Women’s Basketball To Host Alabama A&M In Important Contest Saturday Evening

• Texas Southern starts its final homestand of the regular season and looks to win the second of its two regular season match-ups against Alabama A&M on Saturday inside the H&PE Arena.

• Second-year head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke returns to the TSU sidelines for the first time since 2012-13. She spent the 2012-13 season at TSU and led them to the SWAC Regular Season Championship for the first time in school history.

• Guard Ciani Cryor is averaging 17.0 points, 6.6 assists and 3.83 steals. Nationally, she ranks fourth in assists and fourth in steals per game. 

• Head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is 61-38 all-time in the month of February and 12-3 at TSU. 

• Cooper-Dyke is 10-3 all-time against Alabama A&M. She last faced AAMU earlier this month when Texas Southern won 65-58 at AAMU. 
• Alabama A&M is a game behind TSU in the SWAC standings at 10-4. Dariauna Lewis leads the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game and rebounding with 9.3 rebounds per game. DeShawna Harper averages 13.4 points per game.

• TSU Senior forward Niya Mitchell completed the trifecta as she was named the SWAC’s Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in addition to earning first team honors. A 5-10 graduate student from Bay City, Texas, Mitchell is averaging a double-double (16.2/11.6) and ranks 7th nationally in rebounding (8th in offensive rebounding). She has thirteen double-doubles this season. Mitchell is tied for 20th, nationally, in steals. 

• TSU was picked fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll after finishing the 2018-19 season in fifth. TSU has a revamped roster with only five letterwiners retuning while they welcome nine newcomers and two redshirts. 

• TSU’s RPI through games played Feb. 27 is a SWAC-leading 147.