Ladyjack Game Notes: at Loyola-Marymount Tournament
11/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2010
Loyola-Marymount Tournament Notes
Stephen F. Austin at Loyola-Marymount
Friday, Nov. 26, 2010 • 1:00 p.m. (PST)
Gersten Pavilion (4,156) • Los Angeles, Calif.
Radio: TBD • TV: None • Online: www.lmulions.com
Stephen F. Austin vs #18 Georgia/Denver
Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 • 1:00 p.m./3:00 p.m. (PST)
Gersten Pavilion (4,156) • Los Angeles, Calif.
Radio: TBD • TV: None • Online: www.lmulions.com
Ladyjacks
Record: 0-3
Last 5/Streak: 0-3/L3
Coach: Brandon Schneider
Career: 306-75 (13th season)
At SFA: 0-3 (1st season)
SID: Ben Rikard
E-Mail: rikardbenja@sfasu.edu
Web: www.sfajacks.com
Lions
Record: 2-2
Last 5/Streak: 2-2/L1
Coach: Julie Wilhoit
Career: 336-293 (16th season)
At LMU: 215-223 (23rd season)
SID: Mark Dodson
E-Mail: mark.dodson@lmu.edu
Web: www.lmulions.com
Bulldogs
Record: 3-0
Last 5/Streak: 3-0/W3
Coach: Andy Landers
Career: 835-272 (36th season)
At UGA: 753-248 (31st season)
SID: Mike Mobley
E-Mail: mmobley@uga.edu
Web: www.georgiadogs.com
Pioneers
Record: 1-1
Last 5/Streak: 1-1/W1
Coach: Erik Johnson
Career: 35-29 (3rd season)
At DU: Same
SID: Nicole Dupes
E-Mail: nicole.dupes@du.edu
Web: www.denverpioneers.com
FOR STARTERS
The Ladyjacks are out to their first 0-3 start since the 2003-04 season after falling on Saturday to Conference USA favorite Tulane at Johnson Coliseum, but SFA gets a pair of chances to put an end to its early-season drought this week when they travel to Los Angeles for two games at the LMU Courtyard by Mariott Los Angeles West Thanksgiving Tournament, opening against LMU before taking on either Denver or nationally-ranked Georgia on the second day of the event.
LAST TIME OUT
Despite 24 points and six three-pointers from SFA's Tammara Marion, Tulane was able to pick up its third win of the season, 83-65, over the Ladyjacks on Saturday. Roshaunda Barnes led four Green Wave players in double figures with 21 points as Tulane finished the night shooting nearly 42 percent.
THE LMU COURTYARD by MARIOTT LOS ANGELES WESTSIDE THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT
Just two games into the 2010-11 season the Green Wave is showing exactly why it was picked to take the Conference USA crown for the second consecutive season. Tulane blew past Mississippi State by 20 points on Tuesday for its second straight win of the young season, but now take on a road test for the first time this year when it comes to Nacogdoches.
vs THE FIELD
SFA could be playing a pair of first-time opponents this week in Los Angeles as SFA has never faced either Loyola-Marymount or Denver. The only familiar foe is Georgia, a team SFA has faced four times before, but not since the 1999-2000 season. The Bulldogs have won all four meetings against SFA.
COVERAGE
Fans can join in for a live chat from courtside of both games on the West Coast led by SFA assistant director of media relations Ben Rikard. Live video will be available for both games at www.LMULions.com, as will Gametracker.
UP NEXT
The Ladyjacks return home to play their second home contest of the year on Dec. 1 against UTPA before hitting the road once again for four straight, including a game at nationally-ranked Oklahoma. That trip is followed by four consecutive home games, including the SLC opener against Southeastern La.
SCHNEIDER'S DEBUT SEASON: This season is marking the beginning of a new era in Ladyjack basketball as Brandon Schneider is in his debut as SFA's head coach. Schneider is the eighth head coach in SFA history and comes to Nacogdoches on the heels of a 12-year career and a national title last season at Emporia State University in Kansas. SFA's loss in his opening game is not an unusual occurrence for new Ladyjack coaches as SFA's previous coaches are now just 2-6 all-time in their debut game.; however, with over 300 career wins to his credit, Schneider is looking to continue a trend of overall early success by SFA coaches as each of the last three SFA skippers have won no less than 22 games in their debut year.
DISTANCE LEARNING: Junior guard Tammara Marion caught fire from three-point land against Tulane on Saturday, burying six of her eight three-point tries and finishing with 24 points on the night, her third double-figure outing of the year in three games. Those six triples were just one shy of the SFA school record for single-game threes, a record she tied last year with seven against Central Arkansas, a game in which her last three came in game-winning fashion at the buzzer.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Ladyjacks are getting their fair share of drive time during the non-conference season with eight of the first 10 games of the season will all be played away from Johnson Coliseum. They will get a slight change with three home non-conference games in January before league play starts, but being on the road is nothing new to this group after playing just three home games before SLC play last year as well. In all, this year's senior class has played 40 non-conference games in their careers, with 29 of those being away from home.
EARLY SEASON HANGOVER: After running off a seven-game win streak to end the regular season last year, the Ladyjacks were hampered by cold shooting in the postseason and it seems to have carried over into this year. The Ladyjacks have struggled from the floor in their first three games to the tune of just 30.3 percent, making it six consecutive games dating back to last season in which SFA has shot under 40 percent. SFA has been much better from outside as well, hitting 31.8 percent of its shots from three-point land compared to just 27.8 percent from inside the arc.
FORD TOUGH: Senior Jordan Ford has gotten out to a nice start offensively for SFA and through three games is second on the team at 11.7 points per game, including a 20-point night in the opener at UNT. Ford hit the 20-point mark three times last year, which was the most of any Ladyjack not named Whitney Cormier, with SFA going 3-0 in those games.
RECORD WATCHES: Last season sophomore Tammara Marion became the seventh Ladyjack to record 100 career three-pointers for her career, and after knocking down six triples on Saturday against Tulane she currently sits at 111 for her career. If she hits her career average again this year for three-pointers in a season she will move into the program's all-time top five with a year of eligibility remaining. Ebony Alexander is also inching her way toward one of SFA's top-10s as her five assists against Tulane gives her 338 for her career, just 31 shy of Lashinda Winters' who holds the No. 10 spot all-time in SFA history with 369.
PRESEASON POLLS: With just one starter lost from last season's SLC co-champions that went 13-3 in the league, one would assume that the Ladyjacks would be receiving plenty of respect around the league entering this year. The Ladyjacks did make the transition this year back into the SLC West Division and still managed to garner three first-place votes in the coaches poll and two more in the SID poll, but were still only selected to finish third in the division behind UTSA and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
MARION PRESEASON ALL-SOUTHLAND: A third-team all-SLC selection as a sophomore last season, Tammara Marion was an easy choice for preseason all-SLC this year. The Houston junior was placed on the second team after averaging 12 points and nearly four rebounds per contest last year and leading the SLC in three-point percentage, hitting nearly 40 percent of her shots from behind the arc.
BRING `EM BACK: The Ladyjacks bring back 11 players off their roster, missing just two players from last season, including first team all-SLC guard Whitney Cormier. Putting it statistically, SFA is returning 79.5 percent of its scoring from a year ago and 86.3 percent of of the team's rebounding.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST: SFA was one of the top offensive teams in the country last season, finishing the year ranked seventh in the nation averaging 78.3 points per game. SFA was also very active on the defensive end ranking 16th in the country with an average of 11.2 steals per game. SFA also ranked 15th in the country in turnover margin (+5.54).
800-WIN CLUB: The Ladyjacks became the sixth member of an exclusive club with their 73-40 victory over Sam Houston State in 2007-08. SFA became only the sixth women's program in NCAA Division I history to record 800 wins. The Ladyjacks joined Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion, Texas and James Madison as the only schools to ever accomplish the feat. Making the victory more special was the fact that it was Sue Gunter Day on the SFA campus. Tennessee Tech also joined the 800-win club in 2008-09.
-SFA-
