Women basketball battles UTSA Saturday
2/19/2010 3:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Winners in two of their last three games, the Sam Houston women's basketball team takes on UTSA Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats shocked the Southland Conference with a 73-65 upset of league leader Lamar Wednesday night, throwing the conference race into disarray and helping Sam Houston's chances of earning its first women's basketball post season tournament berth since 2004.
"That was such a great win for us Wednesday," SHSU head coach Brenda Nichols. "We've been telling the girls they are capable of beating anybody in this league and Wednesday they proved it. A big key for us was the way we stayed focused for 40 minutes. The kids are excited about getting out on the court Saturday with UTSA."
The Roadrunners were one of the Southland teams who benefited from Sam Houston knocking off Lamar. UTSA now stands tied with A&M-Corpus Christi, one game back of 9-2 Lamar with identical 8-3 records.
UTSA stands 14-10 for the season. The Roadrunners have three players averaging in double figures with 5-5 Whitney York with 13.9 points, 5-6 Ashleigh Franklin 11.5 and 5-9 Judy Jones 11.0.
The Roadrunners rolled up a 74-55 victory over Sam Houston in the pair's previous meeting in San Antonio on Feb. 3. Since then UTSA has won three of its last four games.
"UTSA has another strong team this year," Nichols said. "We have to play aggressive defense like we did Wednesday against Lamar and not let them have any easy shots."
Sam Houston's two top scorers, senior forward Whitney Smith and senior guard Brittany Brooks, continue to climb in the all-time Bearkat women's scoring ranks.
Smith ranks No. 5 in SHSU career scoring with 1,149 points. Brook now stands No. 11 all-time at Sam Houston with 1,049 points. Only once before, in 1982, have two players from Sam Houston reached the 1,000 point career mark in the same season.
Brooks leads the team this year with a 13.6 average. Smith is scoring 12.3 points and leading the Kats with 7.4 r ebounds per game. Senior guard Ray Alexander adds 11.8 points per contest.
Also playing important roles for Sam Houston this season are 5-9 freshman Chanice Smith (8.25 points per game), 6-2 sophomore Bre Agnew (5.7), 5-10 sophomore Khamra Echols (5.2), 6-0 freshman Clarke Davis (4.0) and 5-11 Sequeena Thomas (3.8). Agnew and Clarke join the three fourth-year seniors in the Bearkat starting lineup.
Sam Houston currently stands fifth in the Southland West Division at 7-16 for the year and 4-7 in conference play. Currently the Kats rank among the top eight teams eligible for post-season play at the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament in Katy March 9-12. The Bearkats have three home games and two road contests left during the regular season.
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.
