Lydia Gonzales scored 14 points and Whitney Smith added 10 as the Sam Houston State womens fell to South Alabama 72-54 in a non-conference basketball game Sunday afternoon in Mobile, AL
Sally Nettles led South Alabama with 18 points while RaShunda Sippio added 14. With the victory, the Jaguars upped their season record to 2-0. Sam Houston State fell to 0-2.
South Alabama took advantage of poor Bearkat shooting as Sam Houston hit only 30 per cent from the floor, going 21 of 70 from the field. The Jaguars netted 29 of their 70 shots to shoot 41.4 per cent.
The Bearkats held their own under the boards, pulling down 47 rebounds to 48 for USA. Gonzales and Smith each had eight boards to lead Sam Houston State.
South Alabama led from buzzer to buzzer. The Bearkats pulled to within four points, 10-6 with 12:54 to play in the first half on a jumper by Smith. But the Jaguars went on a 23-7 run to build a 20 point lead, 33-13. South Alabama led 35-17 at the intermission.
Sam Houston State will play its home opener Thursday night at Johnson Coliseum when the Bearkats play host to the University of North Texas Eagles. Game time is 7 p.m.
The South Alabama game was the second of two games Sam Houston State played on its first road trip of the 2007-08 season. Friday,
Pauline Love scored 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Southern Mississippi to an 87-69 women's basketball victory over Sam Houston State as both teams opened the 2007-08 season in Hattiesburg, MS.
Whitney Smith led Sam Houston State with 15 points. Britany Harris scored 13, Brittany Brooks 11, and Lydia Gonzales 10 to give the Bearkats four players in double figures. Five Eagles scored in double.
Southern Mississippi (1-0) led by double digits for a good portion of the contest, but the Bearkats (0-1) made a run during the midway point of the second half. An 8-0 spurt cut Southern Miss' advantage to seven but that was as close as the visitors got the rest of the way. Love tallied 16 of her point total over the final 20 minutes, while a good pass to Biland under the goal for a bucket with 6:28 left pushed the margin to 69-60 and helped stem Sam Houston's momentum.
The Eagles had jumped out to a 45-27 advantate at the intermission after outscoring the Kats 36-18 over the final 14-plus minutes of the opening half.
The score was tied at 9-9 before the Lady Eagles scored 12 straight points. Biland started the spurt with a 3-pointer and Washington added a pair of field goals and a free throw and Southern Miss took a 21-9 advantage with 11:42 remaining in the opening period.
The Kats scored the next four points to cut the margin to eight, but the home squad tallied the next six points and did not let the lead dip below double digits the remainder of the half..
Whitney Smith led Sam Houston State with 15 points, while Britany Harris recorded 13, Brittney
Southern Miss hit 32-of-64 shots for 50 percent in the contest and scored 46 points in the paint.
