SFA to Play in Mizzou Tourney
12/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2007
The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team will look to put and end to a four-game skid, and get back on the winning track when it travels to Columbia, Mo., to compete in the State Farm Tiger Classic. The four-team tournament will consist of tournament-host Missouri, SFA, Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State. The Ladyjacks will open the tournament Friday when they take on Alcorn State (0-3). The game against the Lady Braves is slated to begin at 5 p.m. SFA will face either Missouri (4-3) or Mississippi Valley State Saturday (3-0). The second round games will be at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. All four games of the tournament will be played at the Mizzou Arena.
The Ladyjacks are 7-1 (.875) all-time against Alcorn State, and have won the last seven meetings between the two teams. SFA has squared off against the Lady Braves in each of the past two seasons with SFA recording big victories. The Ladyjacks recorded an 82-58 victory during the 2005-06 season in Nacogdoches. After falling behind by double digits, SFA rallied for a 73-59 win in Lorman, Miss., last season.
If the Ladyjacks should face Missouri in the second day of the tournament, it would be the fifth meeting between the two schools. The Ladyjacks lead the all-time series between the schools, 3-1. The last meeting came during the 1983-84 season when SFA walked away with a two-point decision, 81-79.
The Ladyjacks have won the only meeting against Mississippi Valley State. The lone contest came during the 1990-91 season when SFA recorded an 87-62 win.
The Ladyjacks recorded the program's 795th all-time victory with their 95-57 bashing of Grambling State. The Ladyjacks are now only five wins shy of No. 800. That victory would put SFA in some very elite company. Only five other NCAA Division I schools have recorded at least 800 wins. The list includes Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion, Texas and James Madison. There is one other school that is on pace to record it's 800th victory this season. Tennessee Tech currently has 784 all-time wins.
After scoring only six points in the season opener, senior Nikki Carr has responded to set a new season high in each of the team's last five games. Carr has taken her game to a higher level over the past three games. After scoring 15 points against Nevada, she posted 17 at SMU and 22 at Louisiana Tech. She is averaging 18.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.7 steals per game during her last three games.
Despite averaging 19.5 points over the team's past two games, practically all of Carr's offense has come during the second half of both games. Carr scored a total of one point in the first half against SMU and Louisiana Tech, but rebounded in the final 20 minutes of each game to score a combined 38 points.
Freshman Antoinette Davis was rewarded for her hard work by earning her first-career start Wednesday against SMU. Davis in turn rewarded SFA head coach Lee Ann Riley for her decision by pulling down a career-high 10 rebounds. She followed that up by scoring a career-high 10 points in her second career start Saturday at Louisiana Tech.
The Ladyjacks return to the friendly confines of the William R. Johnson Coliseum for the first time in more than a month when they will take the court Monday, Dec. 17, to host Auburn. The game against the Tigers is slated to begin at 7 p.m. The Ladyjacks will return to the court three nights when they take on Prairie View A&M. The game against the Lady Panthers is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. from the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The two-game homestand equals the team's longest homestand of the season.
