Ladyjack Game Notes: at UT-Arlington
1/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2011
UT-Arlington Game Notes
Stephen F. Austin at UT-Arlington
Friday, Jan. 22, 2011 • 2:00 p.m. (CST)
Texas Hall (3,600) • Arlington, Texas
Radio: None FM • TV: None • Online: www.utamavs.com
Ladyjacks
Record: 4-12, 1-2 SLC
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/L2
Coach: Brandon Schneider
Career: 310-84 (13th season)
At SFA: 4-12 (1st season)
SID: Ben Rikard
E-Mail: rikardbenja@sfasu.edu
Web: www.sfajacks.com
Mavericks
Record: 5-11, 1-2 SLC
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/W1
Coach: Samantha Morrow
Career: 61-48 (4th season)
At UTA: Same
SID: Krystina Mancias
E-Mail: kmancias@uta.edu
Web: www.utamavs.net
FOR STARTERS
The Ladyjacks have just one game on the slate this week and will have a chance to even up its league record and put an end to a modest two-game losing streak when it travels to Arlington to take on UTA at Texas Hall in a Saturday matinee. SFA has not won at Texas Hall since the 2005-06 season.
LAST TIME OUT
The Ladyjacks forced 20 turnovers and had three players in double-figure scoring, led by Jordan Ford’s 12 points and eight rebounds in earning a 66-55 win over Southeastern Louisiana at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
THE MAVERICKS
UTA evened their conference mark at 2-2 on Wednesday with a narrow 66-63 road win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It was juts the second win this season for the Mavs away from Texas Hall and the first since a Nov. 20 win at UMKC.
vs UTA
The all-time series still leans heavily in favor of the Ladyjacks, but recent history has tilted back towards the Mavs. UTA has taken 12 of the last 13 meetings between the teams dating back to the 2003-04 season, including each of the last seven match-ups. This class of SFA seniors has yet to beat the Mavs in four tries.
COVERAGE
Saturday’s game can be followed via Gametracker at www.utamavs.com.
UP NEXT
The basketball version of the Battle of the Piney Woods is on tap for next week with currently undefeated Sam Houston State slated to come to Nacogdoches on Wednesday, followed by a trip to the Coastal Bend to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday.
SINGING SONGS ABOUT THE SOUTHLAND: The Ladyjacks win over Southeastern in the league opener was the fourth consecutive SLC opening win for SFA, and puts hte program at 22-2 all-time in Southland Conference opening games and continues SFA’s mark of having never lost a league opener at William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks have won 15 SLC champsionships and are 322-67 (.828) all-time in SLC play, having only had a sub-.500 record in league play once, in 2005.
SCHNEIDER’S DEBUT SEASON: This season is marking the beginning of a new era in Ladjack 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 occurence 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 picked up his first win at SFA over UTPA and 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 has picked up where she left off last season in long-distance shooting and with 46 threes this year has moved into SFA’s all-time top five and 31 short of Dayna Reed’s all-time mark of 178 threes in a career, and her 46 threes this year is just 17 shy of tying SFA’s single-season record of 62. Marion has been nursing a sore ankle suffered at the end of the Southeastern Louisiana game, but before that had hit no less than two treys in each of SFA’s first 14 games. She is currently leading SFA and the SLC in both scoring (16.6 ppg) and 3-pt makes per game (2.9 pg), while ranking third in the SLC in 3-pt percentage (40.0) and second in free throw percentage (90.2). If she were to finish the season with the league’s scoring crown, she would be the first Ladyjack to do so since Anitra Davis in 1999.
TAKE ALL THE FREEBIES YOU CAN GET: The last two seasons SFA has been a solid team from the charity stripe, and this year it seems to be an effective scoring tool for it again. The Ladjacks have hit 71.4 percent of their free shots this season, which is second in the SLC. They have attempted and made the second-most free throws in the league, trailing only defending league champion Lamar in that category.
SAWYER’S BLOCK PARTY: Through the first nine games of the season the Ladyjacks were ranked in the bottom five teams in the nation in blocked shots, having rejected just seven shots in those nine games with five of those being from junior post Amina Sawyer. But Sawyer earned her first start of the season against Arkansas State and doubled her season total with a career-high five rejections against the Red Wolves. Her presence on the court has sparked SFA in the blocks department overall as well with the Ladyjacks having blocked 25 shots in the seven games since she entered the starting lineup, 20 of which are from Sawyer.
FIRST OF IT’S KIND: In more than 30 years of basketball, the Ladyjacks had played 29 overtime games entering its game against Tulsa, but never had a Ladyjack game exceded a single overtime period. That all changed Sunday when SFA trekked into uncharted territory against the Golden Hurricane, eventually falling 89-87 in the school’s first double-OT game.
COUNT ON THE LONGBALL: SFA has made a three-point bucket in each of its last 46 games dating back to March 7, 2009, against UTSA when SFA went 0-for-14 from distance in a 65-51 loss to the ‘Runners. In fact, in that 46-game streak, SFA has hit multiple threes in every contest.
HELP ON THE WAY: Head coach Brandon Schneider and his coaching staff have been hard on the recruiting trail since their arrival, and the fruits of their labor are beginning to be revealed. SFA’s incoming recruiting class was recently ranked 35th in the nation by Collegiate Girls Basketball Report. The class includes a pair of Division I transfers currently sitting out this season due to NCAA transfer rules - Ashlee Mells (Indiana) and Annette Davis (Kansas) - and five incoming freshmen. Four of the incoming freshmen - Kyaris Johnson (Mansfield Legacy HS), Ashley Bettis (Channelview HS), Daylyn Harris (Livingston HS) and Tierany Henderson (Austin LBJ) - were all recently nominated for McDonald’s all-America honors, while the fifth member - Brittney Matthew (Hightower HS) - is the starting point guard for the No. 9 team in Texas’ Class 5A.
RECORD WATCHES: Last season sophomore Tammara Marion became the seventh Ladyjack to record 100 career three-pointers for her career, and currently sits at 147 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 and currently sits at 360 for her career, just nine shy of Lashinda Winters’ who holds the No. 10 spot all-time in SFA history with 369.
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.
