In the first game of another Sun Belt double-header, the RPI #144 Apps (11-12, 6-8 Sun Belt) face the RPI #197 Mavericks of UT-Arlington (13-10, 7-7 SunBelt) in the 7,000 seat campus arena--College Park Center.
By the numbers giving the Mavs a three point cushion for home court advantage, the Apps should still be favored by one point. That's close enough to make it a toss-up. Another service, however, has the Apps as ten point 'dogs.
ASU should be bolstered by senior SunBelt P-O-Y candidate Maryah Sydnor's return from a knee injury suffered last month on another Texas road trip--to TxState-San Marcos. Sydnor played 21 minutes in Saturday's nail biter win over UL-M. She had missed four straight games up until her Saturday return to the playing floor. If she's anywhere close to her season averages of 17.5 ppg and 8.9 rpg, then the Apps should be huge threats to UT-A's chance for a home court win.
UT-A will counter the 6-2 Sydnor's floor presence with 6-5 true frosh C/F Rebekah Van Dijk--who is a prime candidate for SunBelt Freshman-of-the-Year--averaging a double-double on the season to date. When ASU's other "bigs" are on the floor (6-2 KeKe Cooper. 6-2 Mia Marshall and 6-3 Angela Bassett-Smith), UT-A can counter with 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 players.
This should definitely be an interesting game. All the height may be neutralized by the team with the best quickness and agility.
Both of tonight's games can be viewed with a $9.95 month's subscription to College Sports Live. GameTracker will be a free online play-by-play app.
Live Video: utamavs.com
Live Audio: appstatesports.com
Live Stats: utamavs.com
