No. 2 Lamar Pushed to Limit, but Escapes Northwestern State, 81-77
By Brandon C. Williams
Southland.org
KATY, Texas - Having defeated Northwestern State by a combined 45 points in their two regular season meetings, it may have been easy to assume that Lamar would have no trouble in Tuesday's opening round matchup in the Southland Conference women's bracket.
That assumption was proven wrong.
A determined Lady Demons squad pushed the defending tournament champions to the limit, but the experienced Lady Cardinals managed to escape Merrell Center with an 81-77 victory that pushes them to Thursday's semifinal round, where Lamar (25-6) will play the winner of Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin.
"Playing a team a third time is always tough," said Lady Cardinals All-Southland Conference guard Jenna Plumley, who scored 22 points and added six rebounds and five assists. "They were far more physical today. When you don't want to lose, you're going to leave everything out there, and that's what they did."
Plumley endured being kneed in the thigh to deliver six huge points down the stretch, including a pair of free throws that gave Lamar a 77-75 lead with 40 seconds left, one they would not relinquish.
The Lady Demons (14-16) had a chance to tie the score, but Jessica McPhail's shot glanced off the rim into the waiting hands of Ang Green, who then helped preserve the win with the first of four free throws in the final 15 seconds.
Lamar was able to get to the free throw line 37 times, connecting on 28 attempts. The ability to get to the line was able to offset the fact that Northwestern State outrebounded them by a 48-43 margin, including a 26-17 edge on the boards.
"We have to rebound better or we're not going to be here longer," said Tidwell.
The duo of Jordan James and Jasmine Upchurch controlled the paint for the Lady Demons. James had 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Upchurch -- who averaged just 12 minutes a game in the regular season -- stepped up with 14 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks in 22 minutes off the bench.
The Lady Cardinals shot 60 percent from the field early on, helping them bolt to a 27-17 lead at the 6:50 mark of the first half. The Lady Demons withstood the opening rush and outscored Lamar 20-10 to force a 37-37 deadlock at intermission.
In her final game as a Lady Demon, Brittiany Houston scored 20 points to lead Northwestern State, which held as much as a four-point lead with 6:46 left. The two teams exchanged baskets before Jasmine Bradley's layup with 1:04 remaining tied the contest one last time at 75-75.
Lamar's Kalis Loyd, who was also named to the All-Southland Conference first team on Monday, led all scorers with 24 points to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds.
"I knew the focus was there," said Northwestern State coach Jennifer Graf. "I couldn't ask for any more effort than what I got from our players. We fought hard, but we didn't quite make it."
Lamar Quotes
Coach Larry Tidwell
Opening Statement: "I'm proud of how hard we fought. We didn't bring our a-game in a lot of different areas and it was a little frustrating. I was worried about this game after losing a chance at the regular season championship last week at McNeese State in the last three seconds. I knew there might be somewhat of a hangover, but we have to get better defensively and we must rebound better. We gave up 26 offensive rebounds which was not very good on our part."
On how physical Northwestern State played: "Northwestern played very well. I have to give coach Jennifer Graf credit. I think she's one of the best young coaches. She's a competitor and I appreciate what she does for basketball. She had her team ready to play today. Houston, McPherson, the list goes on and on, they have a talented roster. They kept after us today and made their free throws and did the things they had to do.
Jenna Plumley
On how physical Northwestern State played: "Playing a team for the third time is pretty tough. They came out prepared and knew what they had to do. They were a lot harder to play today, they came out and were physical early in the game. They made us earn everything. But we were able to come back with an answer today, and that's what we do."
Kalis Loyd
On second half: "After the first half, we knew we had to step it up. Northwestern State was playing much more physical than before. We came out with the mindset that it was zero-zero and were able to get it done."
Ang Green
On key rebound at end of game: "I knew we had to keep the ball at the end of the game and try to stretch the lead if we were going to win. I was able to block out and chase the ball down."
Northwestern State Quotes
Coach Jennifer Graf
Opening Statement: "Coming into the game as a seven seed and Lamar as the second seed and we had lost both games to them this season, so when we found out we were playing Lamar again our kids just shook their head. But these last few days of practice I knew that we had a shot at it. They had their head held high and they worked hard for this day and fought until the end. The preparation for this game was outstanding, our focus was there, and I have to give credit for that to our two seniors, Brittiany and Jessica. I thought we fought hard for 40 minutes, we laid it all out on the line against a really good team."
On physical play: "We changed up a few things, but defensively I felt like we weren't able to apply full court pressure like we have against other teams. But we were able to cause some turnovers in the backcourt. So we tweaked a few things defensively, filled in the passing lanes and tried to stay on Plumley because we knew she could hit from anywhere. But we played them much better this time than earlier this season."
Brittiany Houston
On today's effort against Lamar: "We knew everyone would have to step up today. We all came to play today, everybody did their job and sometimes that's all you can do."
Jessica McPhail
On coming back against Lamar: "I don't think we ever felt like we were out of it. We've played games before when we were behind but we knew if we just kept going we could rally and get back into the game and we did a good job of staying with Lamar."