Five Ladyjacks Record Double-Digit Points in Home Win

Thursday, January 4

Nacogdoches, TX

6:30 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

9-5,3-0WAC

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

1-11,0-3WAC

UTRGV

SFA

Five Ladyjacks Record Double-Digit Points in Home Win

1/4/2024 8:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications

NACOGDOCHES, Texas. - The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team (9-5, 3-0) pulled away late in the fourth quarter from the UTRGV Vaqueros (1-11, 0-3) to help secure their third straight conference win and record their fourth home win of the season with a double-digit 79-69 win.

SFA was looking to continue their strong start to conference play as they played host the UTRGV Vaqueros on Thursday evening. The first quarter saw the two teams go back and forth on baskets, as Kurstyn Harden would score three straight points to get SFA on the board early for their first points of the contest. Trailing 4-3 four minutes into the first, Destini Lombard would follow suit of Harden and make back-to-back baskets and push SFA ahead 7-4. The three-point shooting for SFA began to heat up midway through the first as Tyler McCliment-Call and Zoe Nelson hit back-to-back triples for the Ladyjacks and SFA suddenly found themselves with a commanding 13-4 lead. However, the next five minutes would belong almost solely to UTRGV as they would hit three triples of their own and quickly erased a nine-point deficit into a two-point lead thanks to a 13-2 scoring run. However, Kurstyn Harden capped off her strong first quarter with a layup with under 30 seconds left to break a 17-17 tie and give SFA a 19-17 lead after the first quarter.

Zoe Nelson scored the first points of the second quarter for SFA as she would knock down a floating jump shot to give SFA a 21-17 lead early into the second quarter. The second quarter saw a flurry of scoring for both teams as SFA would go 6/6 from the free-throw line in addition to Avery VanSickle hitting a pair of baskets including a triple of her own as both schools exchanged baskets, but SFA still held a 32-28 lead halfway through the second. Trinity Moore and Zoe Nelson hit back-to-back baskets to push SFA to their second largest lead of the game at 36-28. However, the Vaqueros refused to go down without a fight as they went on a 7-2 scoring run of their own and continued to stay within striking distance of the Ladyjacks trailing 38-35 with a minute left in the second. SFA would once again get the last say of scoring in the quarter as Lydia Cooke-Wiggins would drain a pair of free-throws with 12 seconds left to maintain SFA's lead at halftime at 40-35.

These two teams continued to lock horns and exchange baskets in the second half as SFA continued to hold a slim 45-43 lead over UTRGV halfway through the third. Tyler McCliment-Call continued to flash her shooting range as she drained her second three-pointer halfway through the third to give SFA a 48-43 lead. However, the Vaqueros once again had an answer for SFA as they would quickly respond with a 9-0 scoring run of their own and suddenly found themselves ahead 52-48 with less than two minutes left in the third. Lydia Cooke-Wiggins would single handily will SFA back into the lead as she rattled off three straight points of her own, before dishing out her second assist of the game on a Zoe Nelson step-back jumper to help regain SFA's lead at 53-52. A Zoe Nelson basket with 17 seconds left gave SFA a three-point lead, however, the Vaqueros would be the last team to score in this quarter as Jayda Holiman would drain a free-throw with less than five seconds left to keep SFA's lead at 55-53 heading into the fourth quarter.

UTRGV started the fourth with a quick jumper just 15 seconds in to tie the game at 55, before Tyler McCliment-Call had a response of her own with a layup off the glass to help spark a 6-0 scoring run capped by Destini Lombard recording a steal and taking it coast-to-coast for a fast-break layup to push SFA ahead 61-55 three minutes into the fourth. The two teams would again exchange baskets at an even pace, however, the Vaqueros would continue to hang around as they rallied from separate five-point, and four-point deficits to pull within a single point of the Ladyjacks at 65-64 thanks to a Jayda Holiman triple with three minutes remaining. Lydia Cooke-Wiggins continued her strong second half as she would bank home a layup with two minutes remaining to push SFA back to a three-point lead at 67-64. A minute later, Zoe Nelson would surpass the 20-point mark for the game as she would grab her 14th rebound of the game and take it all the way herself for a layup. Destini Lombard would help push SFA farther ahead thanks to a strong and-one play that saw her make the basket and the free-throw to give SFA a 72-65 lead with one minute left. After a UTRGV layup cut the SFA lead back to five, Lydia Cooke-Wiggins would drain both her free-throws to keep SFA's lead at seven with a 74-67 lead. SFA's free-throw shooting over the final 30 seconds of the game helped them to pull away late from the Vaqueros as they would go 5/6 from the free-throw line to help seal a 79-69 home win over UTRGV.

Another selfless day of scoring helped lead the Ladyjacks to their third straight conference win as five different 'Jacks finished in double-figures. Zoe Nelson led the way for SFA as she put together a dominant all-around performance that saw her record a double-double thanks to leading the Ladyjacks in scoring with 21 points, while leading the team with 14 rebounds as well. Kurstyn Harden finished second on the team in scoring as she fell just short of joining Nelson with a double-double, as Harden finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Destini Lombard was the third Ladyjack to finish in double-figures as she recorded 13 points while continuing to contribute significantly on the defensive side as she recorded a block and led the team with five steals. Lydia Cooke-Wiggins was a key factor for the Ladyjacks down the stretch as she went a perfect 9/9 from the charity stripe in route to a solid 13-point performance. Tyler McCliment-Call led the way from downtown for SFA as she drained a pair of triples and contributed all over the court as she stuffed the stat sheet with eight rebounds, an assist, and three steals in addition to her 11 points.

The Ladyjacks had a strong day shooting from the free-throw line as they made 19 total free-throws and shot over 75% from the charity stripe for the game, while shooting over 40% from the field. The Ladyjacks maintained their lead for the majority of the game as they held a lead for over 81% of the game, which featured five different lead changes and three different times the score was tied. The Ladyjack defense continued to have another strong showing as they recorded 13 steals and were able to turn those into 18 points off turnovers. The Ladyjacks recorded their fourth straight game with over 30 points in the paint with 34 tonight, while recording 19 second-chance points thanks to 16 offensive rebounds.

Stephen F. Austin will carry an 9-5 overall record into their next game as they will hit the road and travel to Arlington, to square off against the UTA Mavericks in an afternoon road-conference showdown on Saturday, January 6th at 2:00 p.m. CST.