Lions visit Southeastern Oklahoma

Texas A&M University-Commerce men's and women's basketball are both in action this weekend, as the teams travel up to Durant, Okla., to play Southeastern Oklahoma State on Sunday in a Lone Star Conference North Division match-up.

The A&M-Commerce men's team started 3-0 in the LSC North for the first time since the 2002-03 season and is 14-4 overall. A win against Southeastern Oklahoma could pay huge dividends for them, regionally speaking.

"It's really nice to be 3-0," men's head coach Sam Walker said. "The big thing is regional rankings come out Tuesday, so a win Sunday would I think, at 15-4, put us in the regional rankings and that's critical."

The Lions have gathered momentum after their 101-83 win against high-scoring East Central University at home on Wednesday night. Ronnie Morgan, who was the high scorer in that game with 24 points, played down the rankings and said the team needs to just stay focused on the task at hand.

"I don't think we need to worry about the rankings," he said. "We've got bigger goals. We want to win championships. I feel like if we keep doing what we're doing, playing together, and listen to our coaches' plan for the game, then we can win."

The Savage Storm is 5-12 on the season, 0-2 in the conference after a 45-40 loss to Northeastern State, extending their losing streak to three. Senior William Slones has only led in scoring for three games this season, but he is a double threat as he leads the team in rebounding with 142.

In their last win, an 80-72 overtime victory over Abilene Christian, junior Jordan Lee had a double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Lee is fifth on the team in scoring this season, with 131 points. This is also Southeastern Oklahoma's first conference game at home this season.

At 4-11, 1-2 in the LSC North, the A&M-Commerce women are struggling with consistency, according to head coach Nicole Anderson. If the Lions want to get back on track, they will have to overcome the 11-5, 1-2 in LSC, Southeastern ladies.

"We will look at where our break downs came from," Anderson said about preparing to face Southeastern. "We need to learn from our own mistakes. It's not necessarily what our opponents are doing."

Anderson added her team will be looking at their defensive transition and offensive rebounding ahead of meeting the Savage Storm. Southeastern Oklahoma's senior Destiny Brown will have to be watched closely as she is the team leader in rebounding with 141 total, and 118 of those are defensive rebounds.

"Offensively we would take that one shot, and I'm pretty certain we might have one person going to the offensive boards," Anderson said about Wednesday's loss. "Even though we dominated the boards, when we get one shot and one shot only over and over again it means we're standing and watching."

Going into this game, the Lions are led by junior Mattilyn McIntyre. The LSC North Offensive Player of the Week has 216 points on the year, averages 14.4 points per game, and has 21 assists this season. Junior Genevieve Campbell had the hot hand last game, as she went 3-6 from beyond the arc and put up 22 points. She also had 11 rebounds, six of which were offensive boards.

Brown also leads the Savage Storm in points with 212, averaging 13.3 per game. Senior Kacey Russell has done well from three-point range for Southeastern this season, shooting 23-63 from long range and putting up 207 points overall.