SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team hosts Southland Conference rival McNeese State University on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the McDermott Center.

The Cardinals (5-10, 2-2) will be participating in "We Back Pat" week to honor legendary University of Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt and support Alzheimer's Disease awareness.  The team will be sporting "We Back Pat" shirts during pre-game warm ups.  Fans are encouraged to wear purple in support of the greatest coach in women's college basketball history in her battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

UIW is a perfect 2-0 in conference play at home this year with solid wins over New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana.  They will have a tough task to make it 3-0 against the Cowgirls (9-7, 3-2) who dealt the Cardinals their worst loss of the season last year.

The Cardinals are averaging just under 60 points per game on offense and allow 66.5 points per game on defense.  Aricka Adams (Round Rock/Round Rock HS) leads the team with 13.5 points per game and contributes 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest.  Yvonne Maosa (Mansfield/Mansfield HS) is fresh off a 21-point, 10-rebound performance on Saturday and is the team's leading rebounder at 7.5 per game.  Freshman Haley Frias (Georgetown/Georgetown HS) is the second leading scorer on the team at 8.6 per game and is third in the conference in three-point shooting at 40.3 percent.

The Cowgirls are led by high-scoring guard Allison Baggett.  She is scoring 16.6 points per game and has made 26 three-pointers.  Jayln Johnson averages 11.8 points and 4.3 assists per game and is an 84.2 percent foul shooter who makes over five per game.  The team averages 65 points and gives up 67 per game.  They play a deep bench and only have three players averaging more the 20 minutes per game.

The game can be heard online at www.uiwlive.com with Greg Sherman on the call.
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