Ladyjacks Sink Privateers on Road Behind Strong First Half, 74-67

Wednesday, January 10

New Orleans, Louisiana

7:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

12-3, 4-0SLC

New Orleans

6-10, 2-3SLC

Stephen F. Austin

New Orleans

Ladyjacks Sink Privateers on Road Behind Strong First Half, 74-67

1/10/2018 11:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA opens conference season 4-0 for second straight season

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NEW ORLEANS, La. – In a city with a well-established penchant for flair and panache, the Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team defeated the University of New Orleans with a dramatic flourish all their own on Wednesday evening, 74-67. SFA tied a season-long six game-winning streak with the victory, and continued a flawless start to Southland play by improving to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in SLC tilts.

Offense was no challenge in the first half for the 'Jacks in the city colloquially known as the "Big Easy", as SFA scored 43 first half points and surged to a nine-point halftime lead. As has been the Achille's Heel for SFA through the first four conference games, however, a lackadaisical third quarter effort brought a comfortable lead to a uncomfortably close affair before SFA recovered the momentum and put the game away late.

"I guess tonight was pretty similar to the last three games, where we had three really good quarters, and had one quarter where we got a little too loose," said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "I'm really proud of our resiliency, especially once we lost the lead, how the team responded to that and rode things out in the fourth quarter. It was a really good team win in our third straight road game."

Stevi Parker led the way with a double-double effort of 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Alyssa Mayfield chipped in 12 points and Taylor Jackson added 11. Imani Johnson scored nine points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. SFA shot 50.9 percent (28-55) from the field and 30 percent (6-20) from beyond the arc.

After Parker notched the game' first point off a free throw, the Privateers scored a pair of quick baskets to jump in front of the visiting Ladyjacks, 4-1. SFA strung together a few baskets to pull ahead 8-7 on a three-point play by Imani Johnson, before Chanell Hayes found a wide-open Jackson for a straightaway trifecta to go up 11-7 with just under five minutes remaining in the opening stanza. Later, Parker rebounded a Ladyjacks miss and scored to get the lead out to 16-9, and after UNO tacked on four more points, Kennedy Harris' turnaround jumper in the paint closed out the quarter with an 18-13 SFA lead.

Continuing to shoot the three-ball early, the 'Jacks opened up the second quarter with triples from Alyssa Mayfield and Lovisa Brunnberg, and Marissa Banfield would join the party with a three-pointer of her own with 6:01 left to play in the half and SFA up 31-22. With the Privateers offering token resistance, SFA closed out the remaining minute of the quarter with baskets from Parker, a pair from Mayfield and a short floater from Jackson with two seconds left to stake SFA out to a 43-34 lead at the break.

After the two teams opened the third quarter trading baskets back and forth for the first few minutes of play, Parker took her second charge in as many minutes in what seemed to be a turning point for the SFA defense in stopping UNO and leading scorer Randi Brown. Instead, the Privateers got a second wind in their sails and began to close the gap, beginning with a 7-0 run that spanned a minute and a half in the third. A Mayfield trifecta briefly stopped the bleeding, but UNO would reclaim the lead for the first time since the 4-1 lead in the first on a pair of free throws by Brown with 2:02 remaining. That lead got up to 57-52 briefly, before Riley Harvey drove baseline and finished a reverse layup to cut the lead to 57-54 as the third quarter expired.

If a wake-up call was needed, then watching the lead slip away and ultimately trailing to the Privateers did the trick, as SFA opened the fourth quarter with a determined resolve. Parker's layup off a feed from Harvey at the 9:02 mark knotted the game up at 57-57, and a pair of free throws by the redshirt senior from Bixby 40 seconds later reclaimed the lead for SFA, 59-57. Classmate Taylor Jackson then got in on the action, picking the pocket of a Privateer guard and taking the ball down the court for an easy layup.

After UNO ended a nearly four minute scoring drought with a bucket, the Ladyjacks beat the shot clock buzzer with a little bit of luck and a great heads-up pass by Harvey, as she found Brunnberg in the corner for the three-ball after Brunnberg kept the possession alive moments earlier with an offensive board. That put SFA up 65-59, and a pass from Mayfield to Parker for a layup later gave SFA a 69-61 edge with 3:15 left to play. A prime opportunity to close the gap came for UNO with 1:26 left, when they got a stop on defense and Brown was fouled and sent to the line to shoot two. An 85% shooter on the year entering the matchup, Brown split the pair, and SFA held onto a 69-66 lead, which became 71-66 after the 'Jacks beat the full court press and the Privateers were forced to foul Harris.

Imani Johnson's block with 1:19 remaining and with SFA up 71-66 further demoralized the Privateers, and Jackson's deflection of the inbounds pass with 22 seconds left would lead to a 73-66 lead for the 'Jacks. A final free throw for both teams would seal the deal, as the 'Jacks capped off their sixth straight win with a flourish.

"We defended pretty well, besides the one quarter where we gave up the 23 points," added Kellogg. The other three quarters were pretty good, and I think we're making steps in the right direction, but to give up 67 was not our goal and so we still have some work to do in that area."

SFA built up advantages in points in the paint (38-24) and bench scoring (30-5), and despite allowing Brown to score 28 points, the 'Jacks held all but one other Privateer to single digits in the game, and forced Brown to take 20 shots to score her points. Aside from Brown's contributions, the Privateers were held mostly in check by SFA, and were held to just 41 percent shooting (21-51) from the field and 35.7 percent (5-14) from beyond the arc. They also committed 18 turnovers in the contest.

"Brown got going, which she's going to do, she's a point scorer," Kellogg explained. "(Kayla) Mundy had a good first half, but we did much better on her in the second half, and Brown got her points, but I thought we did a good job of making her work for them and contesting her shots for the most part."

-SFA-