Ladyjacks Advance to Southland Tournament Championship Game with 70-60 Semifinal Win over Central Arkansas

Saturday, March 10

Katy, Texas (Merrell Center)

3:30 P.M

Stephen F. Austin

25-5

#3 Central Arkansas

22-9

Central Arkansas

Stephen F. Austin

Ladyjacks Advance to Southland Tournament Championship Game with 70-60 Semifinal Win over Central Arkansas

3/10/2018 8:24:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA advances to SLC Tournament title game tomorrow against Nicholls

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

KATY, Texas – What a difference a year makes.

Nearly a year removed from a heartbreaking loss to Central Arkansas in the Southland Tournament title game, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks completed a sweep of the season series with the Sugar Bears in grandiose fashion on Saturday, and in doing so punched their ticket to a second consecutive conference title game. The 70-60 SFA victory set up the Ladyjacks for a Sunday matinee showdown with fourth-seeded Nicholls, which dispatched the top seeded Lamar Cardinals earlier Friday afternoon.

Trailing UCA by a 44-36 margin halfway through the third quarter, the 'Jacks seized control of the game with a decisive 14-0 run to close out the third quarter and would lead 50-46 as the game headed to the fourth quarter of play. UCA would trim the lead down to as few as two points in the fourth, but SFA would widen the gap with stellar play from its starters and win comfortably after icing the game at the free throw line down the stretch.

"I think two pretty good teams went at it, and we have a ton of respect for UCA," said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "It just makes the wins that much sweeter because of the respect we have for Coach Rushing, that program and how good they are defensively. We would like to think we do the same thing to them, they got us three times last season, they ended our season here a year ago, and so that was definitely on our minds coming in."

Four Ladyjacks ended in double figures for SFA (25-5), who became just the fifth team this season to hang 70 or more points on UCA's vaunted defense, which ranked second in the country at 50.1 points allowed entering the contest. Stevi Parker led all scorers with a season-high 22 points and six rebounds, while Imani Johnson put forth an excellent game with 14 points and five boards. Chanell Hayes scored 12 points in the win, and was instrumental in getting SFA off to a hot start, while Taylor Jackson chipped in 10 points. Kennedy Harris stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

"Stevi and Imani were really good tonight when we needed them," said Kellogg. "We hadn't even come close to scoring 70 against UCA since I've been here, so that was pretty satisfying as well because of how good they are defensively.

After Johnson opened the scoring in the contest on a mid-range jumper, the Sugar Bears strung together three straight buckets to jump ahead 6-2. Undeterred, the 'Jacks embarked on a 13-0 run over the next five minutes, thanks to a pair of trifectas from Hayes and another from Jackson. An 8-3 run by UCA then closed the lead down to just four points, at 18-14, but a three-pointer from Parker with five ticks left on the clock would put the 'Jacks ahead 21-14 after one quarter of play. Both teams would open the game shooting 50 percent from the field, but SFA's four treys would provide an early edge for the second seeded Ladyjacks.

In the second quarter, the wheels seemed to fall off for the Ladyjacks, as a seven-point lead evaporated completely within minutes and even turned into a deficit, as the Sugar Bears opened the quarter on a 15-2 run spanning nearly seven minutes. SFA would trail 31-23 with 3:46 remaining after a layup by UCA's Taylor Baudoin, and even a Hayes three-pointer to answer didn't steam the bleeding for long, as Antonija Bozic canned a trey in response with 2:12 remaining. Finally summoning some offense, the Ladyjacks were able to string together six unanswered points to close out the half on a pair of free throws from Lovisa Brunnberg, a layup from freshman Aaliyah Johnson and a jumper by Jackson to beat the halftime horn. Thanks to that run, the Ladyjacks avoided a dangerous halftime deficit and would instead trail by just two, 34-32, entering the break.

Having allowed the UCA offense to convert on 56 percent of its attempts in the first half, the 'Jacks had to increase the defensive intensity in the second half to wrest away control of the game, and in the second half of the third stanza, they did. After Baudoin pushed the UCA lead out to 44-36 with 5:41 remaining on a pair of free throws, the 'Jacks clamped down on the defensive end and began to earn defensive stop after defensive stop. Five straight points by Parker in the meantime helped wittle down the lead, and Johnson would knot the bout up at 44 apiece with 4:00 minutes left on her second trifecta of the game. Four more SFA points to close out the quarter gave SFA a 50-46 lead heading into the final frame, having held UCA to 4-12 shooting in the quarter.

Parker would open the fourth quarter with a jumper, only to see UCA knock it down to a pair with back-to-back baskets. With 6:11 remaining and the SFA lead sitting at 52-50, the situation could have titled in either teams favor in a hurry. Seizing control once more, SFA would embark on another run, this time a 9-0 jaunt aided by a layup and trey from Johnson, to extend the lead out to 61-50. A Baudoin jumper with 1:27 would cut the lead to just seven, 63-56, but SFA would close out the game with a 7-10 effort at the line from the likes of Parker, Jackson and Harris as UCA fouled to get the ball back.

Despite surrendering a 32-18 advantage to UCA in points in the paint on the evening, the 'Jacks narrowly edged their opponents in points off turnovers (17-15) and second chance points (13-11), and was able to effectively use their outside shooting to be a factor in the game (7-16, 43.8 percent). The Ladyjacks would convert on 21-49 (42.9 percent) of their attempts from the floor in the contest, compared to 25-56 (44.6 percent) for the Sugar Bears. SFA would earn 29 trips to the foul line on the night, sinking 21 of them (72.4 percent) on the night to help build a crucial advantage for the 'Jacks.

Postgame Quotes
Imani Johnson, on her and sister's effort in defending Kierra Jordan:
"First of all it was a group effort, handling (Kierra) Jordan," said Johnson. "I'm really proud of my sister, with her being a freshman, I knew she was ready because of all the work she put in this season, and like I said it wasn't all me, it was a group effort and we handled it together."

On what adjustments led to SFA runs and improvement in second half:
"We felt like we were giving up too much space in the paint," said Parker. Once we started packing the paint in we felt like we did a much better job of keeping them out."

"Our sense of urgency changed," said Johnson. "We were down heading into the third quarter, so something had to change, and we did it, we made everything harder for them."

Any nerves going into tomorrow's championship game:
"I mean, I always have a sense of adrenaline before big games," said Johnson. "I wouldn't say that I'm nervous, if anything I'd say it excels me forward to tip-off and gets me more ready to play."

"Every game has a different meaning, but I take every game the same way," Parker said. "Don't overthink it, just go out and play the game you know how to play."

On playing his starters more than normal tonight:
"Our starters were just better tonight, and maybe the double bye allows you to do that a bit more" said Kellogg. "We'll need the bench tomorrow though, that has been a strength for us."

We'll be good to go tomorrow, we'll get them rested up, and Nicholls is playing their third game so hopefully we'll be a little fresher than them tomorrow," said Kellogg. "Our bench will be fresh and ready to roll, so I like the spot we're in, no question."

On what it means to have the opportunity to play for the championship tomorrow:
"It's what you work for, and in our league that sends you 'dancing', as we like to say," Kellogg added. "I've been saying all week that our season is a long season, and you go about four months and get this one opportunity to define your season. We're prepared, our kids have been really good all season long in games like this. We're thrilled to be back, it's really hard to do it back-to-back, and then it's really hard to win it, so we'll see what we can do."

-SFA-