Stephen F. Austin
Texas-Arlington
Lady Mavs Top SFA
2/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 2, 2008
NACOGDOCHES - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team (6-13/3-4 SLC) was unable to overcome a slow start to the second half, dropping a 64-56 decision to Texas-Arlington Saturday night at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. UTA improves to 12-7 overall and 7-1 in Southland Conference play.
Despite shooting 44.8 percent from the floor in the opening half the Ladyjacks went into the locker room trailing by four points, 32-28. The Lady Mavs trailed for a majority of the half, but went to work on the glass to build an advantage. Led by Erin Dixon's eight first-half rebounds, UTA outrebounded the home team, 18-11, in the opening 20 minutes. The Lady Mavs were also able to match SFA's production from the floor connecting on 12-of-23 (.522) shots in the first half.
Texas-Arlington continued to attack the glass early in the second half going on a 12-2 run to take a 16-point advantage, 46-30, with 12:44 remaining. UTA's Tiffeny Riles, who was non-factor in the first half, scored 11 of her game-high 15 points in the second stanza as UTA pushed its lead to 18 points.
But in similar fashion to the game at Texas State two nights earlier, SFA mounted a second-half rally led by the team's lone senior. Nikki Carr sparked the Ladyjacks on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to eight points with over seven minutes remaining.
The Ladyjacks improvement on the glass, along with UTA's inability to hit free throws, enabled SFA to cut the lead to four points with 1:03 remaining. But after knocking down only 11-of-21 charity shots in the first 39 minutes of the game, the Lady Mavs found their stroke at the line hitting four of their final six to close out the scoring.
Carr finished the game with a team-high 12 points. She also pulled down five rebounds, recorded six steals and dished out five assists. Junior Natashia Green added 10 points. Freshman Chantol Drennan added six points and eight rebounds, while classmate Antoinette Davis score eight and grabbed six boards.
SFA returns to action Wednesday, Feb. 6, to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The game against the Islanders is slated to begin at 7 p.m. from the William R. Johnson Coliseum.
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