Arkansas State vs Appalachian State

March 9, 2016 | 11:30 a.m.

New Orleans, Louisiana | Lakefront Arena

Video: ESPN3 Video/Audio | Live Stats | Tickets



KEY STORYLINES

• This is the 42nd season of women's basketball at Arkansas State.

• The Red Wolves have an all-time record of 249-144 against league teams.

• Arkansas State is coming off a 83-74 victory at Appalachian State Saturday.

• A-State clinched the outright SBC regular chamionship and the No. 1 seed with its victory over Texas State.

• A-State was at 40th in the latest RPI rankings released by the NCAA this past week.

• Aundrea Gamble is just one of two players in the nation to aveage over 18 points, four assists and shoot over 50 percent per game. The other is UCONN's Breanna Stewart.

• A-State has tied the school record for most victories in a season at 25.

• The Red Wolves are the No. 1 in the SBC Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons but have never won the tournament.

AN A-STATE WIN WOULD

• Extend A-State's best start in school history to 26-4.

• Give A-State the most wins in school history at 26.

• Give Arkansas State its 50th SBC victory over the last three years.

• Give the Red Wolves their 72nd victory over the last three years.

• Give A-State head coach Brian Boyer his 298th career win.

• Give A-State its 25th win in the SBC Tournament.

• Give A-State its 5th win in the SBC Tournament over the last three years.

A-STATE IN THE SBC TOURNAMENT

• A-State is 24-24 all-time in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

• The Red Wolves will be making their 24th trip to the Sun Belt Conference Championship when the tournament gets underway Wednesday in New Orleans. The Red Wolves have advanced to semifinals in 17 of those years, including the 2015 tournament.

• A-State is 4-3 in the SBC Tournament in the city of New Orleans.

• Arkansas State has reached the SBC Tournament finals three times in its history, having lost to Western Kentucky twice and Little Rock. A-State dropped a 65-62 contest to WKU in the 1992 tournament, and a 61-60 loss in the 2014 tournament finals. The Trojans defeated A-State 78-72 in the finals of 2015 tourney.

DIDN'T WE JUST SEE YOU?

• Arkansas State and Appalachian State are playing just days after they played each other in the regular season finale, which A-State won 83-74.

• Oddly, A-State scored exactly 83 points in each game on its way to sweeping the season series from the Mountaineers.

• This is the second straight season in whic Appalachian State and A-State are meeting in the opening round of the SBC Tournament. The Red Wolves defeated the Mountaineers in 2015 to advance to the semifinals.

SHE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST

• Khadija Brown-Haywood scored a career-high 31 points in the Red Wolves' regular season finale at Appalachian State on March 5.

• It marked the second this season (and her career) that she has scored 30 or more points in a game.

BREAKING RECORDS AND TAKING NAMES

• A-State tied the school record for most wins in a season with its 25th victory of the year on March 5.

• A-State has won 25 games two other times in its history, going 25-8 (won NWIT) in 1992-93 and 25-7 in 1991-92.

• A-State has also broken the record for most wins in the regular season (25), longest winning streak (18), conference victories (19) and home winning streak (24) this season.

• The 19 wins in league play are the most ever in SBC history.

STARING DOWN 300

• A-State head coach Brian Boyer is three victories from reaching career win No. 300.

• He could reach the milestone with three victories in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

STREAK OVER

• Arkansas State its 18 game win streak, which was the fifth in the nation, come to an end

Tuesday (March 1) with a 71-69 loss to Little Rock.

• It was the first time since Feb. 28, 2015 that A-State had lost a regular season conference game (a 83-74 loss at Texas State).

• The largest deficit A-State faced in any single game during the streak was 7 points at

Louisiana-Lafayette. The Red Wolves trailed by 10 against Little Rock and battled back to take the lead before eventually losing by two.

RPI WATCH

• Arkansas State is ranked as a No. 40 RPI coming into Wednesday's contest with Appalachian St.

• A-State has been as high as 37 in the NCAA RPI this season.

JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP-50

• Aundrea Gamble ranks just outside the top-50 in six statistical categories in the NCAA rankings and has drawn compairsons to former Standford All-American standout Candice Wiggins by ESPN writer Graham Hays.

• Rankings: Points Per Game (52nd) - Field Goals Made (53rd) - Total Points (58) - Field Goal Percentage (60th) - Assists Per Game (64th) - Assists (66th).

CLOSING IN ON 1,000

• Khadija Brown-Haywood needs 42 more points to reach 1,000 for her career.

• It would make just the 23rd player in school history to reach the feat.

• Even more impressive is that she has largely accumulated the majority of her points in the last two seasons having totaled just 52 points in her freshman and sophomore years combined.

SUN BELT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

• Arkansas State secured the outright regular season Sun Belt Conference championship with its 87-50 victory over Texas State on Feb. 25.

• It is the second time in the last three years that the Red Wolves have been the outright SBC champions. The one year they did not (2014-15) they finished second in the league.

• A-State also secured itself of having the No. 1 seed in the SBC Tournament.

• This is the third time that A-State has claimed the SBC regular season championship. The Red Wolves shared the title in 2003-04 and won it outright in 2013-14.

OH JUST ANOTHER 20-WIN SEASON

• Arkansas State has won 20 or more games for the third straight season, marking the first time that the Red Wolves have had three-straight seasons where it has 20 games in the regular season.

• It is just the fourth time in school history that the Red Wolves have won 20 games, doing so in each of the last two seasons and during the 1992-93 season.

• It is the 12th time in school history that A-State has won 20 games (postseason included) in a season.

BRACKETOLOGY 101

• A-State is listed as a No. 12 seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology report produced by Charlie Creme.

• The Red Wolves are predicted to play No. 5 Depaul in College Station, Texas.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING

• A-State has won 24 straight games home games dating back to the 2013-14 season.

• It is now the longest home winning streak in school history.

• The streak is the 4th longest streak in the nation.

• During the streak A-State has outscored its opponents 1,590 to 1,236 and has a +16.1 average scoring margin.

• Additionally A-State has shot a blistering 45.3% from the field during the run, while holding opponents to 38.2%.

GOOD COMPANY TO HAVE

• Aundrea Gamble is just one of two players in the nation to average better than 18 points, four assists and shot over 50 percent from the field on the year.

• The only other player in the nation with those numbers is UCONN's Breanna Stewart.

THE 1600-400-400 CLUB

• Aundrea Gamble is one of just seven current active Division I players to have over 1,600 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career.

• The other six players on the list include Rachel Banham (Minnesota), Kim Demmings (Wright St.), Amersty Alston (Ohio St.), Ariel Hearn (Memphis), Tiasha Gray (Austin Peay) & Cartaesha Macklin (Southern Ill.).

SENIOR CLASS AWARD TOP 10 FINALIST

• Arkansas State senior guard Aundrea Gamble is one of 10 finalists among Division I women's basketball named as a candidate for the 2016 Senior Class Award.

• She is the first women's basketball player from A-State to be named a top-10 finalists.

• Fan, media and coach voting help determine the winner. Fans can go vote for Gamble at www.seniorclassaward.com.

• An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS

Award honors the attributes of NCAA Division I senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition.

THESE GIRLS ARE GOOD

• Over the last two season the A-State Women's Basketball and A-State Women's Vollyeball teams are a combined 43-3 in the Convocation Center.

• The volleyball squad went 8-2 in 2015 and a perfect 8-0 this past year.

• The basketball team went 14-1 during the 2014-15 season and is 13-0 this season.

• Neither lost a game at the Convo this season.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION

• ESPN.com Graham Hays recently ranked Arkansas State in No. 10 in his latest top-10 mid-major poll that was released on the website on March 3.

• A-State has beaten the No. 1 team on Hays' list, Florida Gulf Coast.

QUARTERLY REVIEW

• The Arkansas State defense has done a very good of keeping teams from scoring "big quarters" against them this season. Out of a possible 116 quarters, the Red Wolves defense has held its opponents to to 15 or fewer points 61 times. Teams have scored 10 or fewer points 23 times.

• On the other end of the floor, the A-State offense has been able to produce big quarters and has scored 20 or more points 50 times this season.

• The squad has scored 25 points in a quarter 16 times and has three 30-plus point quarter.

NO ONE ELSE IN THE NATION CAN CLAIM THIS

• Aundrea Gamble ranks 10th in the nation among active players with a career scoring average of 18.7 points per game, and also ranks 15th in the nation with a career assists average of 4.56.

• No other active players in Division I ranks in the top-15 of both categories.

A TOUGH PLACE TO WIN

• A-State became just the 10th team since Florida Gulf Coast became Division I in 2006-07 to defeat the Eagles on their home court.

• With the 62-48 victory, A-State made FGCU 116-10 (as of Nov. 28) on their home court since joining Division I.