Women travel to league-leader Lamar Wednesday
1/26/2010 8:34:00 AM | Women's Basketball
With a two-game winning streak of their own, the Sam Houston women face the hottest team in the Southland Conference Wednesday when they travel to Beaumont to face Lamar.
The Cardinals stand 5-0 atop the Southland West Division with the only perfect record in the league. Lamar stands 15-4 for the year. Leading scorers for Lamar are 5-4 Jenna Plumley with 13.8 points per game and 6-1 Kalis Loyd who is adding 13.4 points per contest.
The game will be broadcast live on KHVL 1490 AM in Huntsville.
Sam Houston is coming off two big wins after defeating Texas State 85-81 in San Marcos last Wednesday and UT-Arlington 77-75 in overtime Saturday afternoon. UTA is the defending Southland Conference co-champion and has won three of the last five league women's titles. The last time Sam Houston defeated the Mavericks was in 2001.
"Those were two tremendous wins for this team," Sam Houston head coach Brenda Nichols said. "I thought we'd be just celebrating when I got back to the locker room, but all the girls could talk about was getting ready for the Lamar game. They're ready to get out there and play again."
Lamar holds a narrow 19-18 advantage over Sam Houston in the all-time women's basketball series record between the two universities. The Bearkats and Cardinals split in 2009 with Sam Houston winning the first meeting 90-77 in Huntsville and Lamar avenging the loss 89-88 in overtime in Beaumont.
"Lamar was unbeaten when they came to Johnson last year and we knocked them off and they had to hit a last second shot in overtime in Beaumont to beat us," Nichols said. "This is going to be another battle."
Sam Houston's trio of four-year seniors is providing the leadership for the women's basketball team this year. Guards Brittany Brooks and Ray Alexander and forward Whitney Smith are combining for 36.9 points a game.
Brooks leads the team with a 12.9 average. Smith is scoring 12.4 points and leading the Kats with 7.7 rebounds per game. Alexander adds 11.6 points per contest.
Smith ranks 9th in Sam Houston career scoring. The senior has totaled 1,062 points. Smith also ranks fifth in all-time rebounds at Sam Houston with 612.
Brooks stands 11th in Bearkat career scoring with 942 points. She stands fourth in all-time SHSU career assists with 320.
All three played big roles in the victory over UTA Saturday. Alexander made layups with 11 seconds and three seconds remaining in overtime to provide the winning points. Smith forced overtime with a 10-foot jumper with two seconds to play to tie the contest 70-70 at the end of regulation. Brooks added 12 point.
"The seniors stepped up," Nichols said. "They understand about the rivalries with the teams in our league and they're doing a good job educating the younger players about just what these games mean."
Freshman Clarke Davis and sophomore Bre Agnew fill out the Bearkats' starting line-up.
The Sam Houston women return home Saturday, Jan. 23, for a 2 p.m. contest with UT-Arlington at Johnson Coliseum.
Tickets for the 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.
