Stephen F. Austin
Incarnate Word
Henderson Leads SFA to Eighth Straight Win
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SFA 58, UIW 44
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - In a game where both teams struggled to score points, Stephen F. Austin senior Tierany Henderson sparked the Ladyjacks with a big double-double to help her team come away with a 58-44 victory over Incarnate Word on Thursday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
The Ladyjacks, who improve to 13-2 in the Southland Conference standings with the win, now hold a game and a half lead over Lamar (12-4 SLC) for first place after the Lady Cardinals fell to McNeese State 98-77 on Thursday night in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Third place Nicholls State (10-5 SLC) also dropped a game on Thursday evening, falling to New Orleans 68-63.
SFA (20-6, 13-2 SLC) can now clinch the number one seed in the 2015 SLC Tournament with a win at Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon.
"For the seniors on this team, our careers are coming to an end soon," said Henderson. "We just want to make sure we're happy with how we finish. I want to put everything I can into the team to make sure we come away with the outcome we would like.
"The seniors know what it feels like to lose in the conference tournament and we are just so motivated right now to make sure that doesn't happen again. We know that finishing the regular season strong is important to achieving our ultimate goal of going to the NCAA Tournament."
Henderson led all scorers in Thursday night's game with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-9 from beyond the arc. The 5-11 forward grabbed 10 rebounds to claim her third double-double of the season while also recording two assists, two blocks and three steals on the night. She nearly outscored Incarnate Word by herself in the first half with 11 total points at the break.
Henderson now has 960 career points at SFA - just 40 shy of joining elite company in the Ladyjacks' 1,000-point club.
UIW's Aricka Adams scored the first bucket of the game three minutes in but Henderson quickly answered with a three-pointer and a transition layup to give the Ladyjacks the 5-3 advantage. The Cardinals didn't lead the rest of the night.
Henderson scored eight of the Ladyjacks' first 10 points and 11 of the first 17 as SFA built a 17-8 cushion with 6:38 remaining in the opening period.
The Cardinals (5-21, 2-13 SLC) managed just 15 points on 24 percent shooting (6-for-25) in the first half with a majority of the credit given to the SFA defensive pressure. The 15 points allowed was the fewest by the Ladyjacks during any half throughout the 2014-15 season. SFA forced 10 of UIW's 20 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and took a 26-15 lead into halftime.
The Ladyjacks faced little pressure in the second, building their lead to as many as 17 (44-27) on a Paulletta Powell three-ball with 11:39 to play. The Cardinals would get to within nine points (48-39) at the 4:29 mark, but six points from Taylor Ross and another four from Charisma Alexander the rest of the way helped SFA close out the game, 58-44.
Ross tallied 12 points on the evening with six points coming at the free throw line. The sophomore went a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe while going 3-for-10 in the field. Alexander made good on four of her five field goal attempts and also posted six rebounds.
Porsha Roberts and Powell each finished the game with seven points on 3-for-7 shooting. Roberts had scored in double figures in her previous 11 games.
Thursday night's win secures the 29th 20-win season in the history of SFA women's basketball.
The Ladyjacks will look to clinch the number one seed in the SLC Tournament and at least a share of the regular season title on Saturday when they travel to play Houston Baptist. Opening tip is set for 4:00 p.m.
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