Nov. 12, 2009

Game Notes

Scouting Loyola Marymount

• The Lions won their only exhibition game of the 2009-10 season on Nov. 6, defeating The Master's College 87-67. • LMU was picked to finish second in the West Coast Conference behind Gonzaga, receiving one first place vote. • Junior guard Renahy Young and sophomore forward Alex Cowling were both named to the Preseason ALL-WCC • Young set a sophomore record for points in a season with 14.7 a year ago. • Cowling was named the 2008-09 WCC Newcomer of the Year, finishing with 13.4 ppg overall. • Did you know? Friday's game will be the only one of the season for the Lions played in the central time zone. Of LMU's 28 scheduled regular season contests, 26 will be played on the west coast in the Pacific time zone. The only other game played outside the west coast will be on Dec. 12 when the Lions travel to New Mexico. Only seven games are against teams from outside the state of California.

Exhibition Recap

• SMU defeated Abilene Christian 74-47 on Monday night. • The team led for all 40 minutes helped out by an 11-0 run to open the game through the first 4:03. • Christine Elliott led the way with 13 points and seven rebounds to go along with four steals, three of which came during the 11-0 run. • Defensively the Mustangs held the Wildcats to 25.9% from the field on 15-58 shooting.

Season Opener History

• This season marks the 34th year of SMU women's basketball. Prior to this season the Mustangs are 18-15 all-time in season openers. • SMU has opened at home each of the last seven years, and is 4-3 in that stretch. • In home openers all-time SMU is 24-9, despite dropping two straight.

Third Time's the Charm

• This season SMU is looking to make it back to a postseason tournament for the third straight year after trips to the NCAA Tournament and the WNIT the last two years. • It would be the first time to do so since the team made it three years in a row from 1997-2000. • Including conference tournaments, the Mustangs are 33-39 all-time in the postseason, and 28-26 under head coach Rhonda Rompola.

We Are the Champions

• SMU capped off a season in which it finished the year 20-9 in its last 29 games, by winning the Conference USA Regular season title. • The championship was the second of its kind for the Mustangs, with the other coming in 2000, when the team finished 12-2 as part of the WAC. • Both times SMU has earned the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, it has advanced to the tournament semifinals, including a championship game appearance in 2000, a 71-67 heartbreaking loss to Rice.

Back-to-Back 20 Wins

• The 2008-09 season marked just the second time in SMU's history that it has put together back-to-back 20 win seasons, after the program did it in three straight seasons from 1998-2000. • The Mustangs followed up a 24-win campaign in 2007-08 with a 20-12 mark last year. • The 44 wins combined over the last two seasons is a school record, surpassing the previous best of 42 from 1999-2000.

Record Setting Performance

• On Feb. 26 against Tulane, freshman post player Christine Elliott had a recordsetting game, tying the all-time SMU record for rebounds in a game with 21. • The mark eclipsed the freshman record of 16, last done on Feb. 24, 1990 by Shanell Thomas vs. Boise State and tied her for third on the single-game Conference USA list. • Elliott finished the season with 224 total rebounds. That is third on the school's all-time freshman rebounding list, just 22 behind Janielle Dodds who had 246 in 2004-05.

Can't Get Past Her

• Opposing teams have had trouble getting around senior guard Brittany Gilliam. She was the top player in C-USA a year ago with 80 steals, helping her to earn the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award. • For her career Gilliam has 187 steals, and is on pace to finish in the top five in Mustang history, averaging 62.33 steals a season.