Hayes Ties Career-High with Six Threes in Preseason WNIT Bout at Miami

Friday, November 9

Miami, Fla.

11:00 AM EST

Stephen F. Austin

0-1

#24/25 University of Miami

2-0

Stephen F. Austin

#25/24 Miami

Hayes Ties Career-High with Six Threes in Preseason WNIT Bout at Miami

11/9/2018 12:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA drops Preseason WNIT opener, now awaits next opponent/location

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

*Photo courtesy of Miami Athletics

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – A matchup with 24^thranked Miami in the Magic City on Friday led to some important career milestones for the young SFA women's basketball team, despite a 81-60 result. Senior guard Chanell Hayes got her senior campaign off to a hot start with 19 points on 6-10 shooting (6-8 3-Pt), while four Ladyjacks notched their first career points. Heaven Hamling chipped in 15 points for the Ladyjacks (0-1), who battled to the end in front of a rambunctious Kid's Day Crowd at the Watsco Center.

After Hayes opened the scoring in the contest with a three ball, the two teams traded baskets back and forth for a few minutes until the 'Canes started to distance themselves with some blistering hot shooting. Hayes kept SFA within striking distance in the first quarter, knocking down four treys in the opening stanza for a team-high 12 points.

With the 'Jacks trailing 22-16 at the start of the second quarter, back-to-back trifectas by Hayes and Brioenne Burns pulled the game even at 22-22. From there, however, the 'Canes recovered and outscored the 'Jacks 21-8 the rest of the way to head into halftime with a 43-30 advantage. The 'Jacks were still in striking range thanks to the 12 points by Hayes, but the 'Jacks would not find such easy sledding in the third quarter.

"When we made mistakes, particularly in that first quarter, they made us pay with all those threes. The goal was to limit the paint, try and take away their bigs and force everything to the perimeter and we did that but and they made us pay and that's just what good teams do."

In the third quarter, the Ladyjacks would twice whittle the lead down to 11 points in the early going, but saw the 'Canes impose themselves over the several minutes of play, swelling the lead to 23 with under two minutes left to play in the third. Hayes would tie her career high with a sixth three-pointer in the third quarter with 1:12 left to play, SFA's 10^thtrifecta of the game.

The 'Jacks would outscore Miami in the fourth and final quarter, but was not able to close the gap in the contest. SFA would convert on 20-55 (36.4 percent) of shots from the field and 12-26 (46.2 percent) from beyond the arc. At the free throw stripe, the 'Jacks converted 8-9 free throws (88.9 percent).

"I thought there were some times that our rotations weren't there, or we made the wrong read, and a lot of that is just youth and inexperience, which we can clean up. I thought on the positive side we moved the ball really well with 17 assists on 20 made shots. Chanell getting going early was big for the team and helped us to settle down. Heaven had a really good game as a freshman, BriAnna Mitchell looked pretty comfortable and we got good minutes for everybody. We got our opportunities, we won the fourth quarter and so we have some positives to build off of."

Mykea Gray posted a game-high 25 points for the Hurricanes, who build up a 30-14 edge in points in the paint and knocked down 12 of 22 three-points attempts of their own in the contest.

Postgame Notes
• All of SFA's four freshman saw game action and scored their first career points as well.

• SFA is now 1-3 in season openers under head coach Mark Kellogg; however two of those contests have come against "Power 5" opponents and three have been on the road.

• Hayes' three-point outburst ties her total made attempts from the final game of last season against George Mason in the Postseason WNIT. In two games of WNIT play, Hayes is averaging 21.5 points and six threes per game on 45 percent shooting.

• SFA's bench unit outscored the Hurricanes 30-19, led by Hamling's 15 points on 4-9 shooting (3-7 3-Pt).

-SFA-