Stephen F. Austin
Louisiana-Monroe
SFA Thumps ULM, 82-54
11/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Sophomore Taylor Ross turned in her third straight 20-point scoring performance, senior Porsha Roberts had a monster double-double and the Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball routed the University of Louisiana at Monroe 82-54 on Friday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks improve to 2-1 with the win.
For the third time in as many games this season, Ross poured in more than 20 points, scoring a game-high 23 points on 5-for-11 shooting. She did most of her damage from the free throw line, however, knocking down 12 of 13 shots from the charity stripe for a career-high. Ross also dished out a career-high eight assists to finish a well-balanced game.
Roberts completed her third double-double of the season with 18 points and 15 rebounds. She went 7-for-11 from the field and also rejected six balls defensively. The Ladyjacks (2-1) have already accumulated 22 blocks in three games this season thanks in large part to Roberts – SFA’s all-time leading shot blocker.
Sophomore Brentney Branch also stayed hot from the field, hitting five three-pointers on nine tries, four of which came in the first half. Her final three-pointer with 47 seconds left in the game gave SFA its largest lead at 28 points and bumped her to a career-high 16 points in the game.
Senior Brittney Matthew chipped in a season-high 11 points for SFA.
The Ladyjacks limited ULM (1-1) to 20.8 percent shooting in the second half and 35.2 percent overall to keep the Warhawks under 55 total points on the night. The scrappy defensive play by SFA helped create 17 turnovers, while the Ladyjacks gave the ball away just 11 times.
“I was really please with two things in particular tonight,” said head coach Brandon Schneider. “One, the fact that we were able to hold them under 60 points. That’s something we haven’t done this year and we challenged our players to rise to the occasion defensively and take a little more pride in that area. We had our work cut out for us, giving up 32 at half, but I thought we responded at halftime.
“Also, we did a much better job taking care of the basketball. We saw multiple defenses tonight and for us to have just 11 turnovers following a game where we had 25, we just have to credit our players for responding in that area.”
SFA jumped out to an 8-0 lead with six early points from Ross, and never relinquished control. ULM tied things up at 20-20 but the Ladyjacks outscored the Warhawks 23-12 over the final eight minutes of the first half to take a 43-32 lead into the break.
ULM would come no closer as SFA cruised to the 82-54 victory.
The Ladyjacks will have one more home game at William R. Johnson Coliseum in the four-game home stretch to begin the season. The Ladyjacks host 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-
