Dec. 16, 2011
MUSTANGS HOST TAMU-CC AND WAKE FOREST BEFORE HOLIDAY BREAK
Radio: KAAM 770 AM Scott Garner (Play-by-Play)
Location: Dallas, Texas (Moody Coliseum)
Live stats and video available on SMUMustangs.com
Game Notes 
UPCOMING GAMES
After improving to 4-1 at home with a 67-41 win over Northwestern State to open the homestand, the Mustangs face Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Sunday night. SMU will also host Wake Forest on Wednesday in the third game of the six-game homestand, which also includes games against UTSA and Stephen F. Austin after Christmas. The Mustangs will conclude the homestand against UTEP on Jan. 5 in the first Conference USA game of the season.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Texas A&M Corpus Christi: The Islanders are 3-7 entering the weekend, which includes a Friday night matchup with Jackson State in Corpus Christi. After starting the season 0-3, TAMU-CC has won three of its last seven games, including a 64-61 victory at Rice. Jessica Jammer leads the team with 10.5 points per game and is second with 7.3 rebounds, and Myeisha Myles scores 10.1 points with a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game.
Series History: The Mustangs are 3-1 all-time against the Islanders. In the last meeting, SMU took a 73-65 victory on Dec. 2, 2008 in Dallas. The Mustangs won the first game in the series 62-57 on Nov. 21, 2000. The eight-point victory in 2008 is the largest margin of victory in the four-game series.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons are 7-2 on the season, winning five in a row before falling 70-57 to Delaware in their last game. Chelsea Douglas leads the team with 12.7 points per game, and Sandra Garcia averages 10.0 points. Secily Ray grabs a team-high 6.9 points while scoring 9.6 points per contest. Wake Forest is averaging 78.1 points per game, while holding opponents to just 58.9 points.
Series History: The Mustangs are 1-2 all-time against Wake Forest, defeating the Demon Deacons 83-71 in overtime in Dallas on Nov. 23, 2003 to win the Hoops for the Cure Classic. The first meeting occured during the 1989-90 season when the teams faced each other in the Northern Lights Invitational in Anchorage, Alaska. Each team is 1-0 on its home floor, with Wake Forest taking the win last season.
STREAKS AND TRENDS
Alisha Filmore has scored at least 10 points in four of the first nine games...Filmore has led SMU in points twice this season...The Mustangs held their opponents to 60 points or less in the first four games and five times this season...Christine Elliott has grabbed at least nine rebounds in five of the first nine games, leading the Mustangs in rebounds six times this season...Akil Simpson has scored in double-figures in four of the last eight games, including a career-high 22 points against Fresno State...Christine Elliott has posted two double-doubles this season, and Akil Simpson has one...Elliott has 16 career double-doubles and Simpson has two.
RHONDA PASSES HYNDMAN IN WINS AT SMU
Head Coach Rhonda Rompola passed Schellas Hyndman for most wins as a head coach at SMU with the 369th win of her career on Nov. 17 with a 47-38 victory over TCU. Hyndman had 368 wins as the men's soccer head coach. Rompola currently has 371 wins. She earned the 350th win of her career with a 69-61 win over UCF on Feb. 25, 2010.
SENIOR PRODUCTION
Christine Elliott leads is second on the team this season with 9.2 points per game and is eighth in Conference USA with 7.9 rebounds per game. She has led the team in rebounding in six games this season, and scored a team-high twice. Samantha Mahnesmith is scoring 8.8 points per game with 3.1 rebounds, and has made a team-high 10 3-point baskets. As a junior, Mahnesmith was named team MVP after averaging 10.2 points per game and a team-high 11.3 points in conference game. Mahnesmith has led the team in scoring in three games this season.
STAFF CONSISTENCY
Head coach Rhonda Rompola and associate head coach Lisa Dark have been together on the sidelines since Rompola took over the reins of the program 20 seasons ago. Assistant coach Deneen Parker joined the duo 16 years ago. The SMU staff has the second longest active tenure of any staff at one school. Danny Hughes joined the staff prior to the 2009-10 season and is entering his third year with the program.
REACHING A MILESTONE
Christine Elliott scored her 1,000th point on Dec. 3 against Wichita State in her hometown of Wichita, Kan., becoming the 19th player in school history to reach the milestone. The senior, who led the team with 13 points in the game, accomplished the milestone with her third field goal three minutes into the game. She now has 1,015 career points and 753 rebounds, becoming the seventh player at SMU with at least 1,000 points and 700 rebounds in a career. This season, Elliott is averaging 9.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. She scored a season-high 15 points at Kansas and grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds against TCU.
THE FALL OF TROY
Arkansas-Little Rock was 35-4 in home non-conference games in the Jack Stephens Center, which opened seven seasons ago. The Mustangs handed the Trojans their fifth non-conference loss in the Jack Stephens Center with a 69-60 win in SMU's first road test of the 2011-12 season on Nov. 14.
Basketball Texas Style
The SMU women's basketball team features 11 of 13 players from the state of Texas in 2011-12. Of the players from the Lone Star State, each lists their hometown as being less than 50 miles from the SMU campus.
BACK IN ACTION
Kristin Hernandez is playing in her first season since transferring to SMU from Oklahoma State two years ago. The senior guard is averaging 6.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game this season. She led the Mustangs with 14 points and grabbed a season-high six rebounds against Cal State Fullerton.
SUCCESSFUL TENURE
SMU head coach Rhonda Rompola has led the Mustangs to the NCAA Tournament seven times and the WNIT four times. The Mustangs have captured two conference tournament championships and two regular season titles under her leadership. She has coached three All-Americans, two Conference Players of the Year, two Conference Defensive Players of the Year and 30 All-Conference selections. Rompola has also been named Coach of the Year six times during her 20-year tenure.
RECENT SUCCESS
In the past five seasons, the Mustangs have had three 20-win seasons, won a Conference USA Tournament Championship, a C-USA Regular Season title, advanced to the NCAA Tournament and made two WNIT appearances.
C-USA TELEVISED GAMES ANNOUNCED
The SMU women's basketball team will be featured in a pair of television broadcasts during the upcoming 2011-12 season. The first televised matchup for head coach Rhonda Rompola and the Mustangs will be at home against Southern Miss at 1 p.m. (CT) Feb. 12 on the CBS Sports Network. Tip-off was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. On Feb. 19, FSN will broadcast SMU's home matchup against Rice. The game time, originally slated for 2 p.m., will be moved up to a 12 p.m. CT start.
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Akil Simpson was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team last season. If her first year at SMU, she averaged 4.9 points and 4.2 rebounds. She averaged 16.3 minutes while playing in all 30 games with six starts. Simpson scored a season-high 17 points against then-No. 23 Texas on Dec. 18, going 7-for-7 at the free throw line. She pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds on Jan. 6 at Tulane. In her sophomore campaign, Simpson is leading the team, scoring 9.3 points with 5.1 rebounds per game.
SIGNING CLASS
Head coach Rhonda Rompola called the 2012-13 freshmen class one of best in the history of the SMU program. The class features three players from the DFW area and an All-Arkansas selection from Little Rock, Ark. Farrin Bell averages 20 points and five rebounds per game at Richardson High School. Nia Jackson scores 13 points with eight rebounds per contest at Argyle Liberty Christian High School in Keller, Texas. Gabrielle Wilkins leads Garland High School with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Lexus Williams puts up 12 points and 10 boards at North Little Rock High School.
TAKING WHATS FREE
The Mustangs led Conference USA during the 2010-11 season in free throw percentage, shooting 71.2-percent from the line. This season, the Mustangs are shooting 68.8-percent, second in the conference, sinking 141-of-205 attempts. Sabrina McKinney is second in the conference, shooting 89.5-percent, making 17-of-19 attempts. Alisha Filmore and Samantha Mahnesmith are shooting 73.9-percent, each making 17-of-23 attempts. Akil Simpson has also made 18 free throws this season.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Christine Elliott has 16 career double-doubles, third among active leaders in Conference USA. This season, the senior forward posted her first double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds against TCU, and scored 15 points with 10 rebounds.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Sophomore Akil Simpson lead the team with 9.3 points per game and is second on the team with 5.1 rebounds per game. She posted a career-high 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against Fresno State for her second-career double-double and the first of the season. She is seventh in Conference USA, shooting 53.2-percent from the field.
