Tuesday, November 28
Nacogdoches, Texas
5:00 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin
vs
Central Baptist College
Ladyjacks Look To Increase Winning Streak With Midweek Matchup Versus Central Baptist College
11/27/2017 4:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SFA seeks best start since 2011-12 season
NACOGDOCHES, Texas. – Three weeks in the 2017-18 season, the Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team is on a roll with wins in each of its past four games. Even still, the team is more of a work in progress than a masterpiece, and will face tougher times ahead after its final tune-up of the non-conference season on Tuesday against NAIA foe Central Baptist College. SFA enters the game seeking its best start to a season since the 2011-12 campaign, when the team strung together seven straight wins to open the season.
A pair of wins at the Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic against Alabama State and Alcorn State over the weekend were a mixed bag of both strong and poor moments for play for SFA.
"Well we played well enough to get the two wins, which is great" said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "Alabama State was a game where we were just okay through the first two quarters, and then I thought we got up to speed in the last two quarters. Alcorn State was a pretty scrappy group, they had two really talented guards. We had to find a way to get it to overtime, which we did, and we talk about Stevi hitting the big shot to get us there, but that doesn't happen without Riley Harvey making a great play to get that ball to her. We aren't shooting the ball very well, and we weren't very good defensively in that game, so we've got some things to clean up on what amounts to a very short turnaround."
The Ladyjacks now return to Nacogdoches for a pair of home games this week, beginning with the home tilt against the Mustangs, an NAIA institution out of Conway, Arkansas. The Mustangs are off to a strong start at 5-1 on the season, nearly matching the entire win total from the 2016-17 season (7).
After opening the 50th season of play with a tough loss at Kansas State, the Ladyjacks (4-1) have been resurgent in their last four games, outscoring their opponents by a 337-223 margin and boosting the team's scoring average to a healthy 77.2 points per game. Despite that, the team has battled inconsistency in total team performance even while the offense has posted respectable numbers, leaving much room for improvement. With a tough slate of games coming up (at home vs. South Dakota, away at Montana and Montana State) next weekend, the Ladyjacks' window for improvement is dwindling, and with conference games beginning at the end of December, the onus is on SFA to find it's identity on both ends of the floor.
"We're far from ready for conference play, that's for sure, but it's about what I expected with the amount of kids we have in new roles", explained Kellogg. "They're finding out what their role is, understanding that it may be their game one night, and someone else's the next. At some point, we've got to get a more established team identity, and get it going offensively, because we're not at the level we want to be at at all."
A steady producer for the Ladyjacks has been veteran post player Stevi Parker, who has posted double-doubles in each contest this season, and has scored at least nine points and collected eight rebounds in every game thus far. For her efforts during the Thanksgiving Classic, she was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 12.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the two games. To spell Parker on the offensive end, several Ladyjacks have come through with notable offensive performances, such as Alyssa Mayfield's 22 points against Alcorn State on Staurday, and Imani Johnson's 18 to lead SFA past Alabama State on Friday. Thus far, who that scoring will come from on any given night has been unpredictable, which is somewhat unsettling but also speaks to the depth and offensive potency of the Ladyjacks roster. Bench scoring has been a boon for the Ladyjacks all season, outscoring their counterparts by a 178-84 margin.
"Our scoring was pretty spread out over the weekend" said Kellogg. "We've had some people step up and carry us in games, and that's about what we hoped we'd get from our bench."
In playing in its first truly close game of the season versus Alcorn State, the 'Jacks overcame an error-prone effort to snatch away the overtime win. From the moment that Parker's game-tying three pointer went through the hoop, the 'Jacks took ahold of the momentum and did not relinquish it in the overtime period, a welcome sight for a team that had been on the end of no game closer than double digits heading into the weekend.
"You don't really get to replicate those close game situations a lot in practice, you just play till the final horn", Kellogg said. "It didn't look good at times, but we had several opportunities to put them away and we never did, so credit them for that. That being said, we did well at staying in the game and seeing it through, so I was pleased to see that performance from the team."
In Central Baptist College, the 'Jacks will meet an opponent they have never faced in the 50-year history of the program. A member of the American Midwest Conference, the Mustangs are led in scoring by Karlie Senko, a 5'7" sophomore guard from Bradford, Arkansas. She is averaging 12.2 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting from the field, and also leads the Mustangs in steals on the season, with 10. Classmate Kory Westerman is the main rebounder for CBC, hauling down 7.7 rebounds despite standing just 5'8".
As a whole, the Mustangs do not shoot particularly well as a team, posting shooting splits of .397/.305/.671 (FG/3Pt/FT) thus far in the campaign. Still, the Mustangs generate a high number of shot attempts, nearly 100 more than their opponents, and through sheer number of attempts have compiled an 80.7 points per game scoring average. CBC will be hard pressed to replicate those numbers against SFA, which has held three opponents below 60 points this season, two of which were Division I programs.
On the other end of the court, the Mustangs have been strong defensively, holding opponents to just 60 points per game on 34.3 percent shooting from the field and 27.3 percent beyond the arc. SFA will look to impose its size and athletic advantage over Central Baptist College, working through the paint and out to the arc.
Following Tuesday's contest, the 'Jacks will face South Dakota at William R. Johnson Coliseum on Saturday at 1:00 p.m, before heading to Montana for a two-game slate at Montana and Montana State on December 7 and 9, respectively.
-SFA-
A pair of wins at the Lady Eagle Thanksgiving Classic against Alabama State and Alcorn State over the weekend were a mixed bag of both strong and poor moments for play for SFA.
"Well we played well enough to get the two wins, which is great" said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "Alabama State was a game where we were just okay through the first two quarters, and then I thought we got up to speed in the last two quarters. Alcorn State was a pretty scrappy group, they had two really talented guards. We had to find a way to get it to overtime, which we did, and we talk about Stevi hitting the big shot to get us there, but that doesn't happen without Riley Harvey making a great play to get that ball to her. We aren't shooting the ball very well, and we weren't very good defensively in that game, so we've got some things to clean up on what amounts to a very short turnaround."
The Ladyjacks now return to Nacogdoches for a pair of home games this week, beginning with the home tilt against the Mustangs, an NAIA institution out of Conway, Arkansas. The Mustangs are off to a strong start at 5-1 on the season, nearly matching the entire win total from the 2016-17 season (7).
After opening the 50th season of play with a tough loss at Kansas State, the Ladyjacks (4-1) have been resurgent in their last four games, outscoring their opponents by a 337-223 margin and boosting the team's scoring average to a healthy 77.2 points per game. Despite that, the team has battled inconsistency in total team performance even while the offense has posted respectable numbers, leaving much room for improvement. With a tough slate of games coming up (at home vs. South Dakota, away at Montana and Montana State) next weekend, the Ladyjacks' window for improvement is dwindling, and with conference games beginning at the end of December, the onus is on SFA to find it's identity on both ends of the floor.
"We're far from ready for conference play, that's for sure, but it's about what I expected with the amount of kids we have in new roles", explained Kellogg. "They're finding out what their role is, understanding that it may be their game one night, and someone else's the next. At some point, we've got to get a more established team identity, and get it going offensively, because we're not at the level we want to be at at all."
A steady producer for the Ladyjacks has been veteran post player Stevi Parker, who has posted double-doubles in each contest this season, and has scored at least nine points and collected eight rebounds in every game thus far. For her efforts during the Thanksgiving Classic, she was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 12.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in the two games. To spell Parker on the offensive end, several Ladyjacks have come through with notable offensive performances, such as Alyssa Mayfield's 22 points against Alcorn State on Staurday, and Imani Johnson's 18 to lead SFA past Alabama State on Friday. Thus far, who that scoring will come from on any given night has been unpredictable, which is somewhat unsettling but also speaks to the depth and offensive potency of the Ladyjacks roster. Bench scoring has been a boon for the Ladyjacks all season, outscoring their counterparts by a 178-84 margin.
"Our scoring was pretty spread out over the weekend" said Kellogg. "We've had some people step up and carry us in games, and that's about what we hoped we'd get from our bench."
In playing in its first truly close game of the season versus Alcorn State, the 'Jacks overcame an error-prone effort to snatch away the overtime win. From the moment that Parker's game-tying three pointer went through the hoop, the 'Jacks took ahold of the momentum and did not relinquish it in the overtime period, a welcome sight for a team that had been on the end of no game closer than double digits heading into the weekend.
"You don't really get to replicate those close game situations a lot in practice, you just play till the final horn", Kellogg said. "It didn't look good at times, but we had several opportunities to put them away and we never did, so credit them for that. That being said, we did well at staying in the game and seeing it through, so I was pleased to see that performance from the team."
In Central Baptist College, the 'Jacks will meet an opponent they have never faced in the 50-year history of the program. A member of the American Midwest Conference, the Mustangs are led in scoring by Karlie Senko, a 5'7" sophomore guard from Bradford, Arkansas. She is averaging 12.2 points per game on 45.6 percent shooting from the field, and also leads the Mustangs in steals on the season, with 10. Classmate Kory Westerman is the main rebounder for CBC, hauling down 7.7 rebounds despite standing just 5'8".
As a whole, the Mustangs do not shoot particularly well as a team, posting shooting splits of .397/.305/.671 (FG/3Pt/FT) thus far in the campaign. Still, the Mustangs generate a high number of shot attempts, nearly 100 more than their opponents, and through sheer number of attempts have compiled an 80.7 points per game scoring average. CBC will be hard pressed to replicate those numbers against SFA, which has held three opponents below 60 points this season, two of which were Division I programs.
On the other end of the court, the Mustangs have been strong defensively, holding opponents to just 60 points per game on 34.3 percent shooting from the field and 27.3 percent beyond the arc. SFA will look to impose its size and athletic advantage over Central Baptist College, working through the paint and out to the arc.
Following Tuesday's contest, the 'Jacks will face South Dakota at William R. Johnson Coliseum on Saturday at 1:00 p.m, before heading to Montana for a two-game slate at Montana and Montana State on December 7 and 9, respectively.
-SFA-
Players Mentioned
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