Ladyjacks Complete Season Sweep with Victory over Lady Demons, 87-67

Saturday, February 16

Natchitoches, La.

1:00 PM

Stephen F. Austin

21-3, 12-0SLC

Northwestern State

8-16, 3-10SLC

Stephen F. Austin

Northwestern State

Ladyjacks Complete Season Sweep with Victory over Lady Demons, 87-67

2/16/2019 2:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SFA converts on 62 percent from the field to beat Lady Demons on the road

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NATCHITOCHES, La. – The second installment in the SFA-NSU rivalry matchup this season would not go like the first in several ways. The result, however, did not change, as the Ladyjacks prevailed for the 13^thstraight game on Saturday, 87-67. With the victory, SFA sweeps the season series with their Natchitoches rivals and improves to 21-3 on the season and 12-0 in conference play.

After connecting on a near-record 16 threes in their home contest against Northwestern State earlier this season, the Ladyjacks relied on a more balanced approach on the offensive end to continue its long winning streak. While SFA would take the lead early in the contest and ultimately lead for 34 minutes of the contest, the Lady Demons would scrape to within single-digits at multiple points throughout the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After falling behind 8-4 in the early going, the Ladyjacks went on a 14-3 run to take an 18-11 lead with under two minutes left to play in the first quarter. NSU's scoreless streak would expand north of three minutes in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, and SFA would tack on two more baskets for a 22-11 first quarter lead.

The Lady Demons responded with a run of their own in the opening minutes of the second quarter to trim the lead to 22-19. SFA would respond with three treys in quick succession and a bucket down low by Imani Johnson to push the lead back to double-digits and force an NSU timeout. The 10-2 run spanned two minutes of game play and put SFA ahead 35-23. A series of sloppy play and unforced errors caused the Ladyjacks to limp into halftime with a slimmer 40-33 lead after a 6-1 run by NSU.

An evenly matched third quarter saw the teams trade buckets through the first half of the frame, with the margin staying put at seven 51-44. From there, the 'Jacks would outscore the hosts 12-6 the rest of the way to lead 63-50 heading to the final quarter of play.

In the fourth, NSU sold out entirely for turnovers to try and close the gap, allowing the 'Jacks to score easily once they got past the early press. The 'Jacks maintained their accurate shooting in the final stanza, converting on 8-11 attempts from the field and outscoring the hosts 24-17 in the final stanza.

SFA TOP PERFORMERS
• Stephanie Visscher led the Ladyjacks with a career-high 21 points on 9-10 shooting from the field (3-4 3-Pt), hauling down six rebounds, dishing out four assists and coming up with two steals as well.
• Imani Johnson also chipped in 21 points and six rebounds for SFA, also notching three assists, three steals and a pair of blocks.
• Chanell Hayes scored 18 points and is now just six points away from 1000 for her career. She also registered five rebound and four assists.
• Aiyana Johnson was 5-5 from the field, corralled six rebounds and blocked a career-high four shots.

OF NOTE
• SFA shot 62.3 percent from the field in the contest, its ninth league game shooting 45 percent or better from the field and third shooting 60 percent or better.

• The Ladyjacks used their height advantage to great effect in the contest, pounding the ball inside for a total of 48 points in the paint. On the defensive end, the Ladyjacks swatted away eight shots to tie their season-high in the category.

• SFA improves to 26-5 in games played in the month of February under coach Mark Kellogg, including a 5-0 mark this season.

• Despite giving up a 17-6 edge to the Lady Demons in second chance points, the 'Jacks got out to a 16-6 edge in fast break points and scored 21 points off NSU turnovers in the contest.

UP NEXT
The Ladyjacks travel to Corpus Christi on Wednesday for a midweek matchup with the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Following the conclusion of that road slate, the 'Jacks return home to William R. Johnson Coliseum on Saturday for a rematch with the University of the Incarnate Word.

-SFA-