SFA Set to Battle Prairie View A&M Tuesday
11/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game 2: Stephen F. Austin (0-1) vs. Prairie View A&M (0-1)
Date/Time: Tuesday, Nov. 18 • 7:00 p.m.
Site: William R. Johnson Coliseum
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Team Information
Stephen F. Austin
Head Coach: Brandon Schneider (Wayland Baptist, 1995)
Career Record: 378-131 (17th season) | Record at SFA: 72-59 (5th season)
Prairie View A&M
Head Coach: Dawn Brown (Jackson State University, 2005)
Career Record: 0-1 (1st season) | Record at Prairie View A&M: Same
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team will play game two of the 2014-15 season on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. against Prairie View A&M inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks are coming off a tough loss against Louisiana Tech in the season opener on Saturday night at home, falling to Tyler Summitt’s team 76-69 despite leading most of the game.
In a battle between two of the top five winningest programs in NCAA women’s basketball history, sophomore guard Taylor Ross really shined on Saturday night against the Lady Techsters. She poured in a career-high 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting while also dishing out a game-high five assists. Ross made her first seven shots from the floor and had 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting at the half, helping SFA take a 38-31 lead into the break.
Despite playing at a high level as a team over the first 30 minutes, SFA couldn’t hold off LA Tech in the end as the Lady Techsters went on an 11-2 run to end the game and steal the victory.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever had a team that played that well for 30 minutes and came up short,” said head coach Brandon Schneider. “We won in a lot of statistically categories. I’m really proud of how we took care of the basketball, we were able to out-rebound them and we forced 22 turnovers. But we went 5-for-12 from the free throw line and unfortunately that happened to be the difference in the game.
“I thought we were competing against very high-level guard play and I think that’s something that will really prepare us to move forward this season.”
And that next step on the journey for SFA starts on Saturday night against the Lady Panthers of Prairie View A&M.
“They’ve got a guard who is every bit as good as what we faced on Saturday against LA Tech,” Schneider said. “Jeanette Jackson was named the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year. She’s a really dynamic scorer and can do it a lot of different ways. We’re going to have to guard her with five people and move some players around matchup-wise. Overall, they’re really just an athletic team and can make a lot of plays in transition. For us, a big key is going to be getting positive possessions on the offensive end and try to keep them out of transition.”
A win on Tuesday night would put SFA right back at .500 with two more games remaining on the home stand.
NOTES
• Preseason Favorites – The Ladyjacks were picked as the Southland Conference favorite in both the preseason coaches’ and sports information directors’ poll. SFA grabbed 11 first-place votes and 142 points in the coaches’ poll and nine first-place votes and 137 points in the SID poll en route to a consensus selection to win their 17th conference championship in program history. The Ladyjacks’ collection of 16 trophies is the largest in the SLC by 11.
• Roberts, Matthew Named Preseason All-SLC – SFA seniors Porsha Roberts and Brittney Matthew were each selected to the Preseason All-Southland Conference teams as announced by the league office on Oct. 28. Roberts makes the preseason team for the third consecutive season and is a first team pick for the second straight year, while Matthew earned second team recognition.
• In the Record Books – Senior center Porsha Roberts and senior forward Tierany Henderson enter the 2014-15 season with their names already etched in a rich SFA history book. Roberts, the 2013-14 SLC Defensive Player of the Year, swatted 76 shots last season – the second best mark in program history – and is the school’s shot block leader with 182 entering her final campaign. Roberts also sits fifth in career field goal percentage (.548) and is second in free throws made (411) and free throw attempts (552).
A prolific three-point shooter, Henderson is well on her way to becoming one of the best outside threats in program history. She ranks fourth in three-pointers made (154) and three-point attempts (469) and is eighth with a .328 percentage from downtown. Also a defensive presence, Henderson comes into 2014-15 as the ninth best shot-blocker in SFA history with 98 rejections.
• Reigning SLC Champs – The Ladyjacks are coming off a historic season, winning the program’s 16th Southland Conference Championship after posting a conference record of 13-5. SFA finished the 2013-14 campaign with a 23-13 overall record and became the first team in school history to win three games in a postseason tournament, advancing to the finals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational.
SFA defeated Texas State and Boise State at home during the WBI and bested College of Charleston on the road to make it to the title game where the Ladyjacks fell to Illinois-Chicago 73-64.
In his fourth year at the helm, head coach Brandon Schneider led his Ladyjacks to a 9-2 record to close the regular season, including a stretch of six straight wins leading up to the conference tournament. SFA overcame a five-game deficit in the Southland standings to tie Lamar for the regular season crown – the program’s first title since 2010.
The Ladyjacks will look to bring back-to-back championships to Nacogdoches for the first time since the 2000-01/2001-02 seasons.
• Returners – SFA returns four players with significant starting experience from last season’s squad. Included in that total is a healthy Brittney Matthew, who was sidelined after 17 games due to an ACL injury last year. The Ladyjacks return 10 letterwinners in all.
Porsha Roberts and Tierany Henderson join Matthew as the veteran leaders on the 2014-15 roster.
Roberts started all 36 games for the Ladyjacks last season and averaged a team-high 17.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She led the team with a .563 shooting percentage and logged the second-most minutes at 30.2 per contest. The Waco, Texas native recorded 20 or more points 13 times last season and scored in double digits in all but four games.
Roberts, a First-Team All-SLC selection last year, issued 76 blocks last year for the second-best single season block total in program history. She enters her final campaign as the school’s all-time leading shot blocker.
Matthew started the first 17 games for the Ladyjacks last year before her season-ending injury. At the time of the incident, the guard led the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game, tallying double digits in 12 of her 17 games played.
Along with Roberts and Matthew, Henderson is part of Schneider’s first recruiting class set to begin its final season. Henderson started all 36 games for SFA as a junior, averaging 8.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. She led the team in minutes at 32.7 per contest. Henderson knocked down 75 three-pointers during the 2013-14 season to rank second in school history for a single season. She currently stands fourth all-time with 154 career three-point buckets.
SFA also returns Destiny Bragman (Sr., C), Paulletta Powell (Jr., G), Victoria Pena (Jr., G), LaNesha Middleton (RS So., F), Brentney Branch (So., G), Taylor Ross (So., G) and Adrienne Lewis (So., C).
• Newcomers – The Ladyjacks welcome five newcomers from both the high school and Division I ranks to the team this year. New in an SFA jersey for the upcoming season will be guards Kaylah Starling (Tatum HS), Charisma Alexander (Georgetown HS) and Taylor Schippers (Butler University), and forwards Danielle Rogers (Bishop Lynch HS) and Stevi Parker (University of Tulsa).
Schippers and Parker both bring a wealth of Division I experience to the roster but will each sit out the 2014-15 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
• Up Next – Following Tuesday’s game, the women’s basketball team will have two more home games at William R. Johnson Coliseum to start the season. The Ladyjacks host Louisiana-Monroe on Friday, Nov. 21 and St. Edwards on Tuesday, Nov. 25 before flying to Albuquerque, N.M. for the University of New Mexico Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 28-29.
-SFA-
