Stephen F. Austin
New Orleans
Ladyjacks Back on Track with 88-61 Win over UNO
1/28/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin finished the week with a Saturday afternoon game against New Orleans at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA had their seventh 80 plus point game in conference play on Saturday with the 88-61 win over the Privateers. The “fierce-some four” were at it again totaling 62 of SFA’s 88 points. Senior Taylor Ross had her seventh 20 point game night with eight assists and five rebounds. Redshirt junior Stevi Parker posted 16 points and three rebounds, while, senior Brentney Branch totaled 15 points, going 3-7 beyond the arc. Senior Adrienne Lewis was one rebound shy of a double-double. The six-foot one center grabbed nine rebounds and put up 10 points. The SFA defense was at it again forcing 24 turnovers and 19 steals, a season high against a conference opponent. They kept New Orleans to only 23-63 from the field (36.5%). The SFA Ladyjacks shot over 50 percent from the field for the fourth game in a row. They shot 32-61 (52.5%) from the field and 18-23 (78.3%) at the free-throw line.
The Ladyjacks opened the game with a 13-3 run thanks to back-to-back triples from Parker and Branch. SFA got one more bucket one the board from a Branch steal to a Ross lay-up before the Privateers hit a three after a 4:22 deficit. With the help of freshman Riley Harvey under the basket, the Ladyjacks doubled their score over UNO at the 2:45 mark, 23-9. The Privateers worked in a small run going 6-4 in the final minutes of the first, but could only cut the SFA lead to 12 points.
Junior Taylor Jackson capped off a 6-2 SFA run with a steal and the fast break finish at the start of the second quarter. The privateers answered back with some defensive of their own, forcing a turnover in the back court. UNO took off on a fast break, which they got a second chance to put it in to close the gap to a 10 point game. Sophomore Kennedy Harris got the last points on the board putting SFA up 35-23 before the second media timeout. The SFA defense held the Privateers scoreless for three minutes and 59 seconds, within that time SFA tacked on 15 points to push the score to 50-25 going in to the locker room.
After the intermission, Ross scored first for the Ladyjacks, but the Privateers caught a spark going 3-3 from beyond the arc in the next minute and 17 seconds. The Ladyjacks got back into their groove going on a 7-3 run to increase the SFA lead to 59-37 at the 5:02 mark. SFA kept steam rolling through a 12-4 run, highlighted by two buckets from Ross and a couple free-throws from Lewis that forced New Orleans to call a time out at the 1:30 mark.
SFA emptied the bench in the fourth, after a great post move by Harvey gave SFA the 32 point lead. Freshman Alaysia Ready hit a triple to halt the UNO offensive run at the 7:25 mark. She attacked the rim again to shut off an 8-5 UNO run, and then sophomore Chanell Hayes put the final points on the board for SFA to close the game at 88-61.
The Ladyjacks will be back in action on the road for a rival week in Huntsville, Texas and then Natchitoches, La. SFA will match up first against Sam Houston on Thursday night at 5:15 p.m., and then, they will travel across the border on Saturday for a game against Northwestern State.
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