Lamar Keeps One Game Lead in Southland Title Race

2/25/2010 3:24:00 AM

Lamar 79, UT Arlington 73
BEAUMONT, Texas - Jenna Plumley's career-high 30 points powered the Lamar University women's basketball team to a 79-73 come-from-behind win over visiting UT Arlington in a Southland Conference game at the Montagne Center on Wednesday night.

Plumley handed out 10 assists as she recorded her sixth double-double of the season for Lamar (21-6, 11-2), as the Lady Cardinals maintained a one-game advantage for first place overall in the conference with three games remaining.

Plumley drained six 3-pointers on the day, giving her 90 for the season, one off the Southland Conference record set by Lamar's Shawnta Vanzant in the 2000-01 season.

Brittney Williams added 20 points for Lamar, which outscored UT Arlington 23-7 over the final 4:28 of the game. The Lady Cardinals took the lead for good when Plumley drained a pair of free throws with 1:57 remaining to give Lamar a 69-68 edge.

Darika Hill added 10 points for Lamar, which posted its second come-from-behind win over UT Arlington this season. Lamar, which trailed 40-37 at intermission, is 6-6 when behind heading into the locker room.

Tamara Simmons led UT Arlington (12-14, 7-6) with 23 points. Meghan Nelson had 21 points and Shalyn Martin finished with 16 points for the Mavericks.

Lamar has a pair of crucial road contests coming up. The Lady Cardinals are at UTSA at 4 p.m. Saturday and at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. March 3. The Corpus Christi contest will be televised live on the Southland Conference network.

Central Arkansas 83, Nicholls 68
CONWAY, Ark. - After struggling with Nicholls and high-scoring guard Ricshanda Bickham for 24 minutes, Central Arkansas put together a 16-4 run in the second half and pulled away from the Colonels to cruise to an 83-68 win in the Farris Center on Wednesday.

With the win the Sugar Bears remain tied atop the Southland Conference East Division and tie the biggest turnaround in Southland history, matching North Texas' 14-game improvement in 1986. The Sugar Bears (20-6, 10-3 Southland) reach the 20-win plateau for the first time in NCAA Division I and pick up their 14th home victory of the year - the most in a regular season in school history.

"I think if you focus on the big picture a 20-win season for us this year is quite remarkable," UCA head coach Matt Daniel said. "I think if you look at where we were coming from, nobody would've predicted a 20-win season for us, so to even reach that - much less with three games still remaining - is pretty incredible. And to tie the Southland record for biggest turnaround in a year, and do it with the youngest team in the country, I think that speaks volumes about how far we've come and where we're headed. I've said it all along, this group came here to win championships and re-write record books and we tied another one tonight. It feels pretty good to be 20-6."

The Sugar Bears led the Lady Colonels (4-21, 1-12) by just five, 38-33, at halftime and found themselves in a battle as Bickham - the Southland's leading scorer in league play at 20.4 points per game - put up 19 in the first 18 minutes.

Leading 43-40 five minutes into the second half, UCA finally hit its stride and went on the 16-4 run that gave the Sugar Bears all the momentum and cushion they'd need to keep the Lady Colonels at bay.

Megan Herbert, who finished with a team-high 23 points and game-high 13 rebounds, got UCA going with a pair of baskets off of offensive rebounds on consecutive possessions. Westin Taylor hit a pair of 3s with a Nakeia Guiden layup in between, then another layup from Guiden and a steal and fast-break layup from Britney Gowans had the Sugar Bears up 59-44 with 11 minutes to go.

UCA kept control the rest of the way, building the lead to as many as 19 on a Herbert layup with 4:34 before a brief spurt by Nicholls cut it to 14. Chantel Moss' free throw with 15 seconds to go set the final margin and give UCA the victory. It is the 16th 20-win season in UCA history and the 7th since becoming an NCAA member in 1993-94

By finishing with 13 rebounds Herbert now has 367 on the season - assuring herself of the school record for season rebound average set 19 years ago by Checola Seals with 12.5 per game. Herbert, who currently leads the nation at 14.1 per game, could end the season with an average of no lower than 12.7.

Desiree' Rogers had 16 points for UCA, including 13 in the first half, making for the 15th time this season the freshman from Camden has reached double figures. Sophomore guard Marci Moffitt of Batesville tied a career high with 14 points, and sophomore guard Nakeia Guiden from Guy-Perkins added 10.

Gowans, playing with a protective mask after suffering a broken nose last week, led the Sugar Bears with four steals and added four assists, four rebounds and six points.

"Marci Moffitt stepped up really big and did a good job," Daniel said. "Britney Gowans stepped up defensively particularly in the second half and we had everybody but Micah Rice, who was under the weather, score for us tonight and that's a good output and nice balance."

Bickham scored a game-high 26 points to lead Nicholls, with only seven coming in the second half. Alisha Allen added 13 and Jamsine Hoskins had 12.

The Sugar Bears shot 50 percent for the game and held Nicholls to 38.2 percent. The Lady Colonels were just 19.2 percent (5 of 26) from the 3-point line.

The Sugar Bears will travel to Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday and go to Stephen F. Austin next Wednesday in a game with major implications in the Southland Conference and East Division title race. The Ladyjacks defeated Texas State on Wednesday to keep pace at 10-3 in the league.

Stephen F. Austin 95, Texas State 83
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Junior Chantol Drennan came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points to lead the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks past Texas State, 95-83, Wednesday evening in Nacogdoches. The Ladyjacks are 15-9 overall, and 10-3 in Southland Conference play.

The Bobcats opened the game on fire shooting 55 percent early. Texas State utilized the offense to build a seven-point first half lead, but the Ladyjacks battled back. Stephen F. Austin outscored its opponents 14-4 in the final four minutes of the half to take a four-point advantage into the locker room.

The Ladyjacks quickly built a 10-point advantage in the second half and never looked back. After shooting less than 35 percent in the opening half, SFA closed out the game hitting 16 of their last 32. Sparked by junior Chantol Drennan's career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds SFA pushed its lead to as many as 18 points in the second half. The Bobcats mounted a late charge cutting the gap to seven with less than four minutes remaining, but SFA hit its free throws down the stretch to push the lead back to double digits.

Stephen F. Austin once again used the strength of its bench, and its advantage on the glass to secure the win. The Ladyjacks' bench scored 41 points, and SFA pulled down 25 offensive rebounds which they converted into 25 points. Along with Drennan, four other Ladyjacks finished the game in double figures. Senior Whitney Cormier scored 15 points, while junior Ebony Alexander chipped in 13. Both Tammara Marion and Courtney Conwright each added 10. The Bobcats were led by Kelsey Krupa's 23 points.

Stephen F. Austin finished the game 33-of-81 (.407) from the floor, while the Bobcats connected on 47.7 percent of their shots. The Ladyjacks also out rebounded their guests, 51-40.

The Ladyjacks return to action Saturday when they travel to Corpus Christi, Texas to take on the Islanders. The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m. from the American Bank Center.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 75, Southeastern Louisiana 67
HAMMOND, La. - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team picked up another crucial Southland Conference victory on Wednesday night by beating Southeastern Louisiana by a 75-67 final at the University Center.

The Islanders are now 18-8 on the season and 10-3 in the Southland Conference. It is the first time in school history that A&M-Corpus Christi has won double-digit conference games. The Lady Lions move to 10-16 overall and 4-9 in Southland contests.

Shaye Montgomery led the team in scoring with 17 points on the night on 6-of-9 shooting and going 5-of-8 from behind the three-point line. Jade Davis finished with 14 points, Myeisha Myles had 12 and Adrienne Scott finished with 11 as the Islanders had four in double-digit points. Elisa Beagle led the team with eight rebounds in the game.

The two teams played close early in the first half before the Islanders built their lead up to as many as 16 points at 32-16 with 5:35 left in the period. The Lady Lions closed the lead to 10 points before A&M-Corpus Christi ended the half on a made Adrienne Scott jumper to make it 39-26 entering the break.

In the second half, the Lady Lions made it quite a game, getting it down to as many as six several times but were never able to get back to level with A&M-Corpus Christi to finish with a 75-67 final.

The Islanders return home for two of the most important games in their history as they face Stephen F. Austin on Saturday and Lamar next Wednesday. The game against SFA will be a battle of second place teams looking to keep just one game back of league-leading Lamar.

The Wednesday night game against the Lady Cardinals could possibly be the game that decides the conference championship. A&M-Corpus Christi is also looking to break the all-time attendance record of 4,510 fans at a women's game. The record was set against Fresno State in the WNIT game during the 2005-05 season.

UTSA 50, Northwestern State 48
NATCHITOCHES, La. - Junior Amber Gregg scored all of 11 her points in the second half to lead UTSA past Northwestern State, 50-48, in Southland Conference action on Wednesday night at Prather Coliseum.

"I thought our effort and heart came to life in the second half," head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair said. "We have to give Cierra a lot credit tonight, because to stepped into the starting role and did a great job. Amber also had a great game. She struggled in the first half, but had a strong second half to really get us going."

The Roadrunners, who have won their last eight games against the Lady Demons, improved to 15-11 overall and 9-4 in conference play, while Northwestern dropped to 13-13 on the season and 6-7 in league play.

Gregg was 0-of-4 from the floor in the opening half, but she heated up in the second fame going 4-for-6 shooting, including 2-of-3 from downtown, en route to her 11 point outing. Sophomore Whitney York led the team with 15 points, while junior Ashleigh Franklin registered her ninth double-double of the season with 10 and 10 rebounds.

Anne Cate Williams led all scorers with 24 points but was held to only seven in the second half.

UTSA scored the first five points to start the second half and make it a 26-25 Northwestern State lead. Brittiany Houston connected on two free throws that extended the Lady Demons lead to 32-27 with 12:01 to play. NSU posted its largest lead of the game at 41-35 on Brook Shepherd's 3-pointer off an inbound play with 7:58 to go.

The Roadrunners then turned a six-point deficit into a seven-point advantage with a 13-0 run over the next five minutes. Gregg paced the Runners with seven of the 13 points scored during that stretch.

Northwestern State got within two on Shepherd's driving layup with 54 seconds, but York knocked down two clutch freebies to make it a 50-46 margin with 15 ticks showing on the clock and would hold on for the win.

UTSA and Northwestern State opened the first 10 minutes of the first half going back and forth with neither team holding more than a two point lead. Sophomore Cierra Martin put the Roadrunners atop 14-12 with back-to-back layups at the 9-minute mark of the frame.

The Lady Demons put together seven straight points for the 21-16 advantage with 4:40 left in the stanza and then take a 26-20 halftime lead.

UTSA returns to the Convocation Center to host league leader Lamar on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. (please note the time change).

Sam Houston State 87, McNeese State 84
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Sophomore Bre Agnew scored a career high 21 points including a jumper with 1:32 to play for the go-ahead basket as Sam Houston defeated McNeese State 87-84 to clinch the Bearkats' first berth in the Southland Conference post-season women's tournament since 2004.

Sam Houston (9-16 6-7) had five players score in double figures as seniors Whitney Smith and Brittany Brooks each scored 15, another senior Ray Alexander added 14 points and freshman Chanice Smith totaled 14.

McNeese (6-20 2-11) was led by Kendra Wells with 31 points.

The contest was tied five times with six lead changes. McNeese led by as many as 10 points in the first half and held a 43-36 lead at intermission.

The Cowboys were up by five points, 73-68, with 3:16 to play when Sam Houston roared back with a 12-4 run. Agnew's jumper with 1:32 to play put Sam Houston up by two and Brittany Brooks scored on a 3-pointer to give the Kats a five-point lead.

The Bearkat women hit 31-of-70 for 41 percent shooting.

Sam Houston State now has won four of its last five games. The Bearkats continue a two-game road swing with a Southland Conference contest Saturday at Texas Hall in Arlington against UTA.