Stephen F. Austin
Mcneese State
Ladyjacks Dominate Cowgirls in Semifinals
3/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 15, 2014
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
KATY, Texas – With a commanding 80-54 win on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks will play for a chance to go to their 19th NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
SFA (20-11) bested McNeese State (19-13) with a strong inside presence from Porsha Roberts and sharp shooting beyond the arc from Brentney Branch and Tierany Henderson to advance to the championship game of the Southland Conference Tournament.
Porsha led the Ladyjacks with her seventh double-double of the season scoring 20 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. She was 7-of-14 from the field and had four offensive rebounds.
Henderson hit two shots from beyond the arc and moved into third in school history for a single season bringing her 2013-14 total to 63. Branch hit three 3-pointers, all in the first half, marking her fourth game with three trifectas. She was 3-of-6 from deep, proving why she led the Southland in 3-point shooting percentage this year as just a freshman.
The Ladyjacks took an early lead using Roberts inside and crashing the glass to create second chances. Roberts tallied 11 points in the opening stanza to go with four rebounds. Then, it was Branch and her three makes from beyond the arc that helped apply pressure and extend the lead. Branch provided a dagger with15 seconds left in the half to provide more momentum heading into the locker room.
Saturday was only the second time SFA and McNeese had faced each other in the Southland Conference Tournament. The first meeting went to the Cowgirls with McNeese winning the championship game in 2012.
Allison Baggett and Jaylin Johnson led McNeese State with 12 points. Johnson was limited in the first half after getting in foul trouble, and Baggett was 2-of-7 from long range.
The Cowgirls struggled to rebound against SFA with the Ladyjacks winning the battle on the glass 53-35. SFA is now 17-6 this season when out-rebounding the opponent. By holding McNeese State to 54 points, SFA is now 18-2 when holding opponents to 60 or fewer points and 13-0 against Southland Conference foes.
The victory sets up a championship game against rival Northwestern State. The Lady Demons came from behind in the closing minutes to defeat No. 1-seed Lamar 61-60.
It will be the 10th time the Ladyjacks and Lady Demons have met in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game and 11th time overall. SFA is 9-1 all-time against Northwestern State in the conference tournament, and 9-0 in the championship game.
The Ladyjacks are 15-3 in Southland Conference Tournament championship games with their last win coming in 2006. SFA dropped the 2012 championship game to McNeese State.
SFA and Northwestern State will tip at noon Sunday in the championship game. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Check your local listings for channel availability.
Postgame Quotes:
Stephen F. Austin Coach: Brandon Schneider
“I was really proud of our defensive effort. To hold that team to the 31 percent shooting and out-rebound them by 18 is a real credit to our players and their ability to go out and execute the things that we stress and work on a daily basis. Offensively, when we only commit eight turnovers, we have a chance to be pretty good. I don’t know that in my time at Stephen F. Austin had we’ve had single digit turnovers. I just couldn’t be more proud of how our players responded.”
On getting out to a good start early in the game:
“We definitely wanted to take advantage of our opportunities to get out into transition and run. We’ve been in that position before, where we have had to play two or three games in a day. It is really difficult to win three in three days or four in four days. That’s why the double-bye was so important. It has helped us physically but he has also allowed us to work on ourselves this week.”
On being consistent this time in the season:
“We have a very tough group of young ladies…physically and mentally. Our players never lost any belief in themselves or in the coaching staff because they allowed us to make some changes without questioning anything we were doing. Our players are a tough group right now.”
On facing Northwestern State in the championship game:
“Their coaching staff does a phenomenal job. They are so hard to guard because they run a lot of Princeton action. They have the ability to control the tempo. They mix up there defenses very well. I think we saw six different defenses in Nacogdoches. I don’t know if it really matters of who is playing who at this point. I think both teams are going to focus on what they are playing for.”
Stephen F. Austin center: Porsha Roberts
On being aggressive early:
“I wanted to come out strong. My teammates found me on some open shots. They got me some pretty good looks at the basket.”
Stephen F. Austin forward: Daylyn Harris
On her performance and being strong on the glass:
“Going into the game, coach preached get rebounds, extra possessions, get on the boards. We send three to glass. We wanted to get second opportunities to get better shots. We preach defense and we wanted to get extra possessions to create for Porsha and Branch and everybody else on the team.”
