Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M - Kingsville
Ladyjacks Rout Javelinas, 90-50
12/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack basketball team used 31 points from senior center Porsha Roberts and shot at a season-high clip to storm past Texas A&M-Kingsville 90-50 on Tuesday night in William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks improve to 4-3 on the year with the victory.
“After coming off of a really disappointing Thanksgiving tournament, it was nice to get back to playing better basketball,” said head coach Brandon Schneider. “We were really uncharacteristic of ourselves in Albuquerque and were very disappointed with how we played there, especially in terms of effort. I didn’t feel like we made any effort mistakes tonight. We made a few mental errors but tonight for 40 minutes I was really pleased with how hard we played.”
Roberts dominated the low blocks for the entire game, converting 14 of her 18 field goals attempted to finish just one point shy of her career-high mark of 32 points. She also pulled down eight rebounds and blocked three shots in the game. Her three rejections increased her career total to an even 200, making her the only Ladyjack to ever reach the milestone.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to get Porsha going a little bit,” said Schneider. “That’s something that we’ve stressed a lot. I give credit especially to Porsha for posting up as strong as she did and perimeter players being able to make good entry passes. We just did a good job of reading the defense all night.”
The Ladyjacks (4-3) also got great production form sophomore Taylor Ross and senior Brittney Matthew. Ross finished the game a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor to record 17 points and Matthew notched 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
The trio of Roberts, Ross and Matthew combined for 62 points while shooting 75 percent (27-for-36). SFA shot nearly 64 percent as a team for a season-high effort.
Two big reasons for the efficient night offensively was the ability to score down low and in transition throughout the contest. SFA outscored TAMUK 62-12 in the paint and 39-5 in points off turnovers – both season-best margins for the Ladyjacks.
The Javelinas (0-6) hung right with the Ladyjacks for the first seven minutes of the game, as the score was even 21-21 at the 13:07 mark in the first half. SFA would get things going, however, mounting a 20-4 run over the next 10 minutes to go up 41-25. The squad took a 43-32 advantage into the break.
The Ladyjacks outmatched the Javelinas in the second half, outscoring the Hogs 47-18 in the period to secure the 40-point win. A layup by sophomore Adrienne Lewis with 45 seconds to play gave SFA its largest lead of the game at 90-48 but TAMUK converted a jumper just seconds later to make the final 90-50.
Senior Tierany Henderson led SFA with 10 rebounds on the evening and also chipped in five points. Victoria Pena, Charisma Alexander, Brentney Branch, Paulletta Powell and Lewis each scored four points for the Ladyjacks.
Up next, SFA will head to Rice for a Saturday non-conference test in Houston. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m.
-SFA-
