Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Ladyjacks' Sharp-Shooting Second Half Ends in Victory
2/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2008
NACOGDOCHES - With March Madness just around the corner, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team marched up the SLC West Division ladder by defeating the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, 68-57, Wednesday night at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The victory sent SFA ahead of A&M-Corpus Christi by a half game in the SLC West. The Ladyjacks are now 7-13 on the year, and 4-4 in SLC play, while the Islanders fall to 6-14 overall, and 3-4 in league games.
The game appeared to be a tight, back-n-forth affair that saw neither team grab larger than a five-point advantage for the first 17:49 of the game. Despite shooting below 30 percent from the floor for a majority of the half, the Ladyjacks were able to rally to take a sizeable advantage into the locker room. SFA outscored its opponent 10-0 in the final 2:42 of the game to take an 11-point lead into the locker room, 34-23. SFA closed the half hitting its final three shots, including a three-pointer from freshman Decreasha Goodner, bumping its field-goal percentage up to 37 percent heading into the locker room.
Even though the offense had an up-and-down half, the defense stayed steady throughout. SFA held the Islanders to a 10-of-36 (.278) opening-half performance, while outrebounding the visitors by seven, and forcing them into eight first-half turnovers.
In the second half it was more of the same from the SFA defense. The Ladyjacks continued to dominate the glass behind senior Nikki Carr's game-high 11 rebounds. She also scored a team-high 15 points to finish with a double-double.
The second half turned out to be an evenly matched 20 minutes of play as A&M-Corpus Christi was unable to gain any ground on the Ladyjacks. The half ended with both teams scoring 34 points. SFA picked up the pace offensively in the half by knocking down 12-of-22 (.545) shots, to finish the game at 45-percent clip.
The Ladyjacks didn't let up on the glass either, outrebounding Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by 13, 46-33. The Islanders pulled to within four points early in the half behind Deziree Green's team-high 15 points, and Mercedes Cooper's 14, but the Ladyjacks had too many answers.
SFA rattled off an 11-2 run to take back the lead and never looked back. Freshmen Jordan Ford and Goodner each added 12 points, while Ford just missed a double-double with eight rebounds. Junior Natashia Green came off the bench to chip in 10 points.
The Ladyjacks will look to continue their march into NCAA's basketball madness Saturday when they travel to San Antonio, Texas, to take on the UTSA Roadrunners. The game against Texas-San Antonio is slated to begin at 2 p.m. from the Convocation Center.
-SFA-
