SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State women's basketball team will open its season with a three game home stand against St. Mary's on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center and follow it up with the Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, Nov. 24 and Saturday, Nov. 25 versus Fort Lewis and Oklahoma Christian at 3:30 p.m.each day.
The Belles are under the leadership of new head coach Renae Shippy, who took over after being an assistant coach for Kevin Baker, who left for UTEP. The 11th head coach in school history will try to become the seventh coach in school history to win their Angelo State debut. ASU is coming off a 26-6 season and advanced to the program's first NCAA Division II South Central Regional final. Two players return off last year's squad.
Tuesday's opponent, St. Mary's, enters with a record of 2-3 and coming off a pair of wins against LSC opponents in UTPB and Western New Mexico. It will be the Rattlers sixth straight game against a Lone Star Conference opponent. STMU opened the season with losses to Texas Woman's, Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville. It will be the first meeting between the two programs since an 86-59 ASU win on Dec. 13 of 2015.
The Belles will kick off the Thanksgiving Classic on Friday against Fort Lewis and face Oklahoma Christian on Saturday both at 3:30 p.m. Fort Lewis has a 3-0 record with two wins over LSC opponents UTPB and Eastern New Mexico. Oklahoma Christian is 0-4 on the season and has lost to Cameron twice and Midwestern State from the LSC.
Keanna Kelly and Madi Greenwood are the lone returners and both are seniors. Kelly has played four season at Angelo State. The Mansfield native averaged 7.5 points per game and recorded 30 steals while starting in 30 games. For her career, Kelly has started in 75 games with a career high 23 points against Texas Woman's as a freshman. Greenwood played in all 32 games last season and started two. She scored 7.8 points per game and made 31.3-percent from the 3-point line.
The newcomers are a talented group that includes Marquita Daniels, Dezirae Hampton, Michela Blount, Kynese Davis, Dearria Warren, De'Annira Moore, Aaliyah Warren, Ekiya Gray and Sidney Smith.
Daniels spent two seasons at South Alabama averaging 11.3 points per game as a sophomore. She was a third team Sun Belt All-Conference selection and earned multiple Sun Belt Player of the Week honors. She played in 27.4 minutes per game and made 36.8-percent from the field. She recorded 53 assists as a sophomore and made 61 steals.
Hampton averaged 11.9 points per game and made 40.8 percent from the 3-point line at New Mexico Junior College. She dished out 2.6 assists per game and grabbed 4.4 rebounds per game. As a freshman, she averaged 8.0 in points and recorded 67 assists.
Blount, a Copperas Cove High graduate, spent two seasons at Temple Junior College. As a sophomore, she scored 10.4 points per game and grabbed 7.0 rebounds while hitting 36.6-percent from the floor. She was named first team all-conference for the second-straight season. During her freshman season, Blount was named Region V North Freshman of the Year, first team all-conference and first team all-region. She averaged 13.8 points and 8.0 rebounds as a freshman.
Davis played the last two seasons at Hill College and was the NTJCAC Defensive Player of the Year. As a sophomore, she was first team all-conference and an all-region selection. The Celina, Texas, native averaged 10.3 points per game and 5.1 assists as a sophomore to go along with a 5.2 rebounding average. She hit 39.7 percent from the field and 26.0 percent from behind the arc as a sophomore.
Warren, a transfer from Arkansas State, played in 14 games off the bench. She grabbed a career high four rebounds against Kennesaw State and added a career high five points as a redshirt freshman versus Alcorn State.
Moore, a transfer from Utah State, spent one season with the Aggies while playing in 27 games. She recorded 20 blocks on the season and scored 2.9 points per game. The Allen, Texas, native grabbed 2.3 rebounds and hit 40.5 percent from the field.
Watson played last season at Southern Illinois Edwardsville and appeared in 14 games. She played a season high 21 minutes against Austin Peay and scored in three of the 14 games.
Gray is a transfer from Blinn and Auburn. The senior led Blinn to a NJCAA tournament berth and was the top rebounder with 7.5 per game. She averaged 13.9 points per game.
Sidney Smith, a transfer from SIU-Edwardsville, will redshirt this season after hitting a combined 119 3-pointers in two seasons.
The game will be broadcasted on RamTV Suddenlink 6 and heard on 1260AM KKSA with Herman Howard on the call.
