Feb. 6, 2008

CANYON, Texas - Lone Star Conference South action continues this week for the Buffs and No. 12 Lady Buffs as the teams hit the road to face Abilene Christian on Thursday followed by a match-up against Angelo State on Saturday.

Last week, the Lady Buffs - who are also ranked No. 1 in the South Central Region (as of Jan. 30) - improved to 16-3 overall and an unblemished 6-0 in LSC South play as they collected wins over Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas Woman's, bumping their consecutive league win steak to 32 games. Also, the victory over TWU pushed WT's home win streak to 41 straight games.

Junior guard Emily Brister continues to lead the league in scoring with her 21.8 points per game average while she also leads the Lady Buffs in all but three major statistical categories. She is shooting .899 from the free throw line (116-of-129), .495 from the floor (137-of-277) and .352 from behind the arc (25-of-71); additionally, she has 137 rebounds (7.2 per game), 54 assists, 54 steals and 10 blocks.

The junior class as a whole has been solid for WT as Courtney Lee is averaging 12.0 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game with 23 steals and 39 assists while Jamie Dreiling has tallied a 9.9 points per game average and a 5.0 rebounds per game average in addition to 23 steals and nine blocks. Chelsea Blackshear has come on strong in the last four games, sinking 7-of-17 (.412) long distance shots and 11-of-23 (.478) from the floor while also dishing out 12 assists. Starting point guard Dixie Bell has continued to be a work horse on the court and her efforts have paid of as of late--she has made 7-of-12 baskets from the floor and 5-of-9 from long range in addition to handing out 10 assists.

Freshman Joni Unruh has continued to play beyond her years as she is averaging 5.8 points per game on 37-of-82 made baskets from field goal range and 24-of-38 made free throws while also being a force under the basket with her 4.6 rebounds per game; she also has tallied 27 assists, 16 steals and five blocks.

Abilene Christian's Kristee Davidson was honored as the LSC South Player of the Week this week as she helped the Wildcats beat Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville. Junior Audrey Maxwell is ACU's leading scorere with 16.8 points per game, followed by senior Alex Guiton's 14.0 ppg average. The Wildcats enter the contest with an overall record of 10-9 and a 4-2 conference mark.

West Texas A&M men's hoops heads to ACU after a close win over Texas A&M-Kingsville last week, during which seniors Robert Lee and Kyle Shields scored 14 points apiece. Lee is averaging 20.6 points per game as he has made 40-of-74 baskets from the floor, 11-of-22 from three-point range and 12-of-19 from the charity stripe against conference opponents; overall he is averaging 16.0 points per game and has 37 assists and a team-high 25 steals.

The local Buffs, all from Amarillo, Texas, have proved to be a steady force as Tyler Cooper has grabbed 100 rebounds and scored 141 points (7.1 ppg), senior Chris Hinz has tallied an average of 10.3 points per game and Shields has dished out a team-high 72 assists and has grabbed 19 steals.

Senior Andre Hill, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native, has 101 rebounds (5.1 rpg) and 174 (8.7 ppg) points and a team-high 29 blocked shots.

Abilene Christian's men (15-4, 2-2) will look to end a three-game losing streak against WT on Thursday. The Wildcats were ranked No. 14 in the country before losing to Midwestern State, Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville, which dropped them out of the national polls. ACU has three men in double-digit scoring as Corwin Ragland as 16.8 points per game, Dejan Sencanski is right behind him with 16.5 ppg and Brandon Callahan has 15.1 ppg. Sencanski and Stephen Musa have 130 and 108 rebounds, respectively, to lead the team in boards; Musa also has a team-high 25 blocks. Additionally, Ragland leads ACU in assists, with 88, while Callahan has a team-high 33 steals and 72 assists.

Following Thursday's games, the Buffs and Lady Buffs head to Angelo State with the women tipping off at 6 p.m. and the men's game set to start at 8 p.m.; the games will be streamed live at http://www.ncaasports.com/dii.