Women's basketball looks to clinch tournament berth
2/23/2010 10:17:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Sam Houston women's basketball team started the season with one goal -- earn its first spot in the State Farm Southland Conference Post-Season Classic tournament for the first time since 2004.
Wednesday night in Lake Charles, the Bearkat women can make that goal happen.
With Central Arkansas (9-3 in Southland action) in their final year before the Bears become post-season eligibile, Sam Houston State currently stands seventh in the league's overall standings. The top two finishers in both the East and West Divisions and the next four best records advance to the tournament to be played March 9-12 in Katy, TX.
A victory by Sam Houston, now 5-7 in league play after wins in three of their last four games, would knock McNeese (2-10) out of contention for post-season and seal the deal for the Kats.
"In December and January, when we had that tough string of road losses against teams from the Big 12, Mountain West and Conference USA, we kept telling the girls to keep their heads and keep working to improve," SHSU head coach Brenda Nichols said. "They did. What says more than anything about this team was last Saturday against UTSA when we went 5-for-30 in the first half and were only down by eight. That was because we were playing tough on defense. Once we started hitting, it became a dogfight and we ended up the winners."
In the Bearkats' last four games, their only loss was by one-point at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the team now currently in second place in the Southland West Division. Sam Houston rolled to upset victories over the No. 1 and 3 teams in the West, Lamar and UTSA last week at home.
"We've talked about getting to the post-season tournament all year," Nicholls said. "Now its in our reach. Once we're in the tournament, it's anybody's ball game. Every coach says that, but it's true."
Sam Houston's three four-year seniors all are averaging in double figures with Brittany Brooks hitting 14.3 points, Whitney Smith 12.1 and Ray Alexander 11.9. The Kats two other starters, Bre Agnew and Clarke Davis are adding 6.2 and 4.2 points per game and Chanice Smith and Khamra Echols are contributing 8.7 and 5.1 points, respectively, off the bench.
Kiara Johnson leads the Cowgirls in scoring with 13.4 points per game. Also averaging in double figures are Kenda Wells 12.6 and Candace LaCombe 10.2.
Following the game in Lake Charles Wednesday, the Sam Houston women will travel to Arlington to face UTA, then finish the last week of the regular season at home in Huntsville with Northwestern State and Texas State.
