PITTSBURG – Both the Gorilla men's and women's team will have a once in a lifetime change to play in Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving Break. The teams leave on Monday for the Puerto Rico Classic in San Juan. The women's team will play three games in the Classic. They will face NAIA level Puerto Rico school, Pontifical Catholic on Wednesday at 11 a.m., West Alabama at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and NCAA Division II Puerto Rico school Rio Piedras at 1 p.m. on Friday. The team will return back to Pittsburg on Sunday.

Fans will be able to follow the game live on KKOW AM 860 with Eddie Lomshek caling all the action. Assistant Athletics Director Marissa Poppe will also be updating all the Gorilla social media sites throughout the week, both of games and team activities. 

Scouting West Alabama

West Alabama started off the season 0-2 with back-to-back losses to Spring Hill, including a heartbreaking 54-55 loss on Nov. 11 in the season opener. Spring Hill traveled to Livingston on Saturday and also took a 63-50 win on the Tiger's home court. As a team, the Tigers shoot .404 (38-94) from the field, while allowing opponents to shoot .409. West Alabama has only made five threes in its first two games.

Two UWA players average double figures. Chloe Culpepper, sophomore center, chipped in 10.5 points and pulled down 8.0 rebounds. Senior guard Ariel Wilson leads with 11.0 points and 3.0 assists.

Scouting Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras

Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras takes a 0-3 overall record into the tournament. The Gallitos faced three tough loses to Palm Beach Atlantic (91-47), Lynn University (88-40), and Flagler (83-42) last week. They're shooting .284 (47-167) from the floor and .228 (15-65) from behind the arc as a team.

Jacqueline Rosario is averaging 7.0 points per game and 1.7 assists per game to lead UPRRP. Saily Albaladejo isn't far behind with 6.7 ppg. Gabriela Maldonado leads her teammates with 5.7 boards per game and pitches in 5.7 ppg as well.

Scouting Pittsburg State

Pitt State has started the season 4-0 after hosting two home tournaments. The team has won its games by an average of almost 25 points per game, putting up 76.0 ppg, while holding opponents to just 51.25. The two 20 point wins over Concordia St. Paul (73-53) and Arkansas Fort Smith (84-64) were the closest of the season. 

The Gorillas are shooting .432 from the floor overall and .367 from three-point range. The Gorillas make an average of 11 threes a game. Pitt State is also outrebounding its opponents by 10.0 rpg. 

Mikaela Burgess leads the Gorillas with 17.5 ppg. She has hit 16 threes on the season. Hadyn Herlocker chips in 11.5 ppg and leads the team with 6.5 assists and 4.0 steals per game. Shelby Lopez comes off the bench to score 10.3 ppg and has made 10 threes. Elena Flott is coming into her own down low for the Gorillas and scored 10.0 ppg. Madison Northcutt is a force on the boards and leads the team with 7.8 rebounds per game. She also adds 7.5 ppg. Paige Lungwitz scores 7.3 ppg, while adding 5.3 rpg and 3.8 apg. 

Pitt State vs. Opponents

The Gorillas have never played any of the teams they will face in Puerto Rico.

Up Next

The Gorillas will return from Puerto Rico to begin MIAA Conference play on December 1 when Nebraska-Kearney comes to Pittsburg for a 5:30 p.m. game. Saturday (Dec. 3) conference play continues against Fort Hays State at 1:30 p.m. 

Records Check

Its time to start tracking some Gorillas in the record books. After only four games, junior Mikaela Burgess is already moving up the all-time threes list. She just passed Morgan Westhoff to move into fourth with 172 career threes and needs only 14 more to pass Drew Roberts (185) for second. Burgess is averaging four made threes a game this season, so should hit that milestone in about four more games. Jenni Miller holds the career record with 364. 

Hadyn Herlocker finished last season second on the single season assists list with 156, almost double from her previous two seasons combined. With 12 assists in the first two games and 16 in the Pitt State Classic, Herlocker now  has 271 assists for her career, which is seventh on the all-time list. it will take a bit to move to sixth, as Lizzy Jeronimus is currently sixth with 325. Current assistant coach Amanda Davied is the career record holder with 553.

The Road to 1000

Mikaela Burgess is not only climbing up the career-three-point list, but also working to her career 1,000 points mark. Burgess currently has 942 points, 283 her freshman year and 589 last season. Her 589 points last season were third only to Lizzy Jeronimus and Leslie Dudley, the two top scorers (men or women) in Pitt State history. When Burgess reaches her 1000th point, she will be the 20th player in school history to score 1000 or more. With her 17.5 ppg average this season, Burgess should reach her 1000th point in the MIAA opener against Nebraska-Kearney on December 1.