points per game, while allowing 63.5 points per constest.

Last Time Out - Southern Miss

• Haley Day led the Mustangs with 22 points, one shy of her career high, and grabbed nine rebounds to push the Mustangs past Southern Miss 81-66. • The Mustangs reached 80 points for the third time this season, shooting 45.5-percent from the field. • Brittany Gilliam posted her fourth double-double of the season, scoring 19 points with 11 rebounds. • Heidi Brandenburg posted career-highs with 11 points and six rebounds, and had two blocks in the win. • Jillian Samuels scored 15 points and Samantha Mahnesmith added 10, giving the Mustangs five players in double-figures for the first time since Jan. 30 at Houston • Alice Severin missed a third straight game after suffering an injury in the first half at Tulsa.

Player of the Week

• Brittany Gilliam earned the Mustangs' first Conference USA Player of the Week award of the season on Jan. 25 for her performance against East Carolina. • The senior guard led SMU with 19 points, going 7-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-5 on 3-point attempts. She also recorded seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Backcourt Pressure

• Guard Brittany Gilliam ranks fifth in Conference USA with 2.2 per game. She has 62 this season, which is the fourth most thefts in the league this season. • The senior has 249 career steals, ranking second all-time at SMU. With three steals at Marshall, Gilliam pusher her career total to 247 steals, passing Suzanne McAnally for second, who recorded 246 from 1988-92. Missy Parker holds the SMU record, finishing her career in 1993 with 290 steals.

Back-to-Back 20-Win Seasons

• The 2008-09 season marked just the second time in SMU's history that it has put together back-to-back 20 win seasons, posting 20 wins in three straight seasons from 1998-2000. • The Mustangs followed up a 24-win campaign in 2007-08 with a 20-12 mark last year. • The 44 wins combined over the last two seasons is a school record, surpassing the previous best of 42 from 1999-2000.

1,000 Point Club

• Brittany Gilliam became the 16th player in school history to reach the 1,000 points, accomplising the feat in the final game of the 2008-09 season. • With 13 points against Tulsa on Feb. 18, Gilliam passed Claudia Brassard for seventh all-time at SMU with 1,369 points. She has 1,418 career points, needing 40 points to tie Kim Brandl for fifth at SMU. • This season, Gilliam is seventh in C-USA, averaging 14.9 points per game. • With 20 points against Tulane, Jillian Samuels not only tied her career-high, but she became the 17th player in SMU history to reach 1,000 points in a career. The senior has 1,153 points, and climbed to 14th with 15 points against Southern Miss Saturday.

Lend a Helping Hand

• With a lone assist against Rice on Feb. 12, Brittany Gilliam recorded her 400th career assist. She is just the fourth Mustang to accomplish the feat. • With a career-high 11 assists against UTEP on Jan. 15, Gilliam pushed her career total to 377, passing Missy Parker for fourth all-time. She has 421 for her career. • Gilliam is 39th in the NCAA and second in C-USA, averaging 5.0 assists per game.

Climbing the Conference Charts

• Gilliam is one of nine active Conference USA players that has scored 1,000-or-more career points. • The Texas native boasts more than 1,400 career points and is on the verge of ranking among the league's all-time greats in career assists and steals. • With 249 career steals, Gilliam needs two thefts to tie for 12th (251). She is tied for 10th in conference history with 421 career assists.

Goal In Sight

• Head coach Rhonda Rompola recorded her 350th career win Thursday with a 69-61 victory over UCF, becoming the second coach at SMU to reach the mark. • Schellas Hyndman (Men's Soccer, 1984-2007) holds the record for most victories by an SMU coach with 368.

Crash the Boards

• The Mustangs are 10-2 this season when they grab at least 40 rebounds during a game, with losses at Rice and at home against Houston. • SMU has out-rebounded its opponent in 13 games this season, going 11-2 in those contests, with losses coming at Tulane and at home against Houston. • Three Mustangs are ranked in the top-13 in Conference USA. Christine Elliott is sixth, averaging 7.8 rebounds per game, Haley Day is 12th, grabbing 6.4 per game, and Brittany Gilliam is 13th with 6.3 per contest.

Three-Point Specialist

• Senior Jillian Samuels became the SMU all-time leader in 3-pointers made Thursday, going 3-of-7 from behind the arc to record 238 in her career. Her second 3-pointer of the game went in with 5:29 left in the first half to push her past Andrea Cossey, who made 236 from 2000-2004. • Valerie King (Cincinatti, 2000-04) holds the C-USA record with 338 career 3-pointers made. • With five made 3-point attempts against Indiana State, Samuels became just the second Mustang to sink 200 career 3-point shots. • On the single-season list, she has placed in the top-10 all three years with 72, 59 and 51. Her 72 converted attempts in 2007-08 is the most in SMU history. Samuels has made 57 3-point baskets this season. • Samuels is tied for third in C-USA this season, averaging 2.0 3-point field goals per game, and she is tied for 14th in the league, shooting 35.0-percent from behind the arc.

Christine the Machine

• Christine Elliott is averaging 11.0 points per game. • She scored at least 10 points in 18 contests this season, including a season-high 18 four times, against Loyola Marymount, North Texas, TCU and Wichita State. • The sophomore is shooting 51.7-percent from the field, ranking fifth in C-USA, connecting on 122-of-236 shots. • She also leads the team and is sixth in the league, averaging 7.8 rebounds per game. • Elliott has five double-doubles this season, sixth in C-USA, and 10 in her career.

What A "Birth" Day

• Against UCF, on her birthday, Day posted her second double-double of the season, scoring 13 points with 11 rebounds. She was 4-of-9 from the field and 3-of-4 at the free-throw line. • She followed her performance against UCF with a 22 point, nine rebound effort in SMU's win over Southern Miss Saturday. • Haley Day has scored at least 10 points in 15 games this season, including what was a season-high 18 against UTEP on Jan. 15, and is averaging 8.6 points per game for the year. • Day scored a career-high 23 points against UTEP on Feb. 2, 2010, going 7-for-10 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free-throw line. • Day is second on the team and 12th in C-USA, averaging 6.4 rebounds per game. • The junior has connected on 29-of-68 3-point attempts, shooting a team-best 42.6-percent, which ranks third in the league.

On the Offensive End

• The Mustangs are fourth in Conference USA, averaging 68.8 points per game this season. In 11 of their 19 wins, the Mustangs have scored at least 70 points, including three games with more than 80 points (Hampton, North Texas and Southern Miss). • SMU is 12-0, including a 7-0 record in conference when scoring at least 70 points. • The Mustangs are shooting 41.3-percent from the field, which ranks fourth in the league, and are hitting on 33.5-percent of shots from 3-point range, sixth in C-USA. • The Mustangs are third in the league with a +5.4 scoring margin.

Going Out In Style

• The 2010 SMU senior class has 81 wins over the past four seasons, needing one win to tie the 2000 senior class for most wins over a four-year span. • The 2000 seniors won 82 games during their careers.

Regular Season Finale

• The Mustangs are 14-19 in the final game of the regular season, but they are 12-6 in those games since Rhonda Rompola became the head coach in 1991. • When the Mustangs close out the season at home, their record is 9-9, with the Mustangs going 3-6 before the Rompola era and 6-3 during her tenure. • This is the second time the Mustangs have faced Tulsa in the final game of the regular season. SMU won 58-45 at Tulsa on March 4 to close out the 2000 regular season.

Seeding Scenarios

• The Mustangs are currently tied for third with Houston in the Conference USA standings, but the Cougars hold the tiebreaker over the Mustangs by virtue of beating Tulane twice, while SMU went 1-1 against the Green Wave, so SMU would get the four-seed in the 2010 GMC Sierra C-USA Championship if both teams win the final game of the season. • SMU can still move as high as second in the conference standings going into the tournament. • If SMU wins and Houston loses at home to Rice, the Mustangs would be the three-seed in the tournament. • If SMU wins and Houston and Memphis both lose, the Mustangs would be the two-seed in the tournament.

Youthful Exuberance Combined With Senior Experience

• The Mustangs knew on the first day of the season they would only have three seniors on the floor. What they didn't know is how well the young talent on the team would perform. • Over the last three games, the Mustangs have played as many as six sophomores and freshmen compared to just three seniors and juniors. • In those three games, the sophomores and freshmen combined for 79 of SMU's 224 points scored, 35.3-percent of the offense. The seniors, Brittany Gilliam and Jillian Samuels, and one junior, Haley Day, have accounted for 64.7-percent of the offense over the last three games.

Get Out of the Gates

• The Mustangs have held the lead at halftime 17 times this season, going 15-2 with the lead at the break. SMU lost at UAB 62-60 after holding a one-point advantage at the break and 73-67 at home against Houston, despite leading by four points at halftime. • The Mustangs have only come back to win in four games when trailing at halftime, and only twice against C-USA teams. SMU overcame halftime deficits to win against Arkansas, Hofstra, UTEP and Tulane. All four wins were at home, and the largest halftime deficit the Mustangs overcame was three points against Tulane.

Goal In Sight

• Head coach Rhonda Rompola recorded her 350th career win Thursday with a 69-61 victory over UCF, becoming the second coach at SMU to reach the mark. • Schellas Hyndman (Men's Soccer, 1984-2007) holds the record for most victories by an SMU coach with 368.

Get to the Line

• As a team, the Mustangs rank third in Conference USA, shooting 68.8-percent from the free throw line. • Senior Jillian Samuels and sophomore Samantha Mahnesmith are the top-two shooters in the conference from the charity stripe. • Samuels has connected on 72-of-83 attempts from the line, shooting a league-high 86.7-percent, and has shot 84.3-percent over her career. Her 72 made attempts is fifth in the league. • Mahnesmith has made 35-of-41 attempts, shooting 85.4-percent this season, second in the conference. • Freshman Alisha Filmore is 11th in the conference shooting 78.0-percent, 32-of-41.

[Bergermeister]

Let me know how that comes out......

[Pony4Life]

I'll be there — Go Ponies!

[smupony94]

They got it

[Balatro Diabolus Ex]

Let me know how that comes out......

It turned out pretty well, 71-52. Thuck you very much for asking.