Women’s Basketball Prepares For Important Matchup Versus Jackson State Saturday Night At Home

• Texas Southern returns to the court Saturday evening against first-place and undefeated Jackson State Saturday, Feb. 15, at 5:30 p.m. inside the H&PE Arena. TSU currently sits two games behind JSU as Saturday’s game is a must-win contest in order to remain in the hunt for the regular season title.

• 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 17.7 points, 6.8 assists and 3.95 steals. She ranks third nationally in assists and in steals per game. 

• Head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is 58-37 all-time in the month of February and 9-2 at TSU. 

• Cooper-Dyke is 8-7 all-time against Jackson State. She last faced JSU last month, Jan. 18, when Jackson State won 81-79 in overtime at JSU. 

• Jackson State was picked second in the SWAC Preseason poll. Marneisha Hamer  leads the team with 13.3 points per game while Ameshya Williams leads with 8.9 rebounds per game. Jackson State is 11-0 in the SWAC and has won 12 games in a row. 

• 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 (15.5/11.9) and ranks 5th nationally in rebounding and 16th in steals. She has eleven double-doubles this season.

• 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 Feb. 13 is 114 and is 43 points higher than the next closest team in the SWAC. TSU has the sixth-highest RPI in the state of Texas.