Women's Basketball: Dec. 6 Scoreboard
Stephen F. Austin 70, Rice 59
Nicholls 66, South Alabama 62
Houston Baptist 87, UTEP 77
New Orleans 87, Crowley Ridge 54
Texas A&M-Corpus Christ 60, UTPA 57
Louisiana-Lafayette 65, Sam Houston State 46
Southeastern Missouri 48, Central Arkansas 46
Grambling 44, Northwestern State 41
Stephen F. Austin 70, Rice 59
HOUSTON, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball team trailed by as many as 12 in the first half but got better looks offensively and used tough defense in the second half to come away with the 70-59 victory over Rice in Tudor Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Taylor Ross led the Ladyjacks (5-3) with 21 points on 8-for-16 shooting for her fourth 20-point game of the season. She also dished out three assists and swiped three steals on the other end of the court while playing tremendous defense.
After being held scoreless in the first half, senior Porsha Roberts came alive in the second frame. SFA’s perimeter players did a great job finding Roberts down low and the center tore the Rice defense apart by way of a 14-point half. She hit 6 of 8 shots in the frame to help the Ladyjacks surge ahead.
Senior guard Brittney Matthew was the other Ladyjack to finish with double digits, chipping in 11 points while going 5-for-13 from the field.
The Ladyjacks held the Owls (3-4) to 29 percent shooting in the second half and 37 percent overall in the game. The SFA defensive pressure, especially in the second 20 minutes, helped the Ladyjacks outscore Rice 39-27 in the second half.
Ross scored the first four points of the game for SFA before Rice went on a 15-0 run to go up 15-4 at the 13:24 mark. The Ladyjacks chipped away at the Rice lead the rest of the first half and a Ross layup with six seconds left made it a one point deficit, 32-31, at the break.
Freshman Charisma Alexander drove to the lane and made good on a pull-up jumper early in the second half to give SFA the lead, 35-34. From there, a heavy dose of Roberts, Ross and Matthew proved to be too much for Rice. SFA went on a 13-0 run to go up 50-38 with 12:33 to play and kept the Owls at arm’s length the rest of the way to a 70-59 victory.
The Ladyjacks forced the Owls to turn the ball over a season-worst 24 times and scored 27 points off those miscues. Despite being undersized in several matchups, SFA outscored Rice 42-32 in the paint.
Junior Paulletta Powell was a spark off the bench for SFA, turning in a season-high seven points in valuable minutes. Senior Tierany Henderson tallied six points and sophomore Brentney Branch contributed five. Alexander led the Ladyjacks with eight rebounds on the afternoon – a career-high mark.
Up next, the Ladyjacks will travel to Waco, Texas to face the 11th-ranked Baylor Bears on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2:00 p.m.
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Nicholls 66, South Alabama 62
THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women’s basketball team led for almost the entire game against South Alabama before the Jaguars rallied late to pull ahead, but senior Jenny Nash nailed a 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining to put the Colonels up for good as Nicholls held on for a 66-62 victory Saturday afternoon at Stopher Gym.
Nicholls (3-3) was led by freshman Tia Charles, who scored 12 of her career-high 19 points in the first half. Charles was 5-of-8 in the period as Nicholls shot 59 percent from the field to lead 39-30 at the break.
South Alabama (3-3) saw its largest deficit at 13 points early in the second half, but the Jags used a 19-5 run over the next six minutes to come within one at 50-49 at the 11:08 mark. Brittany Webb helped cap the run by knocking down a pair of 3-pointers.
Despite the comeback, South Alabama never went ahead until five minutes later when Breanna Hall, who led USA with 17 points, sank a field goal for a 54-52 South Alabama lead. The Jaguars pushed the lead to four before Charles drained a 3-pointer with 4:07 to go.
The teams traded buckets over the next four possessions, with Charles and Nash knocking down runners in the paint for the Colonels. Down 62-60, Charles set up Nash for the go-ahead 3-pointer on the right wing with 38 ticks on the clock.
After a timeout by South Alabama, the defense forced a missed layup, which was rebounded by Marina Lilly who was fouled immediately. Lilly converted on both attempts for a 64-60 lead. With 13 seconds remaining, USA’s Colby Davis made a layup to cut the deficit to two.
On the inbounds, Hope Pawlowski was fouled with four seconds left and made both free throws, then picked up a steal to end the game.
Nash reached double figures in scoring for the Colonels, finishing with 12 points and five assists. Lilly added nine points and seven boards while Jovana Mandich had six points and two blocks.
For the game, Nicholls shot a season-high 46 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range (6-of-16). South Alabama finished at 40 percent from the field. Along with Hall, Davis led USA with 16 points.
Nicholls will return to action on Monday, Dec. 15 at Louisiana Tech. Tipoff in Ruston is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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Houston Baptist 87, UTEP 77
EL PASO, Texas – Houston Baptist scored a season-high 87 points and had four players in double figures as the Huskies defeated UTEP, 87-77, Saturday afternoon from the Don Haskins Center.
The win is the first over the Miners in three meetings. UTEP played in the WNIT last season with a record of 29-8.
Shanice Steenholdt led HBU (3-3) with season-highs of 27 points and 16 rebounds, recording her fourth double-double of the season. She also had four assists and two blocks. Monet Neal dropped 16 points, while Tayler Jefferson and Rachel Arthur scored 15 and 11 points, respectively. Jefferson went 10-of-11 from the free throw line, setting a new personal record for free throws made.
Irene Gari scored a team-high 25 points for UTEP (3-3). Cameasha Turner scored 18 points and was tied with Gari with seven rebounds. Lulu McKinney came off the bench to score 13 points.
Sparkle Taylor’s layup at the 16:09-mark cut the Miners’ defict to one, 9-8, as the two teams entered the first media timeout of the game a few seconds later. HBU proceeded to use a 6-0 run out of the timeout to take a seven-point lead, 15-8, with 14 minutes to go in the first half. Neal had four points and Arthur had two.
A steal by Jefferson followed by a fast-break layup by Erin McGarrachan gave HBU its largest lead of the game at 14, 36-22, with 4:41 remaining in the opening half. UTEP had cut the deficit to three, 25-22, but HBU used an 11-0 run for the 14-point lead.
The Huskies continued to lead by 10 with 1:44 remaining in the half, but a three-pointer by Stacie Telles followed by a Huskies’ turnover, which resulted in a Gari jumper cut the Huskies’ lead to five at halftime, 38-33.
Steenholdt led all players with 16 first-half points and eight rebounds, while Gari had 12 points for UTEP. Taylor led the Miners with four rebounds. HBU shot 58 percent from the floor in the opening half compared to 35 percent for UTEP.
UTEP opened the second half outscoring HBU 12-5 to tie the game at 45-all at the 17:22-mark. HBU then scored seven-straight points to lead the Miners, 52-45, as Jefferson had five of the points plus a steal.
The Miners battled back and tied the contest at 57-all following a jumper by Gari with 9:38 remaining in the game. There would be three ties in the next three-plus minutes as the teams traded baskets. UTEP took its largest lead of the game, 67-64, but was quickly answered by a McGarrachan jumper and a free throw by Steenholdt for the seventh tie of the game, 67-67 with 5:40 remaining.
With 3:47 to go and HBU leading by one, 72-71, Steenholdt had a big offensive rebound and put-back to give the Huskies a three-point advantage, 74-71, with 3:19 remaining.
UTEP would intentionally foul the Huskies and HBU would take advantage, going 9-for-12 from the line in the final 1:35.
Jefferson led HBU with 15 second-half points, while Turner scored 14 points for UTEP. HBU shot 54 percent in the second half and 54 percent in the game. UTEP shot 39 percent in the second half and 39 percent in the contest.
HBU begins a four-game home stand next Saturday, Dec. 13 when the Huskies host Arlington Baptist at 4 pm from Sharp Gym.
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New Orleans 87, Crowley Ridge 54
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers women's basketball team (1-4) shook off a sluggish start and dominated the Crowley's Ridge Lady Pioneers (1-8) by the score of 87-54 on Saturday at Lakefront Arena. It's the first win for the program since Feb. 14, 2013, breaking a 37-game dry spell.
Crowley's Ridge opened the scoring with a three-pointer and New Orleans did not get on the board until 2:33 into the contest on a Randi Brown jumper. The Privateers were only up by one after the first nine minutes of the game, but New Orleans hit the first big run, a 9-0 spurt to extend the lead to 22-12.
The Lady Pioneers were able to cut the deficit down to six shortly after, but New Orleans steadily pulled away. The Privateers forced 18 turnovers in the first half and scored the last 11 points to head to the locker room with a 48-25 lead. New Orleans also had 17 second chance points and a 34-14 edge in points in the paint in the opening half.
New Orleans continued to pour it on behind relentless pressure and an offense that ran quickly and featured several strong performances. The Privateers dominated in the paint and were able to get a lot of easy looks off of turnovers predicated by a full court press.
Raven Coleman went for 22 points and 12 rebounds on 11-of-14 shooting from the field. Yasmin Taylor contributed in many different facets with 17 points, 16 rebounds, eight steals, and six assists. Octavia Wilson added 13 points for a Privateers squad that shot 42.9 percent from the field. New Orleans also held a 52-38 advantage on the glass.
Crowley's Ridge got a double-double from Hannah Kirk who put up 21 points and pulled in 11 rebounds. Hannah Willard added 13 points, but several Lady Pioneers battled early foul trouble including Jordan Shelton who scored six early points, but also picked up three fouls in the first half and did not score after hitting two triples in the opening 20 minutes.
New Orleans next hits the road to take on 20
th-ranked Oklahoma State on Dec. 15. Tip is for 7 p.m.
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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 60, UTPA 57
EDINBURG, Texas - Free throws down the stretch sealed it for the Islanders women's basketball team as it outlasted Texas-Pan American, 60-57, at the UTPA Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. With the win, A&M - Corpus Christi improves to 2-4 on the year while the Broncs fall to 6-5.
Kassie Jones got her second start of the year and did not dissappoint, as she led the way for the Islanders with a career-high 17 points in the game to go along with five 3-pointers. The sophomore sparked the team's first-half success with three 3-pointers.
Four Islanders scored in double-digits during the game, including Jones. Junior
Shay Weaver scored 14 points and nailed all six of her free throws down the stretch. Desoto, Texas, native
Camesha Davis scored a team-high 10 points in the first half, finishing with 13, and senior transfer
Olivia Fouty finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Though the score was incredibly close, the game was filled with many runs. The Islanders started the game on an 18-4 run as five different players scored during the first nine minutes. The Islanders hit a cold stretch during the final 4:45 of the half, as they were not able to hit a field goal. The Broncs were able to fight back into the game thanks to a 13-0 run, making it 32-30 Islanders headed into the locker room.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair as both teams traded points in the early minutes. UTPA was able to stretch its lead to eight points with 10:13 left in the game, but timely 3-pointers from both Jones and Weaver combined with solid free throw shooting brought the Islanders back to tie the game at 52 with 2:20 remaining. Camesha Davis hit both of her free throws to put the Islanders ahead for good with 41 seconds left.
One area that the Islanders have not excelled at this season has been the free-throw line. The team was shooting 58.8 percent from the stripe prior to today's game, but finished 15-of-17 against UTPA (88.2 percent). A&M-Corpus Christi scored 17 points off of turnovers in the game compared to UTPA's 10.
The Islanders will return home for the next five games as they play host to UT Arlington Dec. 13 at the Dugan Wellness Center. Following UTA, the team will play its next four games at the American Bank Center in downtown Corpus Christi.
For the latest team information, like the team on Facebook (Islanders Women's Basketball), and follow the Islanders on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersWBB).
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Louisiana-Lafayette 65, Sam Houston State 46
LAFAYETTE, La. – Despite a career high 20 points from sophomore guard Taylor Dorsey, the Sam Houston State women’s basketball team fell to Louisiana-Lafayette 65-46 Saturday afternoon at the University Center in Lafayette.
Kia Wilrdige scored 16 and Gabby Alexander added 14 to lead the undefeated Ragin’ Cajuns who now stand 5-0 for the year.
Shernise Robertson added 10 points for Sam Houston. Dorsey and Jazmin Wiley led the Kats in rebounds with six boards apiece.
Louisiana-Lafayette outscored the Bearkats 44-20 in the paint and tallied 30 points from the SHSU women’s 30 turnovers.
Sam Houston trailed by only two points with 10:29 to play in the first half after a bucket by Dorsey cut the Cajuns’ lead to 11-9.
But the Bearkat women would only score one point basket the rest of the period as ULL went on a 17-2 run in the final ten minutes to build a 28-11 lead at intermission.
Morghen Day scored the first basket of the second half to cut the margin to 28-13. But the Ragin’ Cajuns went on a 13-0 run to go up 41-13. The Kats never came closer.
Sam Houston State, now 1-5, will take a break for final exams. Next action for the SHSU women is a home matchup with Prairie View A&M on Wednesday, December 17, at 6:30 p.m.
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Southeastern Missouri 48, Central Arkansas 46
CONWAY, Ark. — After losing the lead to Southeast Missouri in the final moments, Central Arkansas had a last-second desperation heave for the win, but Brianna Mullins suffered a leg injury on the final attempt and the shot was off the mark as the Sugar Bears fell 48-46 in the Farris Center on Saturday.
After breaking a 45-45 tie with 34 seconds left on a Mullins free throw, the Sugar Bears (4-4) gave the lead back up when Southeast Missouri's Jasmine Robinson scored the go-ahead basket with 16 seconds remaining. After a Sugar Bears miss on the ensuing possession, the Redhawks (3-5) got a free throw from Erin Bollmann to go up two. Bollmann missed the second attempt, and in her effort to chase down the rebound, went out of bounds with the ball to give possession back to the Sugar Bears with 5.4 seconds remaining.
Mullins got the inbound pass and quickly dribbled up the floor, working beyond mid court where she then tried to navigate between two Southeast Missouri defenders as she went up for the final shot, but was injured during her elevation and the shot went just off course as the final horn sounded.
The UCA starters logged 175 of the team's 200 minutes, with Mullins playing the entire 40 minutes and Maggie Proffitt and Kelsey McClure each logging 39. McClure tied her career high with 11 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds, getting her first double-double as a Sugar Bear, and led the team with four assists. Senior forward Brittany Agee added 10 points, and Mullins had seven points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Raquel Logan had three points, five rebounds and a block in 11 minutes.
Both teams struggled to find their shooting touch as UCA connected on just 31.5 percent of its field goal attempts and SEMO 36.5. The Sugar Bears were just 1 of 11 (9.1 percent) from 3-point range, meanwhile the Redhawks were 5 of 13 for 38.5 percent.
Neither team had much success at the free throw line, with each team missing eight attempts. Southeast Missouri finished 5 of 13 for 38.5 percent, 22 percent beneath their season average. The Sugar Bears, who came into the game shooting 80.9 percent as a team, were just 11 of 19 (57.9 percent) on Saturday.
Robinson's 14 points led Southeast Missouri, which also got 12 rebounds from Connor King.
The loss was the second last-minute loss to an Ohio Valley Conference team this season for the Sugar Bears, who also dropped a 56-55 decision to Eastern Kentucky in November in the Preseason WNIT.
The Sugar Bears are off next week as they take final exams, then return to action next Sunday at Georgia Tech.
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Grambling 44, Northwestern State 41
GRAMBLING, La. – Both Northwestern State and Grambling State shook off cold-shooting first halves in the final 20 minutes at Fredrick C. Hobdy Arena on Saturday night.
Grambling’s finish was just a little stronger, as the Lady Tigers squeaked out a 44-41 victory against the visiting Lady Demons.
After a first half that saw neither team crack 30-percent shooting from the field, Grambling (3-5) used a strong second-half shooting performance by Bre’Nae Andrews to eek out the victory.
In one six-minute stretch of the second half, the teams combined for 11 field goals, nine of which were 3-pointers.
After shooting a combined 1-for-17 from 3-point range in the first half, the teams combined to hit 11 of 23 long-range attempts in the second half.
Grambling took its largest lead of the game on a Bre’Nae Andrews 3-pointer with 6:33 to play. Andrews’ fourth successful 3 of the second half gave the Lady Tigers a 40-33 lead. Those buckets allowed her to tally a game-high 13 points.
The Lady Demons (4-3) allowed just one out her field goal after Andrews’ shot, but were unable to completely erase the seven-point deficit.
A pair of Chelsea Rogers 3-pointers helped cut the lead to as little as two points, but Monisha Neal sank the front end of a 1-and-1 with 12.6 seconds to play to make it a three-point game.
Northwestern State picked up an offensive rebound off a missed 3-pointer on its final possession, but Janelle Perez was unable to get enough on a desperation 3-pointer as time expired.
Keisha Lee led Northwestern State with 11 points, while Presley Owens added nine and Amy Staha had eight.
After taking an 8-6 lead on a Lee 3-pointer with 15:55 to play in the first half, NSU did not score for more than six minutes. An Owens layup with 9:13 broke the dry spell.
As has been the case for much of the early season, the Lady Demons’ defense kept the game close. Despite the long drought, NSU trailed by only three points before Owens’ layup.
Neither team found an offensive groove in the first half. Northwestern State was 5-for-19 from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while Grambling was 8-for-27, as GSU took an 18-17 lead into the break.
A free throw with 1.4 seconds to play by Bre’Nae Andrews snapped a 17-all tie and allowed GSU to take the late first-half lead.
The Lady Demons will have next week off for fall semester finals and will return to action in eight days when they battle No. 4 Texas in Austin at 2 p.m. Dec. 14.
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