The SMU women's basketball team returns home Tuesday to host Abilene Christian in Moody Coliseum at 7 p.m. The game is the third in five days for the Mustangs after a pair of hard-fought road losses, including a contest at then-No. 21 Oklahoma. Fans can watch the game on PonyUp TV, streamed at www.SMUMustangs.com/watch, or listen in the Dallas area on KAAM 770 AM.
PACK YOUR BAGS
The game at Oklahoma started a stretch of five of six games played on the road in a span of 13 days. SMU plays at UT Arlington Sunday, before hosting Abilene Christian Tuesday. The Mustangs play a pair of games in a Thanksgiving Tournament at Nevada, and conclude the stretch at North Texas Nov. 29.
ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs are 1-3 after winning the season opener.
McKenzie Adams leads the team and is 44th in the NCAA with 21.0 points per game. The senior finished with 38 in the opener against Nicholls, third most in a game at SMU.
Kiara Perry scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Mustangs vs. TCU, marking the second straight game in which an SMU player posted a career high in the scoring column, and is scoring 12.8 per game. SMU has 20 blocks through four games, ranking 27th in the nation.
The SMU roster features six seniors, including four returning starters, and SMU has seven returning letterwinners, including all six seniors.
Alicia Froling was the only player in the American Athletic Conference to average a double-double last season, scoring a team-high 13.3 points per game with a league-best 10.0 rebounds. She was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Preseason team this year.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Abilene Christian is 3-0, and the game at SMU is the first road contest of the season for the Wildcats. Dominique Golightly leads the team with 15.0 point per game, shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range with nine makes outside the arc. The sophomore is one of three players averaging at least 10 points on a team that is averaging 90.0 points while holding opponents to 55.7.
SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 3-2 all-time against ACU, winning the last three meetings. The Mustangs eliminated the Wildcats in the second round of the WNIT last season with a 59-52 win in Moody Coliseum. It was the first meeting between the two programs since Dec. 2, 1983, when SMU won at home, 82-59. The two teams first met on Nov. 26, 1979 when ACU won in Dallas, 69-67.
POSTSEASON IN FIRST SEASON
In his first season as head coach,
Travis Mays guided the Mustangs to a 19-13 record, including a pair of WNIT wins. SMU advanced to the round of 16 in the tournament with wins at home against Louisiana Tech and Abilene Christian. It was the first time since 1993 that an SMU team won twice in a postseason tournament.
DEFEND YOUR HOUSE
SMU went 13-3 in Moody Coliseum last season, just two wins shy of the program-record 15 home wins during the 2012-13 season. The win total included a victory over then-No. 19 Texas A&M, while the three losses came against then-No. 1 Connecticut, then-No. 23 USF and a Tulane team that was receiving votes at the time of the matchup.
INCREASED ATTENDANCE
SMU had the seventh largest increase in attendance, averaging an additional 1,028 fans per game in Moody Coliseum than the previous year.
SENIOR CLASS
The SMU roster features six seniors this season, including four returning starters.
Alicia Froling started all 34 games, leading the team in points (14.3) and rebounds (10.0).
McKenzie Adams started 34 games, averaging 12.2 points with a 36.6 shooting percentage.
Kiara Perry started every game after missing the previous season due to a back injury, and
Stephanie Collins started 19 games.
Klara Bradshaw saw action in 33 games, and
Mikayla Reese played in 30 games last season.
BROKEN RECORD
For the third straight season, SMU set a program record in blocked shots, recording 187 as a team.
Alicia Froling led the way with 51 blocks, climbing to second all-time at SMU with 147 career blocks.
Stephanie Collins finished with 36 blocks as a junior and ranks fourth all-time with 138 career blocks. She is also the SMU single-season record holder with 73 blocks in 2015-16.
Dai'ja Thomas was second on the team last year with 40 blocks, and
Klara Bradshaw posted 33. SMU also set the single-season rebounds record with 1,409 boards last season. It was the second straight season in which the rebounds record was broken. The Mustangs finished with 1,331 rebounds in 2015-16, which was the most since the 1981-82 season.
SMU SINGLE-SEASON BLOCKS
1. 187 2016-17
2. 184 2015-16
3. 160 2014-15
4. 142 2005-06
5. 129 2002-03
SMU SINGLE-SEASON REBOUNDS
1. 1,409 2016-17
2. 1,331 2015-16
3. 1,327 1981-82
4. 1,315 1995-96
SMU CAREER BLOCKS
1. Sarah Davis (2003-06) 180
2.
Alicia Froling (2015-Present) 145
3. Karlin Kennedy (1996-00) 139
4.
Stephanie Collins (2015-Present) 138
T-5. Katie Remke (1997-01) 109
T-5. Janielle Dodds (2004-08) 109
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Alicia Froling represented Australia at the 2015 FIBA U19 Women's World Championships in Russia, winning a Bronze medal with the team, her second career medal at the World Championships with Australia. A native of Queensland, Australia, Froling averaged 8.1 points per game, reaching double-figures twice, including a tournament-high 19 points during group play. She also averaged 6.9 rebounds, and shot just under 70 percent from the free throw line.
Stephanie Collins also represented Australia at the 2012 World University Games.
ALICIA FROLING
As a junior last season,
Alicia Froling was the only player in the American Athletic Conference to average a double-double, scoring a team-high 14.3 points per game with a league-best 10.0 rebounds. With 486 points, she climbed to 14th on the all-time scoring list at SMU with 1,213 career points. Froling is sixth all-time in rebounds with 884 after grabbing 339 to reset her own program record. She also has 147 career blocks, second all-time at SMU. She posted a program-record 17 double-doubles, and scored a season-high 28 points in the win against Louisiana Tech.
SMU SINGLE SEASON DOUBLE-DOUBLES
1.
Alicia Froling (2016-17) 17
2. Shasta Smothers-Johnson (1984-85) 15
3.
Alicia Froling (2015-16) 14
SMU CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES
T-1. Shasta Smothers-Johnson (1983-87) 38
T-1. Janielle Dodds (2005-08) 38
3.
Alicia Froling (2015-Present) 36
INDIVIDUAL SEASON REBOUNDS LIST
1.
Alicia Froling (2016-17) 339
2.
Alicia Froling (2015-16) 328
3. Shasta Smothers-Johnson (1984-85) 310
SMU CAREER REBOUNDS
1. Janielle Dodds (2004-08) 974
2. Karlin Kennedy (1996-2000) 946
3. Shasta Smothers-Johnson (1983-87) 933
4. Teri Baldwin (1977-80) 890
5. Christine Elliott (2008-12) 886
6.
Alicia Froling (2015-Present) 884
McKENZIE ADAMS
After leading the Mustangs in scoring as a sophomore,
McKenzie Adams was second on the team with 12.2 points per game last season. She increased her shooting percentage from 30.3 as a sophomore to 36.6 during Mays' first season, and had 56 assists and 35 steals. Adams started this season with a career-high 38 points in a win against Nicolls, and is averaging 21.0 points per game, 44th in the NCAA.
SMU SINGLE-GAME SCORING
1. Jeannia Nix vs. Texas (2/28/89) 43
2. Shawna Ford vs. TCU (1/25/97) 42
3.
McKenzie Adams vs. Nicholls (11/10/17) 38
4. Shasta Smothers-Johnson vs. TCU (1/18/85) 36
KIARA PERRY
After missing the 2015-16 season with a back injury,
Kiara Perry returned to average 7.3 points, third on the team, and 5.4 rebounds. The shooting guard matched point guard Morgan Bolton with a team-high 84 assists and led the team with 58 steals. Perry reached double figures in scoring 11 times, including four of the last five games, and posted a career-high 19 points against Prairie View A&M. Perry is averaging 12.8 points this season, and scored a career-high 23 points against TCU. The senior is second on the team with 5.5 rebounds and has 13 steals through four games, 20th in the country.
STEPHANIE COLLINS
Stephanie Collins is fourth on the all-time blocks list at SMU with 138 career blocks after knocking away 36 shots as a junior. She set the SMU single-season record with 73 as a sophomore. The post player averaged 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds last season. She scored a season-high 10 points at Temple, and increased her scoring average to 6.5 in conference games. Through four games this season, Collins is 10-of-19 shooting with 23 points, scoring 10 at UT Arlington.
DAI'JA THOMAS
As a sophomore,
Dai'ja Thomas was second on the team with 40 blocks, and the Dallas native averaged 6.2 points, fourth on the team, and 5.1 rebounds, third on the team. She scored a career-high 18 points at Temple, and reached double figures seven times. Thomas had two double-doubles, and blocked four shots against TCU, matching her career high. She grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds in the opener against Nicholls this season and is averaging a team-high 11.5 rebounds with 5.3 points.
KLARA BRADSHAW
Working with her fourth coach in as many seasons,
Klara Bradshaw played in 33 games after sitting out the previous season due to NCAA transfer rules. The tallest player on the roster at 6-6, Bradshaw recorded 33 blocks, and averaged 2.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game. She scored a season-high 10 points against Seattle and had a season-high nine rebounds against Texas State. The redshirt senior had a career-high five blocks against TCU this season.
MIKAYLA REESE
Mikayla Reese had 35 assists and 16 steals while averaging 2.5 points in 13.9 minutes per game as the backup point guard last season. She scored a career-high 11 points against Texas State and finished with a career-high four assists against Houston. Reese posted a career-high six assists in the opener against Nicholls, and followed it with six more against TCU. She is averaging 5.5 per game, passing out at least five assists in all four games.
ARIANNA WHITFIELD
Arianna Whitfield scored eight points and made a pair of 3-pointers in her first collegiate game. The freshman from Houston, Texas, also had four rebounds, three steals and two assists. She played just six minutes against TCU, and then scored 13 points with four 3-pointers at No. 21 Oklahoma. Whitfield reached double-figures again with a team-high 13 points at UT Arlington, and is averaging 8.5 points per game and shooting 38.7 percent.
