Women’s Basketball Closes Out Non-Conference Play Monday Night At UT Arlington

• Texas Southern closes out non-conference play Monday night in the state of Texas as they’ll face UT Arlington inside the College Park Center.

• Second-year head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke returns to the TSU sidelines for the first time since 2011-12. She spent the 2011-12 season at TSU and led them to the SWAC Regular Season Championship for the first time in school history.

• Guard Ciani Cryor is off to a sizzling start as she’s averaging 15.1 points, 7.4 assists and 3.7 steals. As of Dec. 26, she ranks 3rd nationally in assists per game and 5th in steals. 

• Head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is 35-39 all-time in the month of December and 4-6 at TSU. 

• Cooper-Dyke is 1-0 all-time against UTA as she defeated them by a 65-58 margin on Nov. 27, 2009 while serving as Prairie View A&M’s head coach.

• Despite sharing the same state, TSU and UTA will meet for the first time since 2008 and the 17th overall. TSU leads 9-7 and has a three-game winning streak dating back to 2000. Against SWAC teams, UTA is 12-14 all-time.

• 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 senior from Bay City, Texas, Mitchell averaged a double-double last season, scoring 14.4 points and 10.7 rebounds per contest. She’s averaging 14.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.5 steals this season. She ranks 9th in steals per game nationally.

• 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 as of Dec. 26 is 85 and is 116 points higher than the next closest team in the SWAC. TSU has the fifth-highest RPI in the state of Texas.