Stephen F. Austin
Central Arkansas
Ladyjacks Catch Fire, Blow Out Sugar Bears
1/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CONWAY, Ark. – The Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball team shot a sizzling 83.3 percent from three-point range and played smothering defense in a 73-46 rout of Central Arkansas on Thursday night in the Farris Center. The victory marks the first for the Ladyjacks in Conway since the 2009-10 season.
Sophomore guard Brentney Branch exploded off the bench for a career-high 23 points to lead SFA’s lethal three-point attack. She hit all five of her shots from deep, went 8-for-10 overall from the floor and 2-for-3 from the free throw line. The Houston native poured in 16 points in the first half alone to help SFA take a commanding 47-23 lead into the break.
Seniors Brittney Matthew and Tierany Henderson each contributed 11 points for the Ladyjacks (9-5, 2-1 SLC). Matthew hit her first five shots and matched teammate Taylor Ross with a game-high five assists. Henderson brought in six rebounds while snatching three steals on the defensive side of the ball.
In her first career start at SFA, junior guard Paulletta Powell found her groove in the early going. She made good on a corner three for the game’s first points and later made a shot from the same spot to push the Ladyjacks’ lead to 11-6.
UCA cut the SFA lead to 14-12 with 12:28 to play in the half but that’s the closest the Sugar Bears would come the rest of the night. An off-balanced floater off Branch’s fingertips with 12:08 to go sparked a 17-0 run by SFA over the next 6:37. The sharpshooter capped the spurt with another one of her three-pointers to put the Ladyjacks up 31-12 with 5:51 in the opening frame.
SFA would cruise from there, building its lead to as many as 31 points with 8:00 left in the game.
Senior center Porsha Roberts was charged with two fouls in the first five and a half minutes and sat out the rest of the half. Her teammates stepped up in big ways in her absence as all 10 Ladyjacks who got into the game scored at least two points. Despite playing only 17 minutes, Roberts raked in nine rebounds and notched two blocks. She finished the game with four points.
SFA shot nearly 52 percent as a team and limited the Sugar Bears (9-6, 2-1 SLC) to under 35 percent shooting. The Ladyjacks also turned 21 UCA turnovers into 21 points which played a huge role in the blowout victory.
SFA will get a week off from action before returning to William R. Johnson Coliseum on Thursday, Jan. 15 against New Orleans. Tipoff is tentatively set for 5:00 p.m.
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