Stephen F. Austin
Incarnate Word
Ladyjacks Take Care Of Business Against UIW
2/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball team flexed its muscles in the second half to pull away from Incarnate Word in a 64-47 victory on Thursday night inside the Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center. The Ladyjacks improve to 16-6 overall and 9-2 in Southland Conference play with their fourth straight win.
The 16-6 start to the season is the best start through 22 games for the program since the 2001-02 season when SFA started with a 17-5 record.
“To be off to a great start like this is a real positive to this particular team and season because it’s obvious that it’s going to take that kind of year to try and win a conference title,” said head coach Brandon Schneider. “We’ve got Lamar that we’re trying to reel in a little bit and Nicholls is right there as well. We’re in the thick of the league race right now and that’s the most important thing.”
For the fourth straight game, the Ladyjacks got double digit scoring efforts from Porsha Roberts, Tierany Henderson and Taylor Ross. Roberts was nearly unstoppable through extended stages of Thursday’s contest, pouring in 20 points on an impressive 8-for-10 shooting. She also collected eight rebounds and rejected two shots on the evening.
Ross got off to a quick start in the game with nine points in the first half and finished with 12 points overall, shooting at a 5-for-11 clip. Henderson chipped in 10 points, all of which came in the second half. The senior forward led SFA with four steals and four blocks, including two monster rejections of UIW three-point attempts.
The Ladyjacks were a force down low for the full 40 minutes, outscoring the Cardinals (5-17, 2-9 SLC) 38-22 in the paint. Sophomore center Adrienne Lewis showcased her strong post play on Thursday, hauling in a career-high nine rebounds to lead all SFA players.
The Ladyjacks built a 30-26 halftime advantage with low block dominance and hot shooting from Roberts and Ross. Roberts, who made her first seven shots from the field overall on the night, was a perfect 4-for-4 in the first half and went into the locker room with 10 points. Ross added nine points on 4-for-7 shooting. Both Ladyjacks helped SFA outscore UIW 20-10 in the paint in the first 20 minutes.
Roberts banked in a shot with 14:10 to play in the first to give SFA its first lead of the game at 10-8 and the Ladyjacks didn’t relinquish control the rest of the night.
SFA started the second half red hot, extending its lead to 41-28 at the first media timeout (15:39) with an 11-2 run out of the gate. Henderson came alive with her first five points coming during the span.
Great defense the rest of the way helped the Ladyjacks create separation for the 17-point victory. SFA led by as many as 18 points in the second half after Henderson converted a three-point play with 9:17 to go.
The Cardinals mustered just 21 points in the entire second half and shot 25.8 percent (8-for-31) from the floor. UIW turned the ball over 12 times after halftime due to the increased SFA defensive pressure.
“I was really pleased with our second half defensive performance tonight,” said Schneider. “At halftime, our coaching staff really challenged the girls to hold UIW under 25 points in the second half and they played with a lot of energy and a lot of dedication to each and every possession to finish the game.”
Brittney Matthew distributed the SFA attack with a team-high six assists as the Ladyjacks shot the ball at a 44.1 percent rate on the night. Freshman Charisma Alexander had another nice game off the bench, scoring six points (3-for-6 shooting) with six rebounds.
The Ladyjacks will look for their fifth straight victory on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. when they take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas. SFA beat the Islanders 64-55 earlier this season on Jan. 31 at home.
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