Ladyjacks Sink Privateers Behind Hayes’ 26-Point Game, 97-38

Wednesday, January 16

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:30 PM

Stephen F. Austin

University of New Orleans

New Orleans

SFA

Ladyjacks Sink Privateers Behind Hayes’ 26-Point Game, 97-38

1/16/2019 9:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA notches four 20+ point quarters in midweek rout

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas --  Lockdown defense and red-hot shooting lifted the Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team to a lopsided victory in its Southland Conference bout with New Orleans on Wednesday, 97-38. The Ladyjacks led wire-to-wire in the contest and shot a blistering hot 60 percent (37-62) from the field to improve to 13-3 overall (4-0 Southland). SFA remains undefeated at home this season, extending their winning streak their to 11 games.

Chanell Hayes led the Ladyjacks with her second straight 20-point game, netting 26 points on an efficient 10-14 performance from the field. The senior also added six rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocks, while knocking down three treys as well.
Three other Ladyjacks scored in double figures, as Aiyana Johnson tallied a career-high 15, Heaven Hamling netted 14 and Imani Johnson scored 11.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite turning over the ball three times in the early going, the 'Jacks used a 7-0 lead and three early blocks on the defensive end to create an early 7-0 advantage. Imani Johnson's layup with 6:30 left in the first quarter triggered a UNO timeout, and the 'Jacks continued the defensive stranglehold for the next three minutes of the quarter to extend the lead to 12-1 with 3:43 left to go. After a surge by the Privateers cut the lead down to as few as five, a trey from Chanell Hayes to end the first quarter gave SFA a 20-13 lead.

Hayes continued her run in the second quarter, scoring the first nine points of the frame all by herself to open SFA's lead to 29-15 at the first media timeout of the quarter. The senior's hot streak was capped off by her second three-pointer of the night, which gave her 126 treys for her career and moved her into ninth on SFA's all-time made threes for her career.

'JACKS LEAVE THE FOOT ON THE GAS
Even with the lead back in hand, the Ladyjacks didn't relent in remainder of the second quarter, connecting on 61.1 of attempts and 62 percent (5-8) from beyond the arc in the stanza. During that same stretch, the 'Jacks clamped down even tighter on the Privateers on the defensive end, holding them to 2-13 shooting in the quarter and just four points while forcing 15 turnovers.

By the time the teams headed to the locker room for halftime, SFA was firmly in charge with a 30-point lead, having led wire-to-wire in the opening two quarters.

SMOOTH SAILING TO THE FINISH
A 21-12 edge in the third quarter further extended the Ladyjacks advantage, as the Ladyjacks converted on 7-13 attempts in the quarter. Freshman Aiyana Johnson scored seven straight points to close out the third quarter in style for the Ladyjacks.

A similar effort awaited the Ladyjacks in the fourth quarter, as a 12-0 run by SFA and a four-minute scoring drought for UNO pushed the lead to 51 points, 82-31. Imani Johnson's three ball with 4:56 left to play gave SFA ten made three-pointers for the third straight game, and sister Aaliyah got in on the action with her fifth three-pointer of the season a moment later to give SFA its 11^thtrey.  SFA would lead by as many as 61 points in the contest.

QUOTE FROM COACH
"First off I wasn't expecting that, I think UNO is a much better team than they played tonight, for the most part we were clicking on all cylinders for the entire 40 minutes. We just got after them early, defensively we were locked in. The key for us was winning the paint tonight and we won it 46-18, they're paint dominant as an offensive team, have some really good post players who can score in there and guards who can get to the rim, so we were a little worried abut that coming in. We battled defensively, turned them over a bit in some of our press, which led to some early offense and allowed us to not face their half court defense as much. We got going from three again, got out in transition and just were able to do things that are the staples of our program. Proud of the effort again, two back-to-back games that were really complete, and you're going to win a lot of games if you can do that." – Mark Kellogg

OF NOTE
• SFA converted on 44 percent of its three-point attempts in the contest, marking the third straight game in which SFA has shot 40 percent or better from beyond the arc.
• The contest was a banner game for the three Johnson sisters, who combined for 33 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists and five blocks while shooting 14-19 (.736) from the field.
• UNO would score just four points in the second quarter, the fifth time this season that SFA has held an opponent to five points or fewer in a quarter of play.
• SFA bullied UNO inside to the tune of a 46-18 edge in points in the paint. SFA also added 31 points off 22 Privateer turnovers.
• Hayes' three treys moves her into ninth place on the SFA Top-10 list for made three-pointers in a career. She is now ten treys behind Katrina Price (1994-97) for eighth place.
• The victory marked the third time this season that SFA has held an opponent below 40 points in a game, all of which have come at home.
• Freshman guard BriAnna Mitchell had a plus/minus of +54 in 23 minutes played. She scored five points, dished out four assists and had three steals.
• SFA shot an obscene 11-12 (91.7 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter, scoring 29 points in the frame.

UP NEXT
SFA rides a five-game winning streak into a four-game road stretch which begins this weekend in San Antonio. SFA will face the Cardinals of UIW, who coming into the matchup with a 1-14 record on the season.

-SFA-