Feb. 12, 2003

ABILENE, Texas - About The Cowgirls The Cowgirls can wrap up their sixth straight American Southwest Conference West Division title with a pair of wins. With that the Cowgirls would clinch the right to host the American Southwest Conference Tournament, Feb. 28-March 1. The Cowgirls have never lost an ASC Tournament game. HSU's senior class is 49-3 in American Southwest Conference West Division games and have added three more wins in ASC and NCAA Tournaments. The Cowgirls have not lost at home in 25 straight ASC West games. The Cowgirls have never lost to Concordia and hold a 15-13 edge over UMHB.

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About Mary Hardin-Baylor UMHB comes into the game in second-place in the ASC West and has the inside track on qualifying for the ASC Tournament. The Crusaders are led by Jennifer Martinez's 17.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Three other players Jennifer Gilchreist (12.9), Julie Robertson (10.2) and Julie Wiese (10.2) average double figures. The Crusaders are one of the three teams to beat the Cowgirls' seniors in ASC West play, that coming at home in the 2001 season. The Crusaders do have a home called the Mabee gym, but they may just start calling the Mabee Complex their second home. If the Cowgirls host the conference tournament, and the Crusaders qualify they could play five games at the Mabee Complex this season. UMHB played the first two games of the season in the Cowgirl Classic, splitting games with Trinity and Southwestern. A trip to the ASC final could lead to five games on the season.

About Concordia-Austin The Tornados are coached by Hall of Fame coach Linda Sharp, who is in her second year. The Tornados are led by sophomore Ashley Edwards, who averages 16.9 points per game. She is one of the top 3-point shooters in the nation, averaging 48.9 percent from behind the arc. Tabbatha Calloway and Danielle Barnett each average double figures for the Tornados. CUA upset Howard Payne last weekend and currently sit at 6-4 in conference action.

And Then There Were Four The Cowgirls are one of only four teams that remains undefeated this season. They are ranked third in the D3Hoops.com poll and are second in the USA Today/Women's Basketball Coaches Poll and D3hoops.com. They are behind four-time champion Washington University in both polls.

ASC West Race The Cowgirls need a pair of wins to be assured of the ASC West title. A win on Thursday means the Cowgirls would have to lose the last three games of the year not to host the ASC Tournament. The race for second will be a battle. Second-place UMHB has a one-game lead over Howard Payne. They have to play HSU and then get McMurry, Schreiner and Texas Lutheran, who are Nos. 5, 6 and 8 in the conference. Howard Payne is one-game down to Howard Payne for third and Concordia is two games back.

Seniors Put Up Amazing Numbers The Cowgirl senior class has a mark of 95-10 going into this weekend. They have lost just three games in the Mabee Complex. They have three conference rings, have won three ASC Tournaments, gone to three Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight. The four-year record is the best in school history. Laura Ricci and Kendra Anderson have been three-year starters for the Cowgirls. They have only lost more than one game in a row once in their career and that was a four-game losing streak their sophomore season. They have three losses in ASC play one at home against McMurry in 2000, one at Mary Hardin-Baylor in 2001, one at Howard Payne in 2002. All five seniors sport GPAs over 3.0 and Sarah Allen has already graduated and is taking graduate level classes.

Cruise Control The Cowgirls have won their last seven eight games by a combined average of 29 points per game. However, they have not played their best offensive ball of the season in that stretch. The Cowgirls have five of their lowest shooting outputs of the season on the year in that stretch and have hit over 3-3pointers as a team just twice. On the flip side the defensive effort in those games has been phenomenal as the Cowgirls have not let the last five opponents to shoot over 35 percent and Texas Lutheran hit only 21.6 percent in the last game. The Cowgirls have also outrebounded all of the opponents during the stretch and have outshot all of the opponents at the free throw line.

Home Court Streak Reaches 34 Hardin-Simmons' women's basketball team is currently riding a 34-game home-court winning streak, dating back to a Dec, 28, 2000 loss to Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The Cowgirls have not lost a conference game at the Mabee Complex since January of 2000 when it lost to McMurry. The current Cowgirl senior class has a record of 53-3 at the Mabee Complex and two of the losses came in their freshman year. HSU has won 22 straight ASC West games at Mabee.

Runners On Your Marks, Get Set, Go Hardin-Simmons is looking to break the school record for most consecutive wins and also most wins to start a season, when they hit the court this weekend. A win over UMHB would tie them with last year's team that went 21-0 to start the year and two wins would give them the outright record.

Most Wins To Start a Season 21 2001-02 20 2002-03 16 1999-00 11 1993-94

Head Coach Shanna Briggs Shanna Briggs is in her first season as the Cowgirls head coach. Her 20-0 mark to start a career has to be one of the best starts to a career without a defeat. She played at HSU from 1992-95. She has coached at Abilene High as a JV coach, Decatur and Venus High Schools. At Hardin-Simmons, Briggs was a three-time all-conference selection, including first-team honors in 1994 and 1995. She was an honorable mention All-American in 1995 and was three times an Academic All-Conference selection. Her teams won three conference titles at Hardin-Simmons and she played in two NAIA National Tournaments (1994 and 1995). Briggs scored 1,365 points to rank fifth on the career scoring list at Hardin-Simmons and is the school's all-time leader in points scored in a season (576) and 3-pointers made in a game (8), season (71) and career (146). She is second in 3-point percentage making 105-of-242 (.434) shots. She also ranks fifth in career assists (229), fourth in blocked shots (38) and eighth in rebounds (364) in HSU Cowgirl history. She played her final two seasons under her predecessor Julie Goodenough.