'Jacks, Bearkats Selected For ESPN3 Wild Card
2/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
FRISCO, Texas - The Southland Conference and ESPN3 have selected the Sam Houston State vs. Stephen F. Austin women's and men's basketball matchups for "wild card" broadcasts on Saturday, March 7. This will mark the last of eight regular season league doubleheaders on the network. The women's game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. CST, followed by the men's matchup at 6:30 p.m.
The first seven doubleheaders were pre-determined, but selections on the final weekend were originally left open. This allowed the league and network to determine the best matchups, based on championship implications, tournament seeding and other factors.
In the women's contest, the game will feature the league's top team with Stephen F. Austin and a team fighting for a spot in the tournament with in Sam Houston State. The Ladyjacks are 12-2 in conference play while the Bearkats sit at 5-9. For the eighth consecutive year, the Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is in Katy, Texas, March 12-15.
SFA is riding a seven-game winning streak with wins over the second- and third-place teams in Lamar (12-3) and Nicholls (10-4), respectively. SFA is undefeated on its home court during conference play and has only one home loss during non-conference. The team leads all Southland schools, shooting 45 percent from field goal range, blocking 5.4 shots per contest and dishing out 16.2 assists per game throughout league play. Senior center Porsha Roberts is leading the team with 18.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game throughout league action. Roberts ranks second in the NCAA in field goal percentage shooting 63.3 percent from the floor. Tierany Henderson is also making an impact for the Ladyjacks with 11.7 points and 6.1 boards per game.
Sam Houston State has lost its last four games and is looking to break the trend with hopes of edging into the top eight for a spot in the conference tournament. The Bearkats feature junior guard Shernise Robertson who is the Southland's leading scorer with 22.7 per contest throughout the season. The Cypress, Texas, native is shooting 84. 1 percent from the free-throw line with 158 made shots on 189 attempts. Sophomore guard Taylor Dorsey is another key player for Sam Houston with 12.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
In the men's side, the game will feature a battle of the top two teams and will likely determine the regular-season champion and top seed in the Southland Conference Men's Basketball Tournament in Katy, Texas, March 11-14. Currently, both teams are 13-1 in league play while SFA is 23-4 overall and Sam Houston is 22-5. In the game earlier this season between the two schools, the Lumberjacks traveled to Huntsville and pulled out a 79-68 win on Jan. 24.
SFA has won its last three games after having its 19-game winning streak snapped Feb. 14 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Before the Lumberjacks face Sam Houston in the regular-season finale, they have to travel to Houston Baptist (Feb. 28) and then play UIW (March 2) and Northwestern State (March 5) in Nacogdoches. The Lumberjacks are 12-1 at home this season, including a 6-0 mark against league foes. SFA is led by junior guard/forward Thomas Walkup and senior guard Jacob Parker. Walkup leads the Lumberjacks with 15.2 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. Parker, the reigning conference player of the year, averages 13.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. In the Jan. 24 meeting with Sam Houston, four Lumberjacks scored in double-figures with Walkup's 17 points leading the way.
Sam Houston has won its last eight contests since falling to SFA by outscoring its opponents by an average of 23.4 points. The Bearkats will play three of their last four games on the road with a stop at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 28) before coming home to face Central Arkansas (March 2) and then hitting the road at Lamar (March 5) and at SFA. Currently, Sam Houston is 6-0 on the road in league games. The Bearkats have seven players who average 8.0 or more points per game with senior guards DeMarcus Gaitlin (11.0) and Kaheem Ransom (10.4) leading the way. Gatlin also averages 4.8 rebounds per game for the Bearkats while Ransom averages 4.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.3 steals per contest. In the game earlier in the season against SFA, the Bearkats were led offensively with Gatlin's 15 points.
Lincoln Rose will handle play-by-play duties. He will be joined courtside by color analyst Van Chancellor, a 2007 inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Chris Mycoskie is set to host the MidSouth Bank Halftime Report during both games.
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans that receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.
Press release courtesy of the Southland Conference
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