Women’s Basketball Returns To Action At Texas A&M Tonight

• The Texas Southern women’s basketball team is back in action after a 15-day layoff with a trip to Texas A&M Thursday night in College Station, Texas.

• Both teams will meet for the first time since 2002 as this marks TSU’s first SEC opponent since LSU in 2015. TSU will also face LSU in its next game on Sunday.

• Fourth-year head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is back on the TSU sidelines for the third straight season. She led TSU to the SWAC Regular Season Championship for the first time in school history in 2012-13 in addition to a second-place finish in 2019-20. The team made it to the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament (before COVID-19) in 2020 and a quarterfinals appearance in 2021.

• TSU will keep its bags packed as the first 10 games on the schedule are on the road. TSU’s first home contest isn’t until Wednesday, Dec. 22 against Virginia.

• TSU will face off against teams from six conferences in 2021-22. TSU will square off against teams from the Pac-12 (4), ACC, Conference USA, SEC, American and Big 12. TSU is a de facto member of the Pac-12 this year with games at Arizona, Colorado, UCLA and USC.

• Cooper-Dyke is 1-2 all-time against Texas A&M with two games as head coach at Prairie View A&M and another while at Southern Cal.

• TSU assistant coach Lulu McKinney is a former Texas A&M student-athlete as she played at Texas A&M during the 2016-17 season as a grad student. Her father, Clarence, served on the Texas A&M football staff from 2011-17.

• TSU has dealt with injuries early this season but are rounding into form slowly with a full roster available.

• Texas A&M is 38-6 lifetime against the SWAC with games against Alcorn State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Grambling State, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Prairie View A&M, Southern and TSU.

• TSU was picked to finish sixth while guard Ataiya Bridges was named to the 2021-22 Preseason All-SWAC Second Team. The Tigers feature a revamped roster with 12 newcomers and five letterwinners returning.