SFA Fends off Late Rally, Outlast Lady Demons With Clutch Free Throws, 70-62

Saturday, January 6

Natchitoches, Louisiana

12:30 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

11-3, 3-0SLC

Northwestern State

5-10, 0-4SLC

Stephen F. Austin

Northwestern State

SFA Fends off Late Rally, Outlast Lady Demons With Clutch Free Throws, 70-62

1/6/2018 3:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA wins fifth straight game thanks to season-best 90.3 percent foul shooting

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NATCHITOCHES, La. – An exemplary performance at the free throw line and strong defense for the lion's share of the contest helped the Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team fend off pesky Northwestern State in Natchitoches on Saturday, 70-62. It was far from pretty at times for SFA, which improves to 11-3 on the season and 3-0 in conference play with the victory, but the Ladyjacks did enough to earn the victory on the road over their rival and extend its winning streak to five games.

Taylor Jackson led all scorers with 18 points on the afternoon, including an 11-12 effort at the free throw line. Stevi Parker and Kennedy Harris each added 12 points for SFA, going perfect at the charity stripe on eight and five attempts, respectively. Overall, the Ladyjacks shot a season-best 90.3 percent (28-31) from the foul line to go along with a 44.2 percent (19-43) effort from the field.

"I thought we had some good moments, certainly, but we knew coming in that if we turned it over that we'd give them opportunities to stay in the game, and that's exactly what happened," said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "We turned it over to much, probably got a little too comfortable with the lead and then they made the huge run to make it close. We were really good at the free throw line, that probably ended up wining the game for us, and I thought we were really good for three quarters on defense."

The Ladyjacks got off to a hot start in the game on the way to leading the Lady Demons wire-to-wire. Taylor Jackson's pull up jumper opened the game's scoring with nearly a minute elapsed, and SFA would quickly jump out to a 7-2 lead after a Chanell Hayes trifecta and a layup by Imani Johnson. Northwestern State strung a few baskets together in the middle of the quarter, but SFA kept the foot on the gas by hitting eight of twelve shots in the quarter and taking a 21-13 lead.

If the second quarter had a theme, it would be one of defense, as a total of 15 points were scored between the two teams, and they combined to shoot just 6-22 from the field. SFA managed a meager 10 points in the quarter, but added to the lead all the same as they held the Lady Demons to just five points in the quarter. At the halftime break, SFA would carry a 13-point lead on the heels of 50 percent shooting and a 14-4 advantage in points in the paint.

In the third quarter, the Ladyjacks extended the lead out to a game-high 20 points with an old-fashioned three point play by Kennedy Harris at the 7:42 minute mark. Unfazed, the Lady Demons responded with and 11-2 run to close the gap to 40-31 with 2:44 remaining in the quarter. After a layup by Alyssa Mayfield got the lead up to 11, a final Northwestern State free throw got the score to 42-32 entering the fourth quarter.

SFA would once again build up a sizable lead in the first half of the final quarter of play, and would do so while only scoring two baskets in the entire fourth frame. Taking what the Lady Demons gave them on offense, the Ladyjacks headed to the free throw line to score 12 points off of foul shots in a span in which the team went seven minutes without a field goal. After the Ladyjacks got up by 20 points off a pair of Jackson free throws, a spectacularly poor stretch of play by the visitors saw the lead crumble and victory threaten to slip away.

Coming into the matchup, the 'Jacks had made a nack for turning over their opponents and turning those miscues into points, but during Saturday's contest, Northwestern State flipped the script on the normally sharp Ladyjacks. A season-high 25 turnovers by SFA became 27 Northwestern State points, and with four minutes left in the game a handful of untimely SFA turnovers helped lead to a 13-2 run which cut the lead to 58-49. With less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, back-to-back layups by the Lady Demons got the lead down to just five, prompting a timeout from the reeling Ladyjacks. After Parker was fouled on the resulting inbounds and calmly sank both foul shots, Northwestern State responded immediately with a trifecta to cut it to a four-point game, 64-60.

Another foul off the inbounds sent Harris to the line, where she made both attempts, which was immediately countered by a layup on the other end. That layup would ultimately be the final points for the Lady Demons in the contest, who were forced to foul after a missed three pointer with two seconds left. SFA, for its part, was able to ice the game by connecting on all eight free throw attempts within the final 35 seconds of play, staving off the desperate comeback and winning by a 70-62 final.

"We got a little complacent and started to make some mental mistakes, not adhering to our assignments," Kellogg said. "It wasn't was a good game for almost the whole game, and then in literally four minutes it dramatically changes how we feel to where we are now, in that it was ugly but we got the win and we'll take it. Rivalry games are always closer than the records would indicate, and Northwest State played very hard as well."

SFA would hold small advantages in points in the paint (26-18), bench scoring (17-12) and rebounding (36-28), but was outscored by the Lady Demons in each of the final two quarters of play. The main advantage came at the line, where SFA outscored the Lady Demons 28-12.

"At the free throw line we were great, to go 28-31 is really good, " Kellogg added. "I'm certainly glad we closed it out there, because you will have some close games that you win or lose at the free throw line, so it was great to see us make an impact there."

Next up for SFA is a mid-week matchup with the University of New Orleans on Wednesday in New Orleans. Tip-off for that game is set for 7:00 p.m.

-SFA-