Moment #10: Ladyjacks Advance To WBI Final
7/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
July 18, 2014
It was another successful athletic season for Stephen F. Austin in 2013-14, capped by memorable games, incredible performances, championship efforts and moments that will be remembered for years to come. To close out the 2013-14 season, SFAJacks.com will count down the top 15 moments of the past year as voted on by the SFA administrative staff and media representatives. A new moment will be revealed each Tuesday and Friday, counting down to the top moment of the year on Tuesday, August 19th.
MOMENT #10: Ladyjacks Advance To WBI Championship Game
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - It was an historic year for the Ladyjacks in 2014. Head Coach Brandon Schneider guided his team to its first Southland Conference title in his four-year tenure and tallied 23 victories.
Three of those victories helped SFA get all the way to the title game of the Women's Basketball Invitational.
After overcoming a five-game deficit in the standings late in the season, the Ladyjacks won their final six games of the regular season to win a share of the Southland Conference regular season title. From there, Schneider and his crew advanced to the championship game of the Southland Conference Tournament.
Despite losing the conference title game, the Ladyjacks still had an opportunity to play postseason basketball in the WBI. With a wave of momentum following the late-season run, Schneider used the WBI as a motivational tool for his team to keep fighting and play for as long as possible.
When it was all said and done, the Ladyjacks won three games in the WBI to reach the championship game. No team in school history had ever won three games in a postseason tournament, a feat Schneider was quick to use to keep his team chugging in the postseason.
The Ladyjacks bested former Southland rival Texas State at home in the first round of the WBI with a 59-51 victory over the Bobcats. During the second round again at home, junior center Porsha Roberts began rolling. Roberts poured in 27 points in an 80-59 shellacking of Boise State. She added 12 rebounds along with a pair of blocks and steals.
Roberts and the Ladyjacks kept rolling in the semifinals when they played at the College of Charleston. Roberts scored 28 points against the Cougars and pulled down nine rebounds to go with four blocks en route to a 78-74 win.
The Ladyjacks could not complete the magical run through the WBI in the championship as they fell on the road to Illinois-Chicago by the score of 73-64.
During the title game, Roberts poured in another 21 points to post 20 or more for the third straight game and average 22.5 during the tournament. Four players would score in double digits for SFA with senior Kali Jerrell also shining during the postseason.
Jerrell closed her career at SFA by scoring in double digits in each of SFA's postseason games in 2014. Jerrell averaged 12.5 points during the WBI and 13.0 during the SLC Championship as well.
SFA was the final Southland Conference team still playing basketball with Northwestern State losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Lamar falling early in the WNIT. McNeese State also lost in the first round of the WBI.
With a 23-13 record and a deep run in the WBI, it truly was a year to remember for the Ladyjacks in 2014. Schneider and his staff carried SFA to heights it had never reached in the long history of successes for Ladyjacks basketball.
2013-14 SFA Top Moment Countdown Schedule
Moment #1 - Tuesday, Aug. 19
Moment #2 - Friday, Aug. 15
Moment #3 - Tuesday, Aug. 12
Moment #4 - Friday, Aug. 8
Moment #5 - Tuesday, Aug. 5
Moment #6 - Friday, Aug. 1
Moment #7 - Tuesday, July 29
Moment #8 - Friday, July 25
Moment #9 - Tuesday, July 22
Moment #10 - Women's basketball advances to WBI championship game
Moment #11 - Men's track and field cracks the top-25 for the first time since 1996
Moment #12 - Baseball outlasts nationally-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa
Moment #13 - Football stuns second-ranked Montana State
Moment #14 - Colton Ross sets nation's top mark in pole vault
Moment #15 - Bowling claims first tournament titles in program history
-SFA-
