Stephen F. Austin
Tulane
SFA Overcome by Green Wave
12/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2009
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Despite rallying from an early 13-0 deficit, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks lost to Tulane, 84-51, at Fogelman Arena Sunday afternoon. The loss drops SFA to 5-3 on the season, while Tulane improves to 7-2.
"I'm really unhappy with our intensity today," said head coach Lee Ann Riley. "I thought we did a good job of rebounding from an early deficit to take the lead, but after that it's like we shut it down. This is leaves a bad taste in your mouth as we prepare for the Christmas break."
Tulane connected on 5-of-its-first-7 shots to open a 13-0 lead. Junior Toni Davis stopped the SFA scoring drought by hitting a three with 15:56 on the clock to end a 0-of-4 start. SFA answered the Green Wave run with rally of their own. The Ladyjacks rattled off a 20-8 run led by senior Whitney Cormier's 13 first-half points to take a 23-21 lead. Sophomore Schera Sampson hit the bucket, a triple from right wing to give SFA its lead of the game, 23-21, with 10:15 remaining.
But SFA was unable to hold the momentum allowing the Green Wave to close the half on a 13-7 run to build a double-digit lead. The Green Wave led by 13 with only seconds remaining before Cormier drilled a three from 22 feet away to cut the lead to 10, 44-34, heading into the locker room.
SFA was hurt by turnovers in the opening half surrendering 22 points on 15 first-half turnovers. The Ladyjacks finished the half 14-of-33 (.424) from the floor, including six three-pointers. Tulane was 16-of-28 (.571) from the floor in the opening half.
The Ladyjacks struggled offensively in the second half. After shooting better than 40 percent in the opening half, SFA connected on only 6-of-42 shots in the second, including only one three-pointer. While SFA was struggling offensively, Tulane took advantage of the drought pushing their lead to 28 points in the final 10 minutes.
Cormier led SFA with 16 points. Sampson added 12 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Chassity Brown led the Green Wave with 23 points.
The Ladyjacks will take a few days off for Christmas before returning to the court. SFA will back in action Dec. 29, when it travels to San Antonio, Texas to face Louisiana Tech in the first game of the UTSA New Year's Classic. The game against the Lady Techsters is slated to begin at 5 p.m. from the Convocation Center.
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