Southland Conference Women's Basketball Weekly Update
1/30/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2001
Southland Weekly Women's Basketball - Jan. 30, 2001
Northwestern State Hands Louisiana-Monroe Its Second Loss A career night for senior Jamila Newman and the return of sophomore Angela Davidson led the Northwestern State Lady Demons to a 71-62 victory over the visiting Louisiana-Monroe Lady Indians Saturday evening. The nine-point win was the largest Lady Demon win over ULM since a lopsided 67-46 win in their first meeting of the 1998-99 season. It was also Northwestern's fourth consecutive victory.
With a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds, Newman topped her career highs to lead Northwestern State off the bench. The forward from Fayetteville, Ark., had tied her season high of 16 at halftime before adding nine more points in the second. She also pulled down 13 boards, eight of them offensively.
Davidson, who missed the previous six Conference games with a stress fracture, returned to score 13 points, three shy of her career best. The threat of Newman, Davidson and freshman Katrina Swanigan under the basket resulted in 51 of Northwestern's 71 points. Kia Converse put in 10 points of her own.
The Lady Demons outscored the Lady Indians, 21-12, in the final 9:52 to hand ULM only its second Conference loss this season. ULM recorded a season-high 29 turnovers to NWLa.'s 14. The Lady Indians had committed just 15 turnovers in their previous two games combined. Despite hitting 47.1 percent of its shots to NWLa.'s 33.8 percent, ULM found no help off the bench, getting outscored, 40-4.
Top scorers for the Lady Indians were Shannan Elliott and Danielle Butler with 14 points apiece. Terri Butler poured in 12 points. Ilona Hollosy did her part with eight assists and three steals.
The Lady Indians hadn't lost two games in a row since opening the season 0-4.
The win was crucial for Northwestern State, which is a game back of third-place Lamar in the Southland standings. The Lady Demons hit the road for a two-game swing to meet the Lady Cardinals Thursday night. LU dealt Northwestern its only loss in Prather coliseum this season, 55-43, in its league home opener on Dec. 30.
Net Notes Stephen F. Austin notched two wins last week to stay undefeated atop the Southland Conference at 12-0. The Ladyjacks trounced Sam Houston State, 77-51, Thursday night behind the power of Chaquita Dilworth (11 points), Tami Rater (10 points), Amy Collins (10 rebounds, one block) and Lashinda Winters (10 rebounds). SFA held SHSU to just 19 points at the intermission. The Bearkats turned the ball over 23 times to SFA's 12, and shot only 44.4 percent from the free-throw line.
On the flip side, SHSU blocked nine Ladyjack shots, a Conference high this season, with Olivia Villanueva registering four swats and Brenda Abakwue getting three. Abakwue, the league's leading rebounder, had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Stacy Allen led SHSU with 18 points and four steals.
The Ladyjacks extended their home-court domination to 24 straight wins with the victory over Lamar, 68-55, Saturday night. LU was riding a six-game winning streak after thumping UTA, 64-50, two days before. But against SFA, the Lady Cardinals committed an incredible 25 turnovers to SFA's nine. The Ladyjacks got a career-best performance from Nathesia Wright, who led with a game-high 29 points. The sophomore guard from Arlington, Texas, has led her team in scoring in six games and is the top-scoring Ladyjack in the Conference at number nine (12.0 ppg).
For the first time all season, Nicholls State has put together back-to-back wins. Coming off a victory at McNeese State on Jan. 22, the Lady Colonels handed the Cowgirls another defeat, 78-54, at home Saturday. This was the first time Nicholls had swept a Southland opponent since the 1998-99 season when it swept UTSA.
With 18 points against McNeese State, senior Katie Schreiter scored her 1,000th career point and now has 1,007 total points. The guard from Lockport, La., is only the seventh Lady Colonel to score 1,000 points.
Senior Dana Kelley scored 16 points to increase her double-digit scoring to nine games, the same as Schreiter.
The Southland's leading scorer, Shawnta Vanzant, led Lamar with her first double-double - 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds - in the loss to SFA. Vanessa Dunn scored 12 points, followed by Nakita Miles with 11.
LU's Danyelle Grimes had a career-high nine rebounds at UTA last Thursday.
At 10-7 overall, the Lady Cardinals have tied their win total of last year. Their eight Southland Conference victories is the most league wins ever.
Against Centenary College last Wednesday, Northwestern State scored 102 points, the first time it had eclipsed the century mark since defeating Troy State, 105-60, in the 1998-99 season. Three Lady Demons had career highs in the 102-62 blowout. La'Terrica Dobin scored 23 points, Tiffany Hall had nine and Lindsey Bufford tallied seven. The game also marked the return of sophomore Angela Davidson, who had missed six games due to a stress fracture. She scored 15 points in 20 minutes of action.
Southeastern Louisiana placed four players in double figures, paced by Deirdre Allen's second double-double this season (11 points, 10 rebounds), and held McNeese State to only 27 percent shooting from the field as the Lady Lions rolled to an 81-47 Conference win Thursday night. The 34-point disparity was the largest margin of victory for Southeastern in a Southland game and was the second time this season that the Lady Lions topped that mark. The previous best came in an 80-53 win over Southwest Texas on Jan. 6.
LaQuanda Robertson registered a career scoring high with 13 points. Ann Webster added 11 points while Stacey Turner chipped in 10. The Lady Lions are 7-3 in the last 10 games.
Texas-San Antonio scored 25 points off turnovers to defeat Southwest Texas, 69-51, Saturday in the Convocation Center. Niki Foster scored a game-high 14 points as she played all 40 minutes. Latifa Northern poured in 12 points while Julie Rampley tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The junior from Hereford, Texas, also had five assists and a steal. The Roadrunners, who stopped a two-game losing streak, remain in the middle of the pack in fifth place in the Southland at 6-4. They are obviously responding well to first-year head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair. UTSA was picked to finish last by both the head coaches and the sports information directors in the preseason polls.
Senior Megan Woods recorded Southwest Texas' second double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and pulling down 11 rebounds against UTSA. Returning to the starting lineup for the first time in five games, juniors Kendall Arant and Amber Morrow each scored in double figures with 12 points and 10, respectively. The loss was SWT's fourth in a row.
Freshman Sheena Johnson tied a UTA school record with a Conference-high 24 rebounds, including nine offensive grabs, against Sam Houston State Saturday afternoon. She added 15 points for her fifth double-double of the season. This was the second time Johnson had 20 or more rebounds in a game as she became the only UTA player ever to register 20 or more grabs in two separate games. The forward from Houston is the Conference's second-leading rebounder with an average of 10.0 boards per game.
Against Arkansas earlier last week, Louisiana-Monroe faced a Lady Razorback team that was coming off wins over No. 15 Vanderbilt and No. 23 Mississippi State. ULM was 6-of-9 in first-half three-point shots and led, 42-38, at halftime. However, Arkansas' control of the boards - the Lady 'Backs outrebounded ULM, 47-25 - took its toll in the second half. The 86-70 loss was ULM's 12th consecutive loss to an SEC opponent.
The Bearkats lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last night, 88-61, in non-Conference play. Allen led all scorers with 20 points. Rotasha Allison contributed 17 points, followed by Abakwue's 10th double-double this year, her third in a row, with 14 points and 12 boards. -SLC-
