Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Roberts Powers SFA Past Corpus Christi
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin women’s basketball team used a 32-point performance from senior Porsha Roberts and a quick start to the second half to post a convincing 74-62 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday afternoon inside the American Bank Center. The Ladyjacks improve to 17-6 overall on the season and 10-2 in Southland Conference action with their fifth straight win.
Roberts had a monster afternoon for the Ladyjacks, tying a career-high with 32 points on 12-for-21 shooting. She scored the first eight points of the second half as part of a 14-0 SFA run out of the intermission to help the Ladyjacks break the game open. Roberts spent her fair share of time at the free throw line, converting 8 of 10 attempts from the charity stripe. She also hauled in eight rebounds, dished out a season-high three assists, blocked three shots and swiped a steal.
The last time Roberts reached the 32-point plateau was as a sophomore on Feb. 16, 2013 on the road against Southeastern Louisiana. The Waco native scored 31 points against Texas A&M-Kingsville earlier this season on Dec. 2 at home.
Tierany Henderson sparked SFA in the first half with three triples including two in a 36 second window from 16:09-15:33. The senior recorded her sixth consecutive game with double digit points, ending with 15. She went 5-for-11 from deep in the game, grabbed six boards and like Roberts, rejected three shots.
The Ladyjacks mounted a 20-3 run early in the opening half to take control 25-13 with 10:07 on the clock. SFA would lead by as many as 16 in the period, 38-22, after Henderson’s third three-ball fell with 4:05 until the break.
The Ladyjacks, who enjoyed a 41-29 lead at halftime, got off to a blazing start in the second half. Behind Roberts’ eight straight points to start things off and three-point buckets from Brittney Matthew and Henderson, SFA opened with a 14-0 run to build its largest lead of the game (26 points) at 55-29. For the rest of the game, the Islanders (12-12, 8-5 SLC) attempted to chip away at the SFA lead but couldn’t get any closer until the game ended at 74-62.
While most of the stat lines were similar between the two teams, the Ladyjacks owned a significant edge in field goal percentage (44.8 percent – 34.4 percent). SFA also distributed the ball better, dishing out 20 assists to nine by AMCC. Matthew had seven assists and Taylor Ross added six to pace the Ladyjack backcourt.
Matthew and Paulletta Powell complemented Roberts and Henderson offensively with seven points apiece. Freshman Charisma Alexander tallied six points, four rebounds and Ross finished with five points and seven boards.
The Ladyjacks’ 17-6 record is the best mark through 23 games for the program since the 2001-02 season.
SFA has five home games over the final six games of the regular season. The Ladyjacks host Lamar on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. before turning around to face Nicholls on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
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