Women's basketball preview

[PonyPride]

Women's hoops embarks to New Orleans, El Paso in final weekend of regular season

Ponies try to improve on sixth-place spot in C-USA standings

Feb. 20, 2007

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU women's basketball team embarks on its final weekend of the season with two challenging road games, beginning Thursday evening at Tulane. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. and can be heard live on KKGM-Radio (1630 AM).

The Mustangs (16-10, 8-6 C-USA), winners in five of their last six games, sport a 2-4 conference road record and currently stand in sixth place in league standings. Tulane (22-5) sits atop the league with an 11-3 C-USA mark, holding a one-game lead over UAB (10-4). The Green Wave's 10-game winning streak was snapped Saturday by East Carolina, 76-68, and they post a 12-2 home record this season (5-1 in league play).

Scouting Tulane...
Under the direction of 13th-year head coach Lisa Stockton, the Green Wave are the team to beat going into next week's Conference USA tournament. In league play, Tulane ranks first in a number of categories, including scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, assists, and assist/turnover ratio. Individually, the Green Wave is led by senior guard Jami Montagnino who averages nearly 15 points per conference game. She ranks third in free throw percentage (85%). Senior guard D'Aundra Henry pours in just over 12 points per league game while Ashley Langford tops C-USA in assist/turnover ratio and is second in assists.

Series History with the Green Wave...
Thursday marks the 26th meeting between SMU and Tulane, as the Mustangs hold an 18-7 series lead over the Green Wave. Last month, the Mustangs fell just short against Tulane at Moody Coliseum, 63-58, which was televised on ESPN2. Freshman Delisha Wills scored a career-high 21 points for SMU.

Pony Tales...
** In the NCAA national statistics dated Feb. 18, SMU is ranked 16th in the nation (out of 324 ranked) in free throw percentage, 28th in field goal percentage defense, 69th in blocked shots and 85th in scoring margin. Janielle Dodds is 67th in free throw percentage while Sharee Shepherd is 55th in steals per game.

** Junior Janielle Dodds is currently in ninth place on SMU's all-time scoring list, totaling 1,284 career points. She needs 46 points to move into eighth, surpassing Carol Blauvelt's 1,329 points.

** Freshman Delisha Wills is currently ranked second among the league's rookies in scoring, second in rebounds and third in field goal percentage.

** SMU has won the opening game tip nine times (out of 14 games) in Conference USA play.

[Pony4Life]

They're picking up steam at the right time - three in a row, right?
Go Ponies!