Tests continue, Kats visit TCU on Tuesday
11/14/2016 11:15:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game 2
Tuesday, Nov. 15 • Fort Worth, Texas • 6:30 p.m. • Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena (6,700)
Sam Houston State (0-1) at TCU (1-0)
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FORT WORTH, Texas – Sam Houston State continues its early-season tests on Tuesday, visiting TCU for the squads second non-conference matchup against a Power 5 program. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena.
The Bearkats (0-1) are looking to rebound following a 71-39 loss at Arkansas on Friday while TCU continues its early-season swing against the Southland Conference. The Horned Frogs (1-0) downed Incarnate Word 88-40 on Friday night, holding the Cardinals to under 20 percent from the field.
KATS, HORNED FROGS WELL AQUAINTED
Sam Houston and TCU have been no stranger to meeting one another in non-conference action. The squads have played 16 times since 1979 with the Horned Frogs owning the all-time series by a 12-4 margin.
This year marks the ninth straight season the Kats and Horned Frogs have hooked up in Fort Worth. TCU is 8-0 in those games and has won 12 straight in the series since the Kats captured the first four matchups between the 1979-80 and 1984-85 seasons.
TCU got the best of the Kats to the tune of an 85-59 victory in Fort Worth a season ago. Five players from the current Bearkat squad took part in that game, but only Jasmine McCants found the bucket, accounting for three points and five rebounds.
THE LAST TIME OUT
Sam Houston fell 71-39 in its season opener Friday morning at Arkansas. The Bearkats were plagued by a slow start, falling behind 25-6 through the end of the first quarter.
Senior Jasmine McCants registered a team-leading 11 points while freshman Rachel Harrell got her career off to a strong start courtesy of nine points and a team-leading eight boards.
KEEP THE BUS RUNNING
Sam Houston will spend 10 of its first 12 games away from the friendly confines of Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum including eight straight between Nov. 25 and Jan. 5.
The road trips themselves pose as equal of a challenge as the games on the slate. The Bearkats trek 502 miles to take on Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ark.), 404 miles to face Marshall and UTRGV (Edinburg, Texas) and 297 miles to square off against LSU (Baton Rouge, La.).
NEW-LOOK TEAM IN 2016-17
Sam Houston returns just five players from a season ago (Lydia Baxter, Ashleigh Cooper, Angela Delaney, Morghen Day and Jasmine McCants), welcoming seven freshman and four transfers to this year's squad. Only three of those players - Angela Delaney, Morghen Day and Jasmine McCants - had made a start in a Bearkat uniform prior to Friday's opener at Arkansas.
CLIMBING THE WIN COLUMN
In her 11th season as head coach, Brenda Welch-Nichols ranks second in Bearkat women's basketball lore with 112 wins. The former Bearkat player is just 21 victories shy of catching all-time leader Rebecca Bilsing who assumed the helm between 1973 and 1982.
Nichols already ranks as Sam Houston's career leader in Southland Conference wins, boasting 72 since taking over in 2006-07. With 112 victories, the Bearkat alum ('89) ranks 18th among win totals among league head coaches all-time.
OUT OF THE GATES AGAINST THE POWER 5
For the second consecutive season, Arkansas and TCU serve as the opening two opponents for the Bearkats. Sam Houston has not shied away from challenging early non-conference contests, opening with LSU during the 2014-15 campaign while playing Arkansas in one of its first two games for the third time in four seasons.
A season ago, Sam Houston's vaunting non-conference road slate opened with TCU before trips to Arkansas, Rice, Kansas State, Texas and a preseason tournament matchup against Florida State from Brooklyn, N.Y.
