Ladyjacks Host St. Mary's in Exhibition Opener
10/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 31, 2007
NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team will step on the court for their first game of the season Thursday night when it hosts St. Mary's in an exhibition game. The game is slated to tipoff at 6 p.m. from the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
SFA head coach Lee Ann Riley is enter her seventh season on the Ladyjack sideline, and will be coaching one of the youngest teams of her career. Riley's 2007-08 squad consists of one senior, and only five returning letterwinners from last years 21-12 team.
The team's lone returning senior is Hawkins, Texas, native Nikki Carr. The team's top returning scorer (10.6 ppg as a junior), Carr also became a threat on the glass last year pulling down 5.2 rebounds per game. She enters her final season already among the school's all-time leaders in three-point field goals, needing only 199 points to become the 23rd Ladyjack to record 1,000 career points and is on pace to become one of the school's all-time leaders in assists and steals.
The other returning letterwinners consist of junior Jessica Gaines and Natashia Green, and sophomore Whitney Cormier and Martina Holloway. The six freshmen are Decreasha Goodner (Guard), Ebony Alexander (Guard), Chantol Drennan (Post), Antoinette Davis-Jackson (Forward), Jordan Ford (Forward) and Jackie Domino (Post).
The Ladyjacks will be looking to keep a streak alive during the upcoming season. SFA has posted back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 campaigns. The Ladyjacks went 23-8 (.741) and won the 2006 SLC title, and followed that up with a 21-12 (.636) record last season.
The Lady Rattlers are an NCAA Division II school from San Antonio, Texas, and are coming off a 2006-07 season that saw them record a 12-16 (.429) overall record, and go 5-5 (.500) in the Heartland Conference. St. Mary's returns two of its top three scorers from last season, as well as its top rebounder. Junior Natalie Gamez averaged 14.7 points during her sophomore season, while classmate Ashton Benford pulled down 8.1 rebounds.
The Ladyjacks will host one more exhibition game before opening the regular season. SFA will host Huston-Tillotson Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks will travel to New Orleans, La., to open the regular season against the Lady Privateers on Sunday, Nov. 11th.
-SFA-
