Women’s Basketball Set For Home Opener Saturday Night

• Texas Southern opens up at home against Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday evening inside the H&PE Arena at 5:30 p.m.

• Saturday’s game will be televised live on AT&T Sportsnet with Butch Alsandor and Lemont Williams calling the action.

• 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.

• Cooper-Dyke is 16-2 all-time against UAPB as she won the lone meeting against them in 2021.

• Head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke is 73-43 all-time in the month of January and 16-5 at TSU.

• TSU has yet to play at home this season as its first two SWAC games were on the road which marked nine games away before its first home game on Jan. 8. The non-conference home contest versus Virginia on Dec. 22 was canceled due to COVID-19. • TSU has faced off against teams from four conferences in 2021-22. TSU has squared off against teams from the Pac-12 (3), Conference USA, SEC and Big 12. TSU is a de facto member of the Pac-12 this year with games at Arizona, Colorado and USC. • Jala Buster has turned into a block machine with one-plus block in seven of TSU’s nine games. She has three games with three blocks apiece.

• UAPB, which has lost six straight to TSU and seven of the past eight, was picked ninth in the SWAC Preseason Poll. The Golden Lions are on a five-game losing streak after having a solid non-conference slate with wins over several mid-majors. Zaay Green leads UAPB with 13.8 points and 6.7 rebounds followed by 11.8 points and 8.8 rebounds from Khadijah Brown. Sade Hudson is third in scoring with 10.8 points per game followed by Joyce Kennerson’s 10.6 points.

• UAPB’s Joyce Kennerson is a former TSU standout at guard from 2015-18.

• 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.