Women host defending champ UTA Saturday
1/22/2010 9:02:00 AM | Women's Basketball
After ending their eight-game losing streak in San Marcos last Wednesday, the Sam Houston State women play host to UT-Arlington Saturday at 2 p.m. in Johnson Coliseum.
The Mavericks are Southland Conference defending co-champions, tying for the 2009 title with UTSA. UT-Arlington has won the Southland women's basketball title three of the last five years (2005, 2007 and 2009).
The Mavericks are led by 5-8 Meghan Nelson who is averaging 16.6 points and 5-7 Tamara Simmons who is adding 11.0 points per contest. UT-Arlington owns a 7-10 season mark and stands 2-2 in the Southland race.
Sam Houston enters the contest with a 4-11 season record and an 1-2 mark in Southland Conference play. The Bearkats held off a furious comeback by Texas State Wednesday. Down 21 points in the second half, the Bobcats rallied to cut the margin to three points in the final seconds. But Sam Houston hung on for the 85-81 victory.
"We've been very proud of the way the team has kept its head up and battled through the last month and a half," Sam Houston head coach Brenda Nichols said. "The fought hard Wednesday in San Marcos and they're eager to get back on the court against a very good UT-Arlington team Saturday."
UT-Arlington leads the all-time women's basketball series with 37 victories to 12 for the Bearkats. The Mavericks have won the last 15 meetings between the pair including victories of 87-73 in Arlington and 83-65 in Huntsville last year. Sam Houston's last victory over UTA was a 72-62 victory in Huntsville in 2001.
Senior guard Brittany Brooks led the Bearkats with 21 points in the victory over Texas State Wednesday. Whitney Smith added 12 for Sam Houston.
Smith and Brooks continue to move up the Sam Houston women's basketball all-time scorers list.
Smith is the 10th Sam Houston State women's basketball player to score 1,000 or more career points. The senior has totaled 1,046 points in 100 games. Smith also ranks fifth in all-time rebounds at Sam Houston with 592.
Brooks stands 11th in Bearkat career scoring with 930 points. She stands fifth in all-time SHSU career assists with 313. She is five assists away from passing Cindy Hernandez (317 assists from 1990-91 to 1991-92) for fourth place all-time.
The 21-point performance at San Marcos Wednesday allowed Brooks to pass her head coach in the career standings. Nichols scored 923 points in 52 games in 1988 and 1989.
Also playing important roles for Sam Houston this season are seniors Ray Alexander and Therese Hager, 5-9 freshman Chanice Smith (8.3 points per game), 5-10 sophomore Khamra Echols (6.3), 6-2 sophomore Bre Agnew (4.9), 5-11 Sequeena Thomas (3.6) and 6-0 freshman Clarke Davis (4.0).
Tickets for Saturday's game are on-sale now on-line at www.gobearkats.com or at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729.
