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KATY, Texas – More than two months had passed since Sam Houston State endured a 20-point loss at the hands of Northwestern State. On Saturday, the Bearkats showed the two-time defending Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament championships how far along they had come since January 4.
Angela Beadle recorded her ninth straight double-double as seventh-seed Sam Houston State shocked Northwestern State 78-71 at Merrell Center to propel the Bearkats to Sunday’s Tournament final against top-seed Central Arkansas and a chance to win an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
Beadle scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds after shaking off early foul trouble while becoming the focal point of a Sam Houston State (14-17) offense that shot 65.2 percent from the field in the second half.
“When I first came out, I was really frustrated,” Beadle, who is one of three current players who were a part of the Bearkats’ first tournament championship team, said. “You never want to take yourself out of the game, but my teammates really stepped up. That’s what a good team does. When one player’s not producing, the bench comes in and gets the job done.”
“We had to feed the Beadle,” Bearkats coach Brenda Welch-Nichols said. “We had to make the effort to go inside. They weren’t letting our guards shoot outside, and I just kept telling them, ‘feed her.’ She’ll take it and go with it.”
Jasmine Anderson was the one player off the Sam Houston State bench to fill in for Beadle, as she scored eight points, including a 3-pointer with 3:37 to go in the first half that gave the Bearkats a 23-21 lead they would not relinquish.
The win was the latest in what has become an opportunity for Sam Houston State to redeem itself from regular season defeats to Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin prior to Saturday’s bounce-back from the 69-49 loss to the Lady Demons.
“That was just another one that we needed to show that we’re a better team than what we were at the start of the season,” Welch-Nichols said.
Northwestern State (19-11) shot just 31 percent in the first half, but the Lady Demons began to find their range in the third quarter, pulling to within 42-38 on Beatrice Attura’s 3-pointer with 5:47 left. Undaunted, the Bearkats stretched the lead to much as 11 points late in the quarter before another Attura trey brought Northwestern State back to shouting distance at 51-45.
The distance grew further for the Lady Demons, as Sam Houston State’s Laurynn McGowen knocked down a 3-pointer as the horn sounded, giving the Bearkats a 54-45 advantage that swelled to 61-47 with 7:47 remaining.
The Lady Demons put together their best offensive stretch of the night, as first-team all-conference pick Janelle Perez willed Northwestern State back into the contest. Perez, who finished with 30 points on the day, scored 14 of the Lady Demons’ next 17 points over a stretch of 4:22, which she capped with a traditional 3-point play that cut the deficit to 67-64 with 2:22 left.
“We continued to fight,” Northwestern State co-coach Brooke Stoehr said. “It wasn’t our best day. I’m very happy to be walking out of here with this group.”
Northwestern State’s comeback attempt finally ran out of steam, as Sam Houston State scored nine of their final 11 points from the charity stripe.
Stoehr felt that her team stood a good chance to receive an invitation to participate in a postseason tournament, a fate the Lady Demons will not know until Monday night.
Sam Houston State lost both of their regular season meetings against Central Arkansas, losing 73-63 in Huntsville on February 20 before falling on the road by a 72-53 count on February 24.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Sam Houston State Head Coach Brenda Welch-Nichols
On today’s game…
“It’s a total team effort. These girls have pulled together and they’re pulling together at the right time. It’s a beautiful ride that we’re on right now. I want to congratulate Angela Beadle, she got her 1,000th rebound yesterday. Early on when Beadle got in foul trouble we had to sit her. I thought this was really going to ice her, but maybe we should sit her more. It was a very exciting night out of our seniors. It was a total team effort tonight. We had to use Jasmine Anderson at the four and she went in and hit a couple of threes. Everybody’s doing their job. We said all along, we haven’t done anything special, we’re just playing well together as a team and we believe in each other right now.”
On motivation from 20-point regular-season loss…
“When we started conference, we took a few hits pretty hard and we were not playing well as a team. As we kept grooming and maturing. We got tired of losing. That was one of the losses that was really embarrassing. When we drew up this side of the bracket, we knew we needed to show everyone we’re a better team than we were at the beginning of the season.”
Sam Houston State Senior Guard Shernise Robertson
On playing better against Northwestern State…
“Like coach said, when we first faced Northwestern State, we were still trying to get to know each other and how to play together. Today we showed that we’re a better team than when we played them the first time.”
Toughest part of playing three games in three days…
“We know our bodies are tired, but we just need to rest up. As long as we pull together and fight together we should have no problems.”
Sam Houston State Senior Center Angela Beadle
On early foul trouble…
“When I first came out, I was really frustrated. You never want to take yourself out of the game. My teammates really stepped up. That’s what a team does, when a player is out or a player isn’t producing and the bench comes in to get the job done, that’s what it’s all about. I’m really proud of our team and how they battled in the first half.”
Northwestern State Co-Head Coach Brooke Stoehr
On Sam Houston State…
“They’ve got momentum and they’re and they’re playing really well. Their kids are playing with a fire, a desire, and a determination. They’re making shots they’re getting great contributions from a number of players I mean they have three double-figures with Beadle obviously having a great day. When you shoot 65 percent, you’re probably going to win a lot of games.”
Northwestern State Senior Guard Janelle Perez
On Sam Houston State…
“They deserve [the win], they deserve to be here, and they deserve to compete for a championship.”
Northwestern State Junior Guard Beatrice Auttura
On Sam Houston State’s offense…
“I guess we were just not able to get stops. I mean, they scored 78 points and had almost 40 in the paint. We just couldn’t get stops and that was the game.”