Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston State
Ladyjacks Drop Heartbreaker to Bearkats
1/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball team’s five-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon as rival Sam Houston State upset the Ladyjacks 65-64 in Johnson Coliseum. SFA controlled the game for most of the afternoon, leading for 30:05, while the Bearkats held a lead for just 3:39 in the second half.
Porsha Roberts led SFA with 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting and had nine rebounds. Tierany Henderson and Brentney Branch each knocked down three three-pointers on the afternoon and finished with 13 and nine points, respectively. True freshman Charisma Alexander continued to play good basketball, upping her career-high point total with nine. She also brought down seven boards for the Ladyjacks (12-6, 5-2 SLC).
SFA jumped out to an 8-1 advantage and led for the entire first half thanks in part to 10 points for Roberts before the break. The senior center converted on a three-point play with 1:32 to go in the first to give SFA its largest lead of the game, 30-29. The Ladyjacks were up 30-23 heading into the locker room after limiting the Bearkats (5-13, 4-4 SLC) to just 34.8 percent shooting in the frame.
The second half was a different story, however, as SHSU came out red hot. Shernise Robertson, who scored a game-high 21 points on the afternoon, carried her team back into the fray. She claimed 14 points in the second half alone.
A jumper by Taylor Dorsey gave Sam Houston its first lead of the game at 48-46 with just under eight minutes to play. The game saw four lead changes and plenty of tie scores the rest of the way but a jumper by Morghen Day and a pair of free throws off the hands of Robertson iced things down the stretch. The Bearkats shot 56 percent as a team in the final 20 minutes of action.
Senior guard Brittney Matthew tied a career-high with eight assists and Taylor Ross dished out six for the Ladyjacks. Mathew finished the afternoon with six points and Ross added seven before the final horn sounded.
While the two teams were even in just about every statistical category, SHSU shot 12 more free throws and got eight more to go overall to help the Kats end the Ladyjacks’ season-best win streak.
SFA will get back to the hardwood next Saturday afternoon at home against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m.
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