Women's Basketball: Feb. 14 Scoreboard
Stephen F. Austin 74, A&M-Corpus Christi 62
McNeese State 54, Northwestern State 52
Nicholls 93, Southeastern La. 80
Houston Baptist 66, Sam Houston State 60
Stephen F. Austin 74, A&M-Corpus Christi 62
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball team used a 32-point performance from senior Porsha Roberts and a quick start to the second half to post a convincing 74-62 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday afternoon inside the American Bank Center. The Ladyjacks improve to 17-6 overall on the season and 10-2 in Southland Conference action with their fifth straight win.
Roberts had a monster afternoon for the Ladyjacks, tying a career-high with 32 points on 12-for-21 shooting. She scored the first eight points of the second half as part of a 14-0 SFA run out of the intermission to help the Ladyjacks break the game open. Roberts spent her fair share of time at the free throw line, converting 8 of 10 attempts from the charity stripe. She also hauled in eight rebounds, dished out a season-high three assists, blocked three shots and swiped a steal.
The last time Roberts reached the 32-point plateau was as a sophomore on Feb. 16, 2013 on the road against Southeastern Louisiana. The Waco native scored 31 points against Texas A&M-Kingsville earlier this season on Dec. 2 at home.
Tierany Henderson sparked SFA in the first half with three triples including two in a 36 second window from 16:09-15:33. The senior recorded her sixth consecutive game with double digit points, ending with 15. She went 5-for-11 from deep in the game, grabbed six boards and like Roberts, rejected three shots.
The Ladyjacks mounted a 20-3 run early in the opening half to take control 25-13 with 10:07 on the clock. SFA would lead by as many as 16 in the period, 38-22, after Henderson’s third three-ball fell with 4:05 until the break.
The Ladyjacks, who enjoyed a 41-29 lead at halftime, got off to a blazing start in the second half. Behind Roberts’ eight straight points to start things off and three-point buckets from Brittney Matthew and Henderson, SFA opened with a 14-0 run to build its largest lead of the game (26 points) at 55-29. For the rest of the game, the Islanders (12-12, 8-5 SLC) attempted to chip away at the SFA lead but couldn’t get any closer until the game ended at 74-62.
While most of the stat lines were similar between the two teams, the Ladyjacks owned a significant edge in field goal percentage (44.8 percent – 34.4 percent). SFA also distributed the ball better, dishing out 20 assists to nine by AMCC. Matthew had seven assists and Taylor Ross added six to pace the Ladyjack backcourt.
Matthew and Paulletta Powell complemented Roberts and Henderson offensively with seven points apiece. Freshman Charisma Alexander tallied six points, four rebounds and Ross finished with five points and seven boards.
The Ladyjacks’ 17-6 record is the best mark through 23 games for the program since the 2001-02 season.
SFA has five home games over the final six games of the regular season. The Ladyjacks host Lamar on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. before turning around to face Nicholls on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
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McNeese State 54, Northwestern State 52
LAKE CHARLES, La.—McNeese State women’s basketball team outscored Northwestern State 16-5 in overtime to pick up a 68-57 Southland Conference victory Saturday.
The Cowgirls placed three players in double figure scoring with Allison Baggett leading the Cowgirls with 18. Amber Donnes chipped in 14 and Jayln Johnson ended the game with a double double (13 pts., 11 reb.).
Janelle Perez was the only Lady Demon in double figures, scoring a game high 26. Perez was 9 of 25 from the field, including six three-pointers.
McNeese took its first lead of the game (54-52) with 4:15 left in overtime on a layup by Frederica Haywood.
After a layup by Northwestern State’s Arianne Ausmer tied the game again at 54 all. The Cowgirls came back with three straight three-pointers. Hannah Cupit began the streak with her only trey of the game for a 57-54 Cowgirl lead. Another three by Johnson extended the lead to 60-54. Northwestern State responded with a three by Perez cut the lead to three (60-57) in what would be Northwestern State’s last points of the game.
Baggett hit the Cowgirls third straight three to up the lead to 63-57. Donnes and Johnson scored the Cowgirls’ final four points of the game at the free throw line to seal the win.
Northwestern State opened the game by scoring the first seven points before a baseline jumper by Cupit put the Cowgirls on the board. Northwestern State went on a run to take its first double-digit lead of the game on a Keisha Lee three-pointer. McNeese went scoreless for the final 5:51 of the first half to go into the break traiing31-22.
McNeese opened the second half on by outscoring NW State 12-3 in the first eight minutes to tie the game at 34. Northwestern St. responded with a 6-0 run to take a 40-34 lead.
The Cowgirls continued to cut away at the lead and went on an 8-5 run to end the second half. Two free throws by Baggett cut the lead to one with 3:21 left in regulation. Lee hit two free throws to give NW State a 49-46 lead with 2:48. With 59 seconds left, both teams traded three’s. Donnes took matters into her own hands for the Cowgirls and drilled back-to-back three’s, the first tied the game at 49. Perez then hit one for NW State for a three-point lead before Donnes tied the game at 52 with 26 seconds left.
NW State played for the last shot but Perez’s jumper was short as time expired, sending the game into overtime.
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Nicholls 93, Southeastern La. 80
THIBODAUX, La. – After seeing Southeastern Louisiana make nine 3-pointers for a 47-46 lead at halftime, the Nicholls State University women’s basketball team clamped down on defense in the second half, holding the Lady Lions to 15 points through the first 15 minutes and the Colonels received double-figure scoring from five players en route to 93-80 victory on Saturday afternoon at Stopher Gym.
With the win, Nicholls (13-10, 9-3 SLC) pushed its winning streak to a program-record six games. More importantly, the Colonels stay within a game of first place in the Southland Conference standings. Southeastern fell to 7-16 overall and 3-9 in conference.
Freshman Tia Charles led the Colonel quintet with a game-high 20 points while adding five assists and four steals. Charles knocked down three of the Colonels’ eight 3-pointers, as did Jenny Nash who poured in 19 points. Emani White, needing only eight points to become the 13
th player in school history to score 1,000 for their career, surpassed the mark in the first half by scoring 11 of her 16 points. Hope Pawlowski matched her career-best with 15 points and six steals and Marina Lilly came off the bench for 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Colonels shot 49 percent for the game and went shot-for-shot with Southeastern in the first half as both teams made over 50 percent of their field goal attempts. Southeastern seemed like it was unable to miss from behind the arc in the first twenty minutes, making 9-of-15 from long range. The Lady Lions led by as much as 11 in the early going, but the Colonels closed out the half with a 10-2 run to head into the locker room down 47-46.
The run continued into the opening minutes of the second half as Nicholls outscored SLU, 11-2, to take a 57-49 lead. Charles closed out the spurt with back-to-back 3-pointers.
The Colonels held a 67-58 lead at the 11 minute mark, but over the next five minutes, they would only allow one field goal and a pair of free throws as they blew open the game for 82-62 lead. The Lady Lions added four more 3-pointers down the stretch to shrink the final margin to 13. SLU finished the day making 15-of-29 from behind the arc.
Nicholls limited Southeastern to just 32 percent shooting from the field in the second half. For the game, the Colonels outrebounded the Lady Lions, 41-30, and had 15 steals off 22 turnovers.
Nicholls will close out its home stand on Wednesday, Feb. 18, against Northwestern State at 6 p.m. The game will serve as the team's annual Stuff Stopher event.
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Houston Baptist 66, Sam Houston State 60
HOUSTON, Texas – Behind junior guard Rachel Arthur's career-high 25 points, the Houston Baptist women's basketball team held on to defeat visiting Sam Houston State, 66-61, in a key Southland Conference showdown Saturday afternoon from Sharp Gym.
Arthur shot 12-of-19 from the floor and made her only three-point attempt to lead HBU (10-of-14 overall, 4-9 SLC). She also dished out three assists and forced three steals while playing all 40 minutes. Erin McGarrachan scored 15 points, while Tayler Jefferson followed with 11. HBU shot 41 percent from the floor in the game.
The SLC's leading scorer, Shernise Robertson, led SHSU (6-17 overall, 5-8 SLC) with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting, 1-of-8 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Jasmine Robinson came off the bench to score 11 points. The Bearkats shot 37 percent from the floor in the contest.
HBU started the game on fire, outscoring SHSU 14-2 in the first 6:20. The Bearkats trimmed the deficit to seven, but a 16-7 run gave the Huskies their largest lead of the game at 16, 32-16, following a steal by Jefferson and a McGarrachan jumper at the 6:29-mark of the opening half.
SHSU ended the first half outscoring the Huskies, 19-5, to trail HBU at the break, 37-35. Arthur led the Huskies with 12 first-half points, while Robertson had 15 for the Bearkats. Both teams shot 41 percent from the floor in the half.
HBU continued to hold on to a slim, two-point lead two-and-a-half minutes into the second half before going on a 13-8 run to take a seven-point advantage, 52-45, following a layup by Arthur.
Back-to-back buckets by Robertson and Wiley cut the HBU deficit to three with eight minutes to go in regulation. The Bearkats had the ball again, looking to possibly tie, but McGarrachan forced a turnover and made a jumper to bring the Huskies back up to five, 54-49, with 7:10 remaining.
SHSU used a 6-0 run to take its first lead of the game, 55-54, following a layup by Alexandra Kimble at the 4:11-mark. The Huskies responded at the other end with a three-pointer by Jefferson, but the two teams entered their first tie of the ballgame following a jumper by Robertson at the 3:35-mark.
The teams would have two more ties in the next two minutes before a jumper by McGarrachan put the Huskies up for good, 63-61, with 35 seconds remaining. On the next Bearkats' possession, Anna Strickland forced a steal and made the ensuing free throw, giving HBU a three-point lead. She then blocked Robertson's three-point attempt, Jefferson was intentionally fouled, and made both free throws to make it a two-possession game with three seconds to go, icing the contest.
HBU hosts Incarnate Word Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 pm.
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