Women's Basketball: Feb. 26 Scoreboard
New Orleans 68, Nicholls 63
McNeese State 98, Lamar 77
Stephen F. Austin 58, UIW 44
Northwestern State 71, Southeastern La. 60
Central Arkansas 64, Sam Houston State 56
New Orleans 68, Nicholls 63
NEW ORLEANS, La.
– The New Orleans Privateers women’s basketball team (5-19, 3-12) survived a back-and-forth game that saw 17 lead changes and earned a 68-63 win over the Nicholls Colonels (14-12, 10-5) on Thursday at Lakefront Arena.
The Privateers were on the front end of the final lead change after a three by Danielle Davis with 3:00 left made it 62-61. From there, a pair of free throws in the final 37 seconds helped seal the Privateers win. New Orleans also closed down the three-point line down the stretch as the Colonels missed their final seven three-point attempts.
“All of these young ladies are adapting to the refuse to lose concept and they really believe it’s not over until it’s over. It starts with the starters and it’s just been solid. Randi has found her comfortable place and knows what she can do,” said Head Coach Keeshawn Davenport.
The first half featured nine lead changes and three ties along with 10 combined triples. New Orleans came out of the gate strong defensively, not allowing Nicholls to hit a field goal until nearly three minutes into the game when Tia Charles drained a three.
The Privateers were trailing by two when Halie Matthews landed awkwardly while going for an offensive board at the 11:41 mark. After falling behind 23-19 though, New Orleans came back with an 8-0 run that was keyed by Randi Brown who had 14 first half points.
Yasmin Taylor was also limited to just four minutes of action in the first half due to picking up two early fouls. Raven Coleman came in and provided solid minutes on the interior, collecting six rebounds and scoring eight points to help the Privateers to a 34-32 halftime lead.
“I always try to encourage these young ladies to be ready when your number is called and to practice every day like you’re going to play 40 minutes. Each of those post players did a great job. I challenged Raven at halftime to end the game with double digit rebounds and she did just that,” said Davenport.
New Orleans came out of the locker room strong and quickly grew the lead from two to seven with 17:03 left. Nicholls responded with a 9-2 run of their own to tie the game with 14:36 left and neither team led by more than the final margin of the game.
Brown wound up with 27 points on 11-of-19 from the field and 4-of-9 from three-point range. Coleman posted a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Davis added 12 points and five assists along with five boards. The Privateers out-scored Nicholls 24-9 in points off of turnovers. The Privateers narrowly won the rebounding battle 41-40 on the night.
The Colonels got 16 points each from Emani White and Taylor Morrison who combined to account for eight of Nicholls’ 12 triples. Tia Charles scored nine points and had three steals. Shay Arnick led the team in rebounds with eight.
New Orleans is back at home against Abilene Christian on Saturday. Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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McNeese State 98, Lamar 77
LAKE CHARLES, La.— McNeese State women’s basketball looked like a totally different team Thursday night in its 98-77 Southland Conference win over second place Lamar than the one that played these same Cardinals five days ago in Beaumont.
McNeese (16-11, 10-6 SLC) clinched a spot in the Southland Conference tournament that will be held in Katy, Texas in two weeks. The 98 points scored by the Cowgirls are the second most points ever scored against Lamar. McNeese scored 106 points in a 106-65 win over Lamar in 1981.
The Cowgirls were hitting on all cylinders Thursday night, ending the game shooting 50.8 percent from the field (31-61) and 53.3 percent from three-point range (8 of 15) and 84.8 percent from the free throw line (28-33). The Cowgirls also dominated the boards by a 52-23 margin. McNeese held a 33-10 rebound margin at the half.
McNeese used double figure scoring by four players to pick up the win. Jayln Johnson scored a game high 25. Johnson was 6 of 8 from the field and 12 of 15 from the free throw line to go along with seven assists. Allison Baggett pitched in 24, Amber Donnes ended the game with 19 and Talisa Boyd recorded her sixth career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The contest started out just like in Beaumont, instead of McNeese scoring the first four points tonight, Lamar scored the first four points in the first 38 second of the game.
Amber Donnes took matters into her own hands and scored the Cowgirls first five points on a jumper and then her first of five three-pointers of the game to give McNeese a 5-4 lead.
Lamar took its last lead of the game on a trey by JaMeisha Edwards with 16:51 left in the first half. From this point on, McNeese couldn’t be stopped as the Cowgirls took a double digit lead (30-19) with 11:20 left in the half and held its largest lead of the game of 24 points with 3:21 left in the half.
The Cowgirls held a 55-35 halftime lead which is the largest half time lead in conference play for the Cowgirls and second largest of the season. McNeese lead Centenary by 25 at the half back on Dec. 10.
Lamar attempted a comeback and came out the second half on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 14 but a jumper by Baggett kick started the Cowgirls’ offense in the second half. Lamar would get as close as 12 points before McNeese outscored the Cardinals 10-2 over the next three minutes to put the Cowgirls up by 21. McNeese held a 20 point lead for most of the remainder of the game and nearly hit the century mark for the second time this season
McNeese will host Nicholls Saturday at 12:15 in a game that will be televised on ESPN3
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Stephen F. Austin 58, UIW 44
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – In a game where both teams struggled to score points, Stephen F. Austin senior Tierany Henderson sparked the Ladyjacks with a big double-double to help her team come away with a 58-44 victory over Incarnate Word on Thursday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
The Ladyjacks, who improve to 13-2 in the Southland Conference standings with the win, now hold a game and a half lead over Lamar (12-4 SLC) for first place after the Lady Cardinals fell to McNeese State 98-77 on Thursday night in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Third place Nicholls State (10-5 SLC) also dropped a game on Thursday evening, falling to New Orleans 68-63.
SFA (20-6, 13-2 SLC) can now clinch the number one seed in the 2015 SLC Tournament with a win at Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon.
Henderson led all scorers in Thursday night’s game with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-9 from beyond the arc. The 5-11 forward grabbed 10 rebounds to claim her third double-double of the season while also recording two assists, two blocks and three steals on the night. She nearly outscored Incarnate Word by herself in the first half with 11 total points at the break.
UIW’s Aricka Adams scored the first bucket of the game three minutes in but Henderson quickly answered with a three-pointer and a transition layup to give the Ladyjacks the 5-3 advantage. The Cardinals didn’t lead the rest of the night.
Henderson scored eight of the Ladyjacks’ first 10 points and 11 of the first 17 as SFA built a 17-8 cushion with 6:38 remaining in the opening period.
The Cardinals (5-21, 2-13 SLC) managed just 15 points on 24 percent shooting (6-for-25) in the first half with a majority of the creditgiven to the SFA defensive pressure. The 15 points allowed was the fewest by the Ladyjacks during any half throughout the 2014-15 season. SFA forced 10 of UIW’s 20 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and took a 26-15 lead into halftime.
The Ladyjacks faced little pressure in the second, building their lead to as many as 17 (44-27) on a Paulletta Powell three-ball with 11:39 to play. The Cardinals would get to within nine points (48-39) at the 4:29 mark, but six points from Taylor Ross and another four from Charisma Alexander the rest of the way helped SFA close out the game, 58-44.
Ross tallied 12 points on the evening with six points coming at the free throw line. The sophomore went a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe while going 3-for-10 in the field. Alexander made good on four of her five field goal attempts and also posted six rebounds.
Porsha Roberts and Powell each finished the game with seven points on 3-for-7 shooting. Roberts had scored in double figures in her previous 11 games.
Thursday night’s win secures the 29th 20-win season in the history of SFA women’s basketball.
The Ladyjacks will look to clinch the number one seed in the SLC Tournament and at least a share of the regular season title on Saturdaywhen they travel to play Houston Baptist. Opening tip is set for 4:00 p.m.
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Northwestern State 71, Southeastern La. 60
NATCHITOCHES, La. – In some ways, Thursday night’s women’s basketball game between Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana felt like it should have been played in early January.
In others, it felt like a repeat of the Lady Demons’ victory against New Orleans on Saturday.
Regardless of what the setting is or was, Northwestern State used virtuoso performances from Janelle Perez and Beatrice Attura to score a key 71-60 Southland Conference victory against Southeastern Louisiana at Prather Coliseum.
“I think it was probably one of our better 20 minutes of defense, that second half,” third-year co-head coach Brooke Stoehr said. “We talked to them at halftime. We were allowing some open looks. We just weren’t following our scouting report, as far as personnel, running shooters off the line. They got a number of open looks and hit six threes.
“We did an excellent job in the second half of executing our defensive game plan and really taking away their personnel and forcing them to make tough shots.”
The Lady Demons (15-12, 10-6) trailed by as many as 17 in the first half, as Southeastern Louisiana (7-19, 3-12) connected on five 3-pointers in the first 10:32 of the game.
Much like its early-conference season wins, Northwestern State whittled the deficit to a workable margin – in this case 10 points – before cranking up the second-half defensive intensity.
After allowing the Lady Lions to shoot 42.4 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, the Lady Demons limited SLU to seven second-half field goals and 17.5-percent shooting from the field in the final 20 minutes.
“We talked to our team after the game about Janelle’s 3 at the buzzer at half kind of rimmed out and, had it gone down, would have gotten us to seven,” Stoehr said. “The defensive intensity to start the second half really set the tone. We held them scoreless until the first media timeout, and then they scored two or four at the second media timeout. I was really proud of our defensive effort.”
The style of play hearkened back to NSU’s 7-1 conference start, a run filled with second-half comebacks and, most importantly, an ability to value the basketball.
After committing seven turnovers in the first half, NSU turned the ball over six times in the second half, but also put up nine second-half assists.
Several of those assists were to a cutting Attura, who matched the 21 points she scored at New Orleans on Saturday. Attura was an efficient 7-for-12 from the floor, getting to the basket for several layups and working her way to the free-throw line 10 times.
“I don’t really focus on (the numbers),” Attura said. “I just focus on what I can do for the team. I just play my role. Tonight, my role was to attack. I was getting fouls called. I just try to do what the coaches want me to do.”
Perez did what she has done since conference play started – drive the Lady Demons’ offense.
She finished with a game-high 22 points and snagged a career-best 12 rebounds, giving the Lady Demons their first double-double of the season and Perez the first of her career.
“I just try to clean up,” said Perez, who stands 5-foot-2. “My teammates did the boxing out. They did their job. I did my job. I’m just glad we got the win.”
Presley Owens gave NSU a third double-figure scorer, knocking down 5 of 7 shots and totaling 13 points. Annessa De La Cruz hit five of SLU’s 10 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 16 points. Taylin Underwood and Nanna Pool each had 14 off the bench for SLU, which saw its starters score just 16 points.
Northwestern State returns to action in one week, traveling to longtime rival Stephen F. Austin on March 5 before ending the season with a March 7 home game against New Orleans.
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Central Arkansas 64, Sam Houston State 56
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — For the second straight game, Central Arkansas built a big lead against Sam Houston State only to have the Bearkats make a late rally. But, just as they did on Saturday, the Sugar Bears found a way to stave off the Bearkats again on Thursday as they notched a 64-56 victory and punched their ticket to the Southland Conference Tournament for the fifth straight year.
"I'm happy with this win and getting back to the tournament," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing, whose team has qualified for the 8-team league tournament in Katy, Texas in each of her three seasons at the helm. In all, the Sugar Bears have made the tournament in each of their five seasons eligible for Division I postseason play and are one of just four teams to make the field in each of the last five seasons.
"I'm really proud of our effort tonight and I thought we did a good job defensively in the first half," Rushing said. "And, even though we made some mental mistakes down the stretch that we have to correct, we were able to get the win on the road and get into the tournament."
With the win, the Sugar Bears (16-11, 9-6 Southland) move into a tie for sixth place with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with three games remaining. Those teams sit just a half game back of 10-6 McNeese State and Northwestern State, and a game back of 10-5 Nicholls while Stephen F. Austin (12-2) and Lamar (12-4) currently occupy the top two seeds.. The Sugar Bears will close out the regular season with a two-game road trip to Nicholls and McNeese next week.
In securing their spot in the tournament and ensuring their seventh .500 or better season in nine seasons of Division I play, the Sugar Bears dealt the Bearkats (6-19, 5-10) their fifth straight defeat and knocked them into a tie with Houston Baptist for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament.
After going nearly five minutes without a score to open the game, the Sugar Bears rallied with a 15-0 run midway through the first half, closed on a 24-9 run and went into the locker room with a 31-20 lead after shooting 43.3 percent. They would lead by as many as 17 in the second half, but just as they did in Conway on Saturday, the Bearkats went on a run and chipped away at the UCA lead – eventually drawing within as few as six in the final minute. But from that point, the Sugar Bears were 7 of 8 at the free throw line as they kept the Bearkats at bay and improved to 4-3 in conference road games this season.
Maggie Proffitt had 18 points for the third straight game to lead the Sugar Bears, while Terai Sadler tied her career high with 17, adding 6 rebounds as well. Kendara Watts had 15 points and led the Sugar Bears with 7 rebounds, while Jameka Watkins had a game-high 6 assists.
Though UCA was outrebounded 35-32 and had 8 offensive rebounds to the Bearkats' 12, the Sugar Bears led in second-chance points 13-11, and scored 17 points off of 14 Bearkat turnovers.
Saturday's 2 p.m. game against Southeastern Louisiana in the Farris Center will be the final home game for seniors Sadler and Brittany Agee, both in their second year with the Sugar Bears.
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