Ladyjacks Stay Unbeaten
Stephen F. Austin 82, Houston Baptist 72
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team overcame a sluggish start to record an 82-72 victory over Houston Baptist Monday evening in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, giving SFA consecutive victories to start the season. It marks the first 2-0 start by a Ladyjack team since the 2000-01 season.
It wasn't all smiles for head coach Lee Ann Riley's troops who were coming off an impressive 69-58 win at Prairie View A&M just three nights earlier. The Ladyjacks started the game shooting less than 30 percent from the floor, while the Huskies jumped out to a five-point lead, and led by four with 11 minutes remaining in the opening half.
"I was very unhappy with how slow we started," said Riley. "We came out of the gates with no intensity. Give credit to Houston Baptist, they walked on the floor and really took it to us early."
All that changed with when the Ladyjacks dialed up the defensive pressure. Down by four, sophomore Jordan Ford sparked a 14-2 run by hitting a layup with 10:40 on the clock. She would finish the game with six points. The Ladyjacks took the lead and never looked back shooting 50 percent from the floor in the opening half, while holding their opponents to 13-of-34 (.382).
"I thought the defense did a great job of slowing them down and giving us the momentum," said Riley. "We were able to get some easy buckets due to our pressure. We did a good job at the free throw line as well."
Even though SFA never surrendered the lead, the second half came with tense moments. The Huskies went on a 13-0 run midway through the second half to trim a 16-point lead down to three, 61-58. HBU's Jelela Simpson led the charge with 18 points and 13 rebounds, but the Ladyjacks found an answer. And that answer came in the form of teamwork.
After Lee Ann Riley called a timeout, the Ladyjacks broke the huddle and responded with a 10-0 run to build the lead back to 13 points. SFA maintained the advantage by spreading out the scoring. All but one player who entered the game scored, led by four players in double figures. Sophomore Ebony Alexander led the way with 15, while sophomore Whitney Cormier added 14 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Chantol Drennan finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds, while classmate Toni Davis scored 12 points and pulled down four boards despite fouling out in 17 minutes.
SFA again was clutch from the free throw line connecting on 19-of-25 (.760) free throws, while forcing the Huskies into 23 turnovers. The Ladyjacks converted the HBU miscues into 25 points. SFA also out rebounded their guest by eight, 45-37.
SFA will now turn its attention to No. 10 Baylor who is coming off an upset of second-ranked Stanford. The game against the Lady Bears is slated to begin at 7 p.m. from the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 56, Texas Southern 51
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women’s basketball team turned in a gritty performance over Texas Southern in notching its first win of the season, a 56-51 win Monday night at the American Bank Center.
Myeisha Myles recorded career-highs in both points and rebounds. Myles tallied 19 points to go along with nine rebounds, just missing the first double-double of her career.
Myles was 6-for-9 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
“I was very impressed with the way Myles played tonight.” said head coach Robert Robinson. “It was great to see her play like that after the struggles last season when she came in after the season started.”
In the first half, the two teams got off to a slow start, combining for only 25 total points in the first nine minutes of game action, with the Islanders holding a 15-10 advantage. The Islanders extended their lead to 17-10 with 10:46 remaining in the opening half, the largest for either team in the first half.
Myles led the Islanders in scoring for the first half, coming off the bench to score eight points before the break.
Deziree Green added five points to go along with her team-high five rebounds in the first half.
The Lady Tigers were led in the first half by Camille Parks with nine points and Trikeyia East with six rebounds.
The Islanders went into the half holding a six point lead at 31-25.
In the second half, Texas Southern came on strong and quickly took the lead after the break.
Texas Southern led most of the second half until a three-pointer by Shaye Montgomery knotted the score at 51-51 with 2:48 left in the game to finally bring the Islanders back even.
“I thought Shaye made a really clutch shot right there for us.” said Robinson. “That really changed the momentum.”
The Islanders wasted little time capitalizing on the new life, as Myles converted a three-point play to give the Islanders a 54-51 advantage they would not relinquish.
With only 45 seconds left in the game, Montgomery once again came up big. With the Islanders still hanging on to the slim 54-51 lead, Montgomery stole the ball away from the Lady Tigers, eventually forcing Texas Southern to foul Myles, bringing her to the free throw line. Myles calmly sank both free throws to put the game away at 56-51.
“I was happy to get a win out of this tonight.” said Robinson. “We had some good things happen for us in just the second game of the season.”
Myles led the Islanders with 19 as she was the only TAMUCC player to score in double digits. Adrienne Scott was the second-leading scorer for the Islanders with eight points while Sarah Davidson and Green each added six points.
Myles also led the Islanders in rebounds with nine while Green added eight as the second-leading rebounder for the Islanders.
The Lady Tigers had three players in double digits, led by Parks with 12 points. Jamelah Lewis and Brandi Justice added 10 each for the Lady Tigers.
The Islanders are back in action this Thursday night, taking on #13 Texas in Austin. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be carried on radio station 1150 AM KCCT.