PINEVILLE, La. - Thanks to snow, the Louisiana College men's and women's basketball teams had to exchange one division rival for another in the American Southwest Conference East Division opener. Rather than opening ASC East play against Mississippi College on Tuesday, a game that was rescheduled to Jan. 24 thanks to icy roads in Mississippi, the Lady Cats and Wildcats will begin divisional play with games against East Texas Baptist at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

WOMEN'S PREVIEW
The Lady Cats (11-1, 6-1 ASC) will look to bounce back from their first loss of the season, a 65-60 overtime heartbreaker at McMurry last Saturday. ETBU (4-7, 3-4 ASC) is coming off a 63-58 win at Sul Ross State.

The Tigers, coached by Lane Loyd, enter the contest shooting just 37.4 percent from the field as a team but are holding opponents to just 38 percent from the field.

LC is shooting 42.6 percent from the field with opponents shooting 36.8 percent. The biggest reason for this stat has been the Lady Cats' ability to press with success. Through 12 games, LC has produced a total of 193 steals.

Senior and All-American Tillisha Givens (Monroe, La./Ouachita Parish HS) leads the team in steals with 33, though sophomore Natosha Gottlieb (Alexandria, La./Bolton HS) is just behind with 32.

Givens is also the Lady Cats' top scorer and rebounder averaging 16.8 and 9.6 in those respective categories.

Givens is one of four LC women averaging double-figure scoring on the year, with Gottlieb averaging 14.2, Roslyn WIlmer (Marksville, La./Marksville) 13.3 and Kayla Guidry (Alexandria, La./Peabody Magnet HS/UTEP) 11.

Just two players from ETBU are averaging double-figure points per game: Brandace Latin with 12.8 and Emily Leek-Roberson with 11 points to go along with an average of 7.4 rebounds per game.

Last year, LC swept the season series, defeating the Tigers 64-51 in Marshall, Texas, and 64-58 at home.

MEN'S PREVIEW
The Wildcats (5-7, 4-4 ASC) are riding high following their 79-74 road win over McMurry last Saturday. ETBU (9-3, 3-1 ASC) dropped a 65-58 decision to Sul Ross State in its last contest.

Last season, the Wildcats and Tigers split the season series with each team winning in the other squad's building, LC 75-69 in Texas and ETBU 82-67 in Pineville.

The Tigers have been a sharp-shooting team this season and are hitting 46.1 percent of their field goal tries and 29.3 percent of their three-point attempts while allowing an average of 41 percent shooting form the field by opponents.

Four ETBU players have put up double-figure scoring averages this season: Josh Chambers (15.3), Deba Egharevba (14.6), Jeremy LaGarde (13.9) and Jacob Turnipseed (11.6).

The Wildcats enter the game shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 31.6 precent from three-point range. Opponents have shot an average of 45.6 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from three-point range.

Jarrod Jackson (Albany, La./Albany HS), JeLani Mitchell (St. Martinville, La./St. Martinville HS, Chukwuma Ekeh (Alexandria, La./Hoy Savior Menard) and Korey Salmon (Deville, La./Buckeye HS) are all averaging double-figure scoring for LC.

Jackson leads the way with 15.5 points per game with Mitchell adding 12.7, Ekeh 11.3 and Salmon 10.8 per game.
 
Salmon is the Wildcats'  top rebounded, pulling down an average of eight per game.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for a trio of Tigers.

Guards Jacob Turnipseed, RJ Prince and Darius Brown played their high school ball in central Louisiana, Turnipseed and Prince in Vernon Parish at Anacoco and Hornbeck High Schools, and Brown in Natchitoches at Natchitoches Central High.