Ladyjacks Clip Cardinals on Road Behind Season-High 14 Three-Pointers, 75-50

Saturday, February 17

San Antonio, Texas

1:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

21-4 (13-1SLC)

Incarnate Word

3-22 (2-12SLC)

Stephen F. Austin

UIW-W

Ladyjacks Clip Cardinals on Road Behind Season-High 14 Three-Pointers, 75-50

2/17/2018 5:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA improves to 5-4 in road play this season

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Outside shooting and strong defense carried the day for the Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team on Saturday as they surged past the University of the Incarnate Word, 75-50. SFA torched the Southland's top 3-point shooting defense to the tune of 14 made treys and held the anemic Cardinals offense to just 50 points in moving to 21-4 on the season (13-1 SLC).

After falling behind 3-2 early in the first, the Ladyjacks took the lead for good on a three-ball by Stevi Parker and would lead the rest of the way, building the lead into 20's and keeping the Cardinals at bay with a steady dose of outside shooting. Parker led the way with a game-high 19 points and had seven boards, while Chanell Hayes posted 16 points and eight rebounds to go along with four steals. Lovisa Brunnberg chipped in 12 off the bench (4-4 3-pt), and Taylor Jackson scored 10 points.

"The effort was good tonight, we were obviously really good shooting the ball from distance tonight with a season-high in made threes," said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "We got to see a few different people put the ball in the net, got some people going. I liked our first half a lot, the statistics were good and got a big lead at the half, and were able to get some different kids some time as we finished it off."

The Ladyjacks took what they wanted on the offensive end all afternoon, carving out an edge in rebounding, particularly on the offensive glass, After struggling to convert on its initial attempts, SFA started to string some baskets together in the closing minutes of the first quarter and would built up a 20-5 lead on the strength of 12 offensive boards and eight second-chance points. The 'Jacks clamped down on UIW defensively, holding them without a point for more than six minutes of the opening quarter, during which SFA went on a 15-0 run.

SFA was markedly sharper in the second quarter on offense, shooting 7-12 from the field (4-6 3-pt) to outscore the home side 19-10 in the quarter. The teams would trade baskets for the opening two minutes of the frame before both teams hit a scoring drought that lasted three minutes. With 5:15 left to go in the first half, Brunnberg would hit her second trifecta of the contest, and canned another triple just 30 seconds later to boost SFA's lead to 33-11. A layup by Riley Harvey and a trifecta from Parker capped off the 11-0 run and got the score to 38-11, and the Ladyjacks would lead 39-15 at the halftime break.

A resurgent effort by UIW in the third quarter saw them come out of the halftime break and actually outscore SFA in the stanza, 15-13. A 7-1 run by the Cardinals led to a timeout by SFA, and the teams would trade points back and forth for the next three minutes of play, as SFA's lead fluctuated around the 20-point margin. A layup by Parker with three minutes left and a trey from freshman Marissa Banfield would close out the quarter with SFA on top 52-30 after three quarters of play.

The fourth quarter saw both teams light up the scoreboard, as the Ladyjacks scored 23 points and UIW notched 20 in the frame. SFA would shoot a blistering 75 percent from three-point land in the quarter, with five different 'Jacks chipping in a deep ball. SFA would build the lead up to 25 points midway through the quarter, only to see UIW trim it down to 15 with an 8-0 run. That was as close as the Cardinals would get, however, as SFA iced the contest with a 7-2 run over the remaining 3:11 of play.

"For three quarters I thought we did a really good job defensively in holding them to 30 points," explained Kellogg. "I thought we let up a bit in the fourth quarter, let them score 20 on us and close the gap a little bit. Overall it was a good road trip, to win by 25 you don't complain too much, and so we'll just get ready for the next one."

After getting beat on the boards by UIW in the first matchup earlier this season, the 'Jacks made sure from the get-go that it didn't happen again. A total of 47 rebounds, including 18 on the offensive glass, paced the Ladyjacks on both sides of the ball.
SFA build a small advantage in points in the paint (18-16) and fast break points (4-0), and made large impacts in points off turnovers (20-12), second chance points (12-4) and bench scoring (26-15).

"The rebounding was something we talked about, because they came in and got us really good at our place, so it was something that we needed to be better at coming in and focused on rebounding the ball,", remarked Kellogg.

UIW was held to 50 points on the day, just below its season average, and shot just 34.5 percent (19-55) from the field and 6-24 (25 percent) from beyond the arc. The Cardinals committed 18 turnovers, leading to 11 SFA steals and 20 points off those turnovers.

Next up for SFA is a trip to Conway, Arkansas, and a pending rematch with Central Arkansas. SFA bested the Sugar Bears 59-46 in Nacogdoches earlier this season.

-SFA-