Dec. 23, 2009

Game Notes

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU women's basketball teams returns to the Hilltop to host Hofstra Monday after winning the Bahamas Sunsplash Shootout with a 69-54 victory over Indiana State Sunday, Dec. 20. The win was the third in the last four games for the Mustangs, who started the season 5-0.

Against Hofstra

• The Mustangs are 1-0 against Hofstra, defeating the Pride 77-70 in Hempstead, N.Y., Dec. 21, 2007. • Brittany Gilliam scored seven points in 14 minutes with three assists and three rebounds. • Jillian Samuels started the game, scoring three points with two rebounds and two assists. • Haley Day and Alice Severin scored two points each.

The Pride This Season

• Hofstra is 7-3 this season, with all three loses coming at the WBCA Classic in Storrs, Conn., to No. 1 Connecticut, Clemson and Richmond. The losses to Clemson and Richmond were both by one point. • Shante Evans leads the Pride, averaging 11.8 points per game and seven rebounds. • Hofstra averages 66.4 points per game, while allowing 61.6 points per contest.

Last Time Out - Indiana State

• The Mustangs won the Bahamas Sunsplash Shootout with a 69-54 victory over Indiana State in Nassau, Bahamas Sunday. • SMU led 30-22 at halftime, and out-scored the Sycamores 39-32 in the second half for the win. • Jillian Samuels led SMU with a season-high 19 points, knocking down five 3-point shots. • Brittany Gilliam scored 15 points, and Christine Elliott and Raquel Christian added 11 each. • Samuels was named MVP of the tournament, and Elliott was named to the All-Tournament team.

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.

Christine the Machine

• Christine Elliott is averaging 14.8 points per game, ranking fifth in C-USA. • She is the only Mustang to score at least 10 points in all ten contests this season, including a season-high 18 four times, against Loyola Marymount, North Texas, TCU and Wichita State. • The sophomore is shooting 62.9-percent from the field, ranking sixth in the NCAA and second in C-USA, connecting on 61-of-97 shots. • She also leads the team and is ninth in the league, averaging 6.9 rebounds per game.

Backcourt Pressure

• The Mustangs have 71 steals this season, averaging 8.5 per game. • Guards Brittany Gilliam and Jillian Samuels each rank in the top-20 in the league in steals per game. Gilliam is eighth with 2.1 per contest, while Samuels is 16, averaging 1.7. • For her career, Gilliam has 208 steals, becoming just the fifth Mustang to record 200 in a career. Missy Parker finished her career in 1993 with 290, and Keren Blair is fourth on the list with 211.

1,000 Point Club

• Offensively Gilliam finished the 2008-09 campaign with a career total of an even 1,000 points. • She became just the 16th player in school history to reach the four-figure total. • With 129 points this season, Gilliam pushed her career total to 1,129. The senior needs 152 points to pass Kim Brungardt for 10th all-time at SMU.

Lend a Helping Hand

• Besides scoring, Brittany Gilliam has also shown a propensity for getting her teammates involved. • With nine assists against TCU, Gilliam passed Tomi Hollis for fifth all-time at SMU with 333 assists. • She added nine assists over the weekend, taking her season total to 61 and her season total to 342. • Gilliam is just the sixth Mustang to reach 300 assists in a career. • The senior needs 27 assists to pass Missy Parker for fourth at SMU. • Gilliam is 20th in the NCAA and leads the league this season, averaging 6.1 assists per game.

High-Powered Offense

• The Mustangs are 49th in the NCAA and second in Conference USA, averaging 73.0 points through ten games this season. In five of their eight wins, the Mustangs have scored at least 76 points, including two games with more than 80 points (Hampton and North Texas). • The Mustangs are shooting 43.8-percent from the field, which ranks third in the league and 59th in the NCAA, and are hitting on 35.3-percent of shots from 3-point range, fourth in C-USA and 45th in the NCAA.

Back-to-Back 20-Win Seasons

• 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.

Three-Point Specialist

• Senior Jillian Samuels has been deadly from long distance during her career in Dallas. Samuels is second on the all-time Mustang three-point career chart and 11th in Conference USA history with 201 made attempts. • With five made 3-point attempts against Indiana State, Samuels became just the second Mustang to sink 200 career 3-point shots. • On the single-season list, she has placed in the top-10 all three years with totals of 72, 59 and 51. Her 72 converted attempts in 2007-08 is the most in Mustang history. • Samuels has made 18 3-point baskets this season, and needs just 36 to become the all-time leader at SMU. • The senior is seventh in the league this season, averaging 1.8 3-point field goals per game.

What A Day

• Junior Haley Day has scored 10 points in all four of the Mustangs wins in Moody Coliseum, and is averaging 7.6 points per game. • The guard scored a season-high 16 points against North Texas, and grabbed eight rebounds in the win. • Day is third on the team and 20th in C-USA, averaging 5.7 rebounds per game. • She has connected on 12-of-25 3-point attempts, ranking fourth in the league with a 48.0 shooting percentage from behind the arc.

She's Just a Freshman

• Alisha Filmore has played in all ten games with two starts for the Mustangs, averaging 16.9 minutes per contest. • The 5-6 guard is averaging 5.1 points per game, scoring a season-high 11 against Arkansas. • Filmore has 15 assists this season, and is averaging 2.1 rebounds per game. • She is third on the team with 13 steals, and is 13-of-16 from the free-throw line, ranking 18th in C-USA with a 81.3 percentage from the charity stripe.

Dominant From Downtown

• SMU ranks fourth in the league and 45th in the NCAA, making 35.3-percent of 3-point shots, 71-of-201. • Only UTEP has thrown up more shots from behind the arc, 244. The Miners have made 93 3-point attempts, and are second in the league shooting 38.1-percent. Tulane is first, 38.2-percent, and ECU is third, 35.9-percent. • Four Mustangs are ranked in the top-20 in the league in 3-point percentage, led by junior Raquel Christian who is third, shooting 48.6-percent, hitting 17-of-35 from behind the arc. Haley Day, who is 12-of-25, ranks fourth at 48.0-percent. Brittany Gilliam is 17th, shooting 31.8-percent, and Jillian Samuels is 18th, hitting 31.0-percent. • All four have scored at least 10 3-pointers this season, led by Raquel Christian, who has hit 17 in nine games, ranking fifth in the conference with 1.9 per game. Jillian Samuels ranks seventh, hitting 18 in ten games for a 1.8 per game average. Brittany Gilliam is 16th with 1.4 per game, hitting 14 in ten games, and Haley Day has hit 12 in ten games, ranking 19th with 1.2 per game.