Ladyjacks Muzzle Huskies to Extend Winning Streak to 10 Games, 65-53

Wednesday, February 6

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:30 PM

Stephen F. Austin

Houston Baptist

SFA

Ladyjacks Muzzle Huskies to Extend Winning Streak to 10 Games, 65-53

2/6/2019 8:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team used yet another third quarter surge to defeat Houston Baptist by a 65-53 score inside William R. Johnson Coliseum on Wednesday night. The Ladyjacks trailed by a point at the halftime break but outscored the visitors 15-6 in the third quarter to seize control of the contest, which they would not relent for the remainder of the game. SFA improves to 18-3 overall and 9-0 in league play with the victory, while HBU drops to 7-13 overall and 2-8 in conference.

TOP SFA PERFORMERS
• Imani Johnson tallied a game-high 19 points to lead SFA, knocking down a career-best five threes to go along with five rebounds and a pair of assists.
• Chanell Hayes, Stephanie Visscher and BriAnna Mitchell each chipped in seven points for the Ladyjacks.
• Riley Harvey tallied six points on 3-5 shooting in her first action since December 15.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Ladyjacks and Huskies would open the game trading buckets back and forth, with Imani Johnson providing some early scoring with two quick treys. Despite that, the Ladyjacks would lead 20-19 after the opening quarter thanks to a five-point edge at the free throw stripe.

In the second quarter, HBU would outscore the 'Jacks 14-12 and retake the lead, albeit a narrow one, heading into the locker room. Marissa Banfield's layup off a feed by BriAnna Mitchell, one of her team-high four assists on the night, closed the gap to just 33-32 with seconds left on the clock.

The third quarter would be the decisive one yet again for SFA, as the 'Jacks scored 15 points in the frame while clamping down on HBU to the tune o just six points allowed. That nine-point edge allowed SFA to take a 47-39 lead heading into the final quarter, and consistent scoring the rest of the way kept HBU from getting any closer than five points in the final quarter, leading to a comfortable 65-53 victory.

TALE OF THE TAPE
The Ladyjacks did not shoot particularly well in the contest, converting on just 23-57 (40.4 percent) of shots from the field and 7-18 (38.9 percent) from beyond the arc. SFA did build up advantages in transition, with a 22-4 edge in points off turnovers and a 20-6 edge in fast break points.

OF NOTE
• With the victory, SFA records its fourth straight 10+ game winning streak under head coach Mark Kellogg in as many seasons. Kellogg becomes the first coach in program history to accomplish the feat in his/her first four seasons.

• SFA improves to 23-3 in Wednesday games under Mark Kellogg, including a 7-1 mark this season. The Ladyjacks also move to 22-5 in games played in February with Kellogg at the helm.

• The Ladyjacks now have four victories at William R. Johnson Coliseum in which they trailed at the half only to overcome the deficit and win the contest.

• SFA led in the contest for 24:10 of gameplay, compared to 14:04 for the Huskies.

• Still unbeaten at home, the Ladyjacks have now held 10 opponents under 60 points for the game inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.

COACHING QUOTABLES
On his team's performance in the victory:
"A litt bit of a struggle, to be honest. It was just a battle and we never found any rhythm offensively" opened Kellogg. "Credit Houston Baptist, they have a lot of size and length in there that bothered us for a long time. We knew that it could, we knew we probably needed to make some perimeter shots to spread them out. Didn't make as many as we should have, Imani got going a bit and that's what I like about our team in that we're versatile and have a player like Imani who can stretch you as a five. When we got stops and got out in transition we were pretty good, but we probably left 10 or 15 transition points there where we just didn't execute."

On hitting a fourth 10+ game winning streak in as many seasons:
"Well you've got to have pretty good players to do that, so it starts there", said Kellogg. "And then you just prepare, and you prepare the same way, you get in your routine ad you rely on your veteran leadership to not allow you to look past a game and you understand how eveyr game is really important. I think throught hat streak, part of that has always been in conference play, and it's hard to do that, to go on the road and string wins together no matter what league you play in, that's a difficult feat. I'm really proud of that, I don't think I've ever had that in my career even, any four seasons where you win double-digits games in a row, but that's kudos tot he players and the coaching staff for just buying in and believing in the culture and the structure."

UP NEXT
Wednesday's victory, combined with a Lamar victory over Abilene Christian, sets the stage for a clash of the Southland Conference unbeatens inside William R. Johnson Coliseum on Saturday. Lamar is 10-0 in Southland Conference play, while the Ladyjacks are 9-0.

-SFA-