Ladyjacks Keep Colonels in Check, Stay Undefeated at Home with 70-62 Victory

Wednesday, January 9

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:30 PM

Stephen F. Austin

Nicholls

Nicholls St.

SFA

Ladyjacks Keep Colonels in Check, Stay Undefeated at Home with 70-62 Victory

1/9/2019 9:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA marks assists on 23 of 26 made baskets in SLC victory

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The first meeting between the SFA and Nicholls women's basketball teams since the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament title game was one that some had circled on their calendars.

As it turned out, the matchup turned out to be yet another SFA victory inside William R. Johnson Coliseum, as SFA's precision passing and strong shooting led them to a comfortable victory over the Colonels to improve to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in SLC play. The Colonels drop to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in Southland Conference play.

TAKING THE EARLY LEAD
SFA jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the contest thanks to a layup by Imani Johnson and the first of two first-quarter three-pointers by Marissa Banfield. Later, the 'Jacks pulled back ahead of Nicholls with another 5-0 run over the final 2:12 of the first quarter. Banfield's second trey of the quarter with one minute remaining saw SFA take a 14-11 lead after the first quarter of play.

A NARROW LEAD AT THE HALFTIME BREAK
The Ladyjacks continued the run in the second quarter scoring the first four points of the frame and extending the lead to 18-11 as the Colonel's scoreless run stretched to 5:27 of game action. After Nicholls struck back with five straight points to close the gap to 18-16, the 'Jacks would narrow outscore the Colonels 9-8 in the remainder of the half to lead by just three at the intermission.

BANFIELD'S BIG NIGHT
SFA began to flex its shooting prowess in the third quarter, knocking down three treys to open the frame on a 13-6 run and prompting a Colonel timeout. Banfield's fourth trey with 5:29 remaining matched a career-high for the sophomore and opened SFA's lead to 40-30.

SFA's long-range shooting came through for the home squad in the third quarter, as the Ladyjacks converted on 5-8 attempts from beyond the arc and outscored the Colonels 25-16 in the quarter to lead 52-40 after three.

FOURTH QUARTER FORTITUDE
With a good lead intact, the Ladyjacks kept up the scoring to stave off any hope of a comeback for the visitors. Aaliyah Johnson six of her career-high 15 points in the quarter, overpowering Nicholls down low and helping SFA shoot 64 percent in the frame.

HAYES' MARK ON HISTORY
With her three-pointer with 2:37 remaining in the contest, Chanell Hayes moved into tenth on SFA's all-time made three-pointers list, passing Brittney Matthew (2011-15) with her 119^thmade three.

TOP PERFORMERS
Banfield led all scorers with a career-best mark of 18 points on 6-11 shooting (4-7 3-Pt). Aaliyah Johnson also set a new career-high with 15 points off the bench (7-9 FG), while Stephanie Visscher chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.

COACHING QUOTABLES
"For the most part we were solid", said SFA head coach Mark Kellogg. "Obviously ups and downs, runs both ways, they didn't get much going offensively in the first half but I thought we really battled defensively in the first half. We told them at the half to keep defending until we found some offensive rhythm, but defensively they're pretty good at taking you out of rhythm. Finally we got going, made some shots, hit some threes to distance it and did a good down the stretch to close it out."

- On holding Southland Conference leading scorer Cassidy Barrios in check:
"I thought we did a pretty good job (defensively) on Barrios, but then she stills ends up with 17 points and 12 rebounds. I thought we did a pretty solid job on her and never let her get comfortable", added Kellogg.

- On totaling 23 assists on 26 made shots:
"We got going there a bit in that second half, and that's our identity to keep the ball moving, find the extra pass and be unselfish", said Kellogg. "That's a fantastic statistic, I'd love that every night if we could, but I think we still lead our league in assists per game and tonight we were even better than we usually were in that regard."

- On Chanell Hayes moving into Top-10 at SFA in career 3-pt made:
"I hope she can enjoy that and realize that puts her in an elite group ", said Kellogg. "She's been a kid from day one that can really shoot it and get going and even the one she made tonight was a big time shot off that dribble. That's what she's capable of, she's a senior that's been through this and we rely on her in a lot of different ways, but leadership is obviously the main one and when she can relax and just get lost in the game is probably when she's at her best."

UP NEXT
The Ladyjacks will face Northwestern State on Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader with the SFA men's basketball team. Tip-off for the women's game is set for 2:00 p.m.

OF NOTE
* SFA's ten made three-pointers in the contest were the most by the Ladyjacks since the 76-34 win over Tulsa on November 24^th.
* The Ladyjacks led for 37 minutes of the contest, while the Colonels held the advantage for just 31 ticks of the game clock.
-SFA-