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Sam Houston State knew it let its January 19 meeting against Nicholls slip from its grasps. With a chance of redemption confronting them in the opening round of the Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday afternoon, the Bearkats made certain they wouldn’t fail twice.
First-team all-conference Shernice Robertson scored nine of her 20 points in the first quarter as Sam Houston State opened with a 15-4 outburst in a 73-64 win over Nicholls which will send the seventh-seed Bearkats to Friday’s second round against third-seed Stephen F. Austin (1:30 p.m., ESPN3).
“I think our girls were fired up,” Sam Houston State coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “They didn’t see a bad shot. When you get into that zone, we’re going to continue to keep shooting because you know nothing can stop you.”
Robertson hit the first of her four 3-pointers just 29 seconds into the game, giving Sam Houston State (12-17) a lead they would not relinquish despite a furious comeback attempt from Nicholls (10-19), which trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half.
The Colonels overcame an opening 20 minutes of play which saw them shoot just 22 percent from the field. Nicholls methodically chipped away at the deficit and threw a scare into the Bearkats when Hope Pawlowski’s free throw brought them to within 63-58 at the 3:10 mark of the fourth quarter before Robertson buried a trey at the top of the key on the ensuing possession, which knocked the wind out of the sails of the Colonels’ rally. Sam Houston State then put the game away from the free-throw line, as the Bearkats scored their final points of the afternoon from the charity stripe.
“We came back at them and we came back with a vengeance,” Nicholls coach DoBee Plaisance said. “We just didn’t start out strong enough.”
After missing the tournament last year, the Bearkats were a more focused group than the one which fell 67-63 at Huntsville to the Colonels, who connected on ten three-pointers in the January victory. This time around, Sam Houston State played passionately on the perimeter, as they held Nicholls to just five successful attempts from beyond the arc.
“We were not a total team early on (in the season),” Welch-Nichols said. “We didn’t play well together, but now we’ve started grooving and when we finally got it to click, that’s when we started playing.”
The Bearkats also did a solid job in containing sophomore guard Tia Charles, who finished with a team-best 17 points for Nicholls, yet was unable to find a consistent groove of her own in the face of Sam Houston State’s defensive pressure.
While the Colonels were able to work their way back into the game, the inability to keep the Bearkats from making the most of their extra opportunities were a crucial factor in their loss. Sam Houston State was able to score 20 points on second chance attempts, as second-team all-conference forward Angela Beadle and Jasmine McCants combined for 22 of the Bearkats’ 42 rebounds.
Beadle added 14 points for Sam Houston State, while McCants and Kamry Orr each scored 13. Taylor Morrison had 11 points for Nicholls.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Sam Houston State Head Coach Brenda Welch-Nichols
On making the tournament…
“We’ve been talking about this all year, making it to the tournament where anything can happen in March Madness. I think our players [in the beginning of the season] weren’t playing very well as a team, but we started coming together towards the end of conference play. And if you want to come together, that’s when you start doing it.”
On a high shooting percentage…
“I think our girls were fired up and they got on a high. They didn’t see a bad shot tonight. I think, as a former player, when you get into that zone, you’re going to keep shooting because you know there’s nothing stopping you. From the tip all the way through half time, even in the second half, we never stopped believing we were ever losing that ball game and I think that was the difference.”
Sam Houston State Senior Guard Shernise Robertson
On stepping up in crucial moments…
“All year long [the team] has been saying that when the game is crucial and we need that big bucket that I need to step into that leadership role and put the ball in the hoop, and that’s what I did.”
Nicholls Head Coach DoBee Plaisance
On the loss…
“We played hard enough to win. We just came up short. Brenda had her kids in a great place. They did what they were supposed to do, especially early on, and they sustained it. We came back at them with a vengeance and credit to them, especially during tournament time that’s what it’s all about.”
On strategy…
“Going into this game it was all about rebounds. There wasn’t a moment in practice, whether it was offense or defense, where our emphasis wasn’t on rebounding the ball. We had to get to the rim and we had to keep them off the rim. But they grinded it out a little bit harder and they were getting some second and third shots.”
Nicholls Senior Forward LiAnn McCarthy
On a slow first half…
“The shots just weren’t falling at all. We were trying our best to get open shots and coach was putting us in position to make open shots and they just weren’t falling.”