MARSHALL, Texas- After opening up the regular season with a road victory over Centenary College, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team returns to Ornelas Gymnasium for their first home series of the season. ETBU will first host Austin College on Tuesday, Nov. 21, and will conclude the short home stint with a matchup against McMurry University on Saturday, Nov. 25. The team has opened the season at 1-0 under Head Coach Rusty Rainbolt.

 Coming into Tuesday's contest, the Tigers hold the narrow edge against the Roos. In 19 games played, ETBU is 10-9, in spite of falling to AC 89-79 in last year's meeting. Austin College enters the game with a record of 2-1. After losing to Texas-Dallas 67-47 to start the year, AC rattled off two straight victories, with their first coming in an 81-66 victory over Hendrix College, followed by a dominate 83-63 win over Millsaps College on Nov. 19. Junior forward Bryce Frank leads the team in scoring at 15 points per game. Frank also leads the charge on the glass, averaging nine rebounds to start the season.

McMurry University holds the decisive advantage over ETBU in the series matchup. MCM boasts a record of 14-4 in the first 18 contests, including an 84-77 victory over the Tigers last season. The Warhawks are 0-2 to start the year, falling to the University of the Redlands and Chapman University. Leading the offense for MCM is forward Skyler Reyna. The sophomore is averaging 15 points per game to start the season, along with seven rebounds.

Leading the attack for the Tigers thus far is sophomore Kim Childress, who notched 15 points and six rebounds in the team's 64-45 road win over Centenary College on Nov. 15. Childress shot 7-of-13 from the field, including connecting on one shot from three-point territory. Right behind Childress is Katy Boren, who tallied 12 points against the Ladies, shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. Sydney Saxton chipped in seven points and three assists to round out the effort for ETBU.

Heading into the team's first home meeting of the season, Head Coach Rusty Rainbolt talked about the challenges of tonight's matchup and is hoping to see a complete game from his squad.
"This will be a very tough game for us. They have every advantage of experience and being battle-tested. For us, we're going to have to play about as well as we can for four quarters. We've got to put together a total game to come away with the victory," Rainbolt said.

The game is set to tip-off at 5:30 p.m. from Ornelas Gymnasium.