Women's Basketball: March 7 Scoreboard
Stephen F. Austin 79, Sam Houston State 65
McNeese State 72, Central Arkansas 68
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 60, Abilene Christian 40
Houston Baptist 81, UIW 71
New Orleans 72, Northwestern State 70
Nicholls 77, Southeastern La. 74
Stephen F. Austin 79, Sam Houston State 65
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team finished the season strong on Saturday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum, defeating Sam Houston State 79-65 on Senior Night.
While the Ladyjacks had already secured the 2014-15 Southland Conference Championship and the number one seed in the SLC Tournament next week, the victory capped an 11-game winning streak to close out the regular season.
The Ladyjacks (23-6, 16-2 SLC) have won 15 straight games at home dating back to Nov. 18 - the 10th longest active streak in the NCAA.
SFA got one of the most complete team efforts of the season on Saturday evening as five Ladyjacks scored in double figures and two more had at least eight points. Senior
Brittney Matthew led the way with 13 points, senior
Porsha Roberts and sophomore
Brentney Branch each tallied 12, sophomore
Taylor Ross finished with 11 points and freshman
Charisma Alexander chipped in 10.
The Ladyjacks committed a season-low five turnovers while forcing the Bearkats (6-22, 5-13 SLC) to cough the ball up 21 times. The 24-6 points off turnover differential favoring SFA proved to be a key factor in the win.
The two rivals battled to a 36-36 draw after the first half. Sam Houston hit 7 of 9 three-point attempts to hang in the game while Matthew dumped in nine points for SFA in the half.
The Bearkats went cold in the second half, however, missing all 11 three-point attempts and shooting just 24.1 percent from the field.
With 16:47 remaining in the game, Alexander penetrated into the lane and knocked down a pull up jumper to give SFA the 41-40 lead. The Ladyjacks would keep the lead the rest of the way, going ahead by as many as 14 with less than a minute to go.
Branch drilled one of her two triples on the night with 4:18 on the clock, padding SFA's lead to nine points, 67-58. The made shot stopped a mini Sam Houston run and served as the dagger in the 79-65 victory.
The Ladyjacks moved the ball well all evening with Matthew and Ross each contributing six assists to SFA's total of 16.
Following the game, and during the halftime of the men's contest, the five Ladyjack seniors were honored for their contributions during their successful collegiate careers.
Daylyn Harris,
Destiny Bragman,
Tierany Henderson,
Brittney Matthew and
Porsha Roberts helped change the culture of SFA women's basketball and played an integral role in claiming back-to-back league championships for the program.
While they have played their last game inside William R. Johnson Coliseum, the five seniors along with the rest of the Ladyjack team hope to be playing basketball well into March. Up next will be the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas. SFA has secured two byes and will play on Saturday afternoon in the Leonard E. Merrell Center. The opponent is yet to be determined.
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McNeese State 72, Central Arkansas 68
LAKE CHARLES, La. –
Victoria Rachal scored a career-high 24 points and McNeese State used an 8-0 run early in the second half to down Central Arkansas 72-68 in the regular season finale here Saturday afternoon.
Rachal, who entered the game averaging just 3 points a game, knocked down 10 of 15 from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Her back-to-back jumpers (5 straight points) midway through the first half helped rally the Cowgirls from a 13-5 deficit to a 1-point margin in 46 seconds time.
The sophomore from Natchitoches scored 12 points in each half and got some help from
Jayln Johnson who finished with 14 points.
But on Senior Day, who better than senior
Alaina Verdin to step up as the team's leader and ignite the Cowgirls (17-12, 11-7 SLC) to rally from a first half deficit.
"It was a typical senior day for her," said head coach Brooks Williams about Verdin. "She came in and really gave us the energy we needed. We stepped up our press and that helped a lot."
Johnson and Rachal each had 3s that gave the Cowgirls their largest lead in the first half at 6 points, and Verdin hit two free throws for the final scoring of the half to give McNeese a 35-29 lead at the break.
UCA (17-13, 10-8) got a basket from Brianna Mullins to start the second half and cut the margin to four points at 35-31. McNeese followed with an 8-0 run which was started by a layup from
Frederica Haywood and ended with a Haywood layup to make it 43-31 with 16:03 to play.
Another Cowgirl spurt of 7-0 midway through the half included two more baskets by Rachal, one a three-pointer, and the Cowgirls built their largest lead at 61-45 with 8:12 to play following a Rachal three.
Trailing 70-58 with 3:17 to play, UCA scored eight straight and cut the lead to 70-67 with 27 seconds to play after a Kendara Watts layup. Verdin and Johnson closed out the game by hitting late free throws.
UCA's Maggie Proffitt led the Sugar Bears with 16 points followed by Watts with 15 while Mullins and Terai Sadler each scored 12.
Haywood scored 8 points and topped the team with 14 rebounds and Johnson dished out seven assists.
McNeese connected on 51 percent (30 of 59) from the field and hit 7 of 13 for 54 percent from long range. UCA shot 45 percent (25 of 56) for the game and was 4 of 11 for 36 percent from 3-point range.
UCA held a 36-32 advantage on the boards.
McNeese will open play at the Southland Conference Tournament next week in Katy, Texas. Day, time and opponent will be announced late Saturday.
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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 60, Abilene Christian 40
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Less than a month ago, the Islanders women's basketball team fell to Abilene Christian by 35 points, its worst loss of the season, but the Islanders have looked like a completely different team since and showed it during a 60-40 rout of ACU at the American Bank Center Saturday afternoon.
Olivia Fouty, the lone senior for the team, finished the regular season with her 11th double-double of the year in a 14 point and 10 rebound performance.
Junior Shay Weaver led the way for the home squad, scoring a game-high 20 points and grabbing six rebounds.
A prolific three-point shooting team on the year, the Islanders were able to hold ACU to just 6-of-24 on the day.
A&M-Corpus Christi (16-13, 11-6 SLC) was able to outscore the Wildcats 24-19 in the second half, while holding the visitors to 22 percent from the floor.
A polar opposite start from its game in Abilene, the Islanders jumped on the visiting Wildcats early, pressuring the ball in the full court and not allowing ACU to get into their offense sets. ACU scored the first bucket of the game, but the Islanders scored the next 13 points of the game, forcing ACU into two early timeouts. The Wildcats never led again.
The Islanders shot 42 percent from the field in the opening half and held ACU to 27 percent from the floor and just 3-of-11 from behind the arc.
AMCC was able to dominate down low, scoring 28 of its points in the paint.
The Wildcats (17-12, 9-9) leading scorer on the year, Sydney Shelstead, was held to just six points.
"We've been through a lot of ups and downs, and peaks and valleys," head coach Royce Chadwick said. "They just keep telling themselves, 'When it rolls around and it counts, I'm going to play good.' It's such a mental game that I believe we have convinced our team and our team has convinced itself that this is our time, and we're playing our best basketball at exactly the right time.
"Nobody forgets what you do in March," Chadwick said, "so here we go. Let's see what we can get done next week."
The Islanders await final seeding for the Southland Conference Tournament next week, Mar. 12-15 in Katy, Texas.
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Houston Baptist 81, UIW 71
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Houston Baptist women's basketball has punched its ticket to the Southland Conference Tournament following an 81-71 victory at Incarnate Word Saturday afternoon from the McDermott Center.
HBU (12-17 overall, 6-12 SLC) got a career-high 27 points from senior forward
Erin McGarrachan. McGarrachan shot 11-of-14 from the floor, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and made all three free-throw attempts. She also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Anna Strickland scored 16 points and had nine rebounds as she tied her career high of 40 minutes played.
Rachel Arthur (13) and
Tayler Jefferson (11) finished the double-digit scoring for the Huskies, who shot 55 percent from the floor in the game.
Shanise Brooks scored a team-high 22 points to lead UIW (5-24, 2-16), as she shot 7-of-12 from the floor and made all eight shots from the charity stripe. Aricka Adams posted 14 points and a team-best five rebounds. The Cardinals shot 43 percent from the floor in the contest.
UIW started on fire, scoring 10 of the first 12 points before the Huskies' offense got going, outscoring UIW 11-4 to cut the deficit to one, 14-13, with 14:20 remaining in the first half.
HBU trailed by seven with 10 minutes to go before closing the half on a 23-10 run to lead the Cardinals at the break, 43-37.
McGarrachan led all scorers with 22 first-half points, as she went 9-of-10 from the floor and 2-for-2 from both beyond the arc and from the line. HBU shot 54 percent in the half. UIW was led by Brooks with 10 points as the Cardinals shot 46 percent from the floor.
The Huskies opened the second half on a 13-4 run to stretch their lead to 15, 56-41, culminated by an old-fashioned three-point play by Arthur.
UIW got as close as four, 62-58, following an Adams' jumper at the 9:25-mark, but a three-pointer by Jefferson pushed the Huskies' lead to nine and they never looked back.
Strickland and Arthur paced the Huskies with nine-points each in the second half, while Jefferson had eight. HBU shot 57 percent in the half. Brooks led UIW with 12 points in the half, as the Cardinals shot 39 percent.
Despite UNO's win over Northwestern State tonight, the Huskies own the tiebreaker. The eighth-seeded Huskies will play fifth-seed McNeese State Thursday, March 12 at 11 am from the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
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New Orleans 72, Northwestern State 70
NATCHITOCHES, La
. –The New Orleans Privateers women's basketball team (8-19, 6-12) overcame a 10-point deficit and had 20 points on second chance opportunities in a 72-70 win over the Northwestern State Lady Demons on Saturday at Prather Coliseum.
In the final minute, Northwestern State trailed by two when Yasmin Taylor collected a key offensive rebound on a missed jumper. Taylor was sent to the line with 21 seconds remaining and she hit both free throws to make it a four-point game.
Northwestern State responded with a layup by Janelle Perez and the Privateers missed two free throws on the other end to give the Lady Demons one final chance. However, a missed shot before time expired by Beatrice Attura sealed the win for the Privateers who closed the season on a four-game winning streak. New Orleans did not get the help needed to make it to the conference tournament as Houston Baptist defeated Incarnate Word.
The Privateers were down 50-40 with under 14 minutes remaining in the game as both teams shot efficiently on the game. New Orleans steadily closed the gap behind a big second half performance by Randi Brown and some key rebounding led by Danielle Davis.
Davis hit on a triple to level the score at 55-55 with less than eight minutes left. The Privateers then took their first lead of the second half on a Halie Matthews jumper with 3:26 remaining. Davis then connected on a huge three-point play to give the Privateers a lead they would not relinquish again at the 2:15 mark.
Brown wound up with 23 points on 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-6 from downtown. Davis posted her first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Taylor added 13 points and six rebounds to the winning cause as New Orleans shot 49.1 percent from the field for the game.
Perez had a huge night for the Lady Demons, scoring 31 points and dishing out four assists. Attura also landed in double figures with 11 points. Northwestern State shot 52.9 percent as a team, but were out-rebounded 34-23 by the Privateers.
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Nicholls 77, Southeastern La. 74
HAMMOND, La. – Senior Jenny Nash had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, fellow classmate Shay Arnick scored 13 points and freshman Ekiya Gray added 11 as the Nicholls State University women’s basketball team defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 77-74, on Saturday evening in their regular season finale at the University Center.
Not only did the trio lead the Colonels (17-12, 13-5 SLC) in scoring, but all three came up with clutch baskets down the stretch. In a game that saw 15 lead changes and 11 ties, Nicholls found itself trailing Southeastern (7-22, 3-15 SLC) by three with less than three minutes remaining. Arnick scored inside to trim the lead to one and following a Lady Lion free throw, Nash hit her third 3-pointer of the game to give Nicholls a 73-72 lead with 1:14 remaining.
Nash then came up with a steal off an Arnick deflection which led to an outstanding bounce pass through two defenders by freshman point guard Tia Charles to Gray, who made a layup with 45 seconds left on the clock. SLU answered immediately with a bucket inside to come within one and then fouled Nash, sending her to the line for two free throws.
Playing in her final regular season game as a Colonel, Nash calmly sank both, giving Nicholls a 75-72 lead with 21 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Southeastern’s Elizabeth Styles, who had a game-high 21 points, got off a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but it hit off the rim and the Colonels escaped with the victory.
With the win, Nicholls locks up the No. 3 seed in next week’s Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas. The victory not only gave the Colonels their highest seeding ever, but it also matches the program’s second highest win total for a single season at 17, set by last year’s squad, and extends the team’s record for Southland victories to 13.
Although Nash struggled from the field at 4 of 18, she came up with 10 points in the second half to help the Colonels erase a 34-30 deficit at the break. The Lady Lions held a 31-20 advantage with five minutes to go in the opening period, but the Colonels received two buckets each from reserves Marina Lilly and Jovana Mandic to outscore SLU, 10-3, to close out the half.
The second half alone saw nine lead changes and seven ties. The squads went back-and-forth until Southeastern grabbed the lead at the 5:22 mark and stayed in front until Nash’s final 3-pointer.
The Colonels finished with season-high 19 assists on 29 field goals, led by a career-high eight by Charles. Nash added five and Lilly, who had eight points and seven rebounds, chipped in with three.
Nicholls will return to action at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 13, in the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas at the Merrell Center. The No. 3-seed Colonels will play the winner of Thursday’s first-round matchup between Central Arkansas and Northwestern State. The Colonels swept Central Arkansas this season and split the series with Northwestern State, with both teams winning at home.
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