Bearkats, UTSA battle for division leadership
1/27/2011 9:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sam Houston leads the Division with a 5-1 league mark and 14-5 season record. The Roadrunners are in second place with a 4-1 Southland record and 15-4 mark for the year.
The game is a rematch of the Southland Conference opener for both squads.
Chanice Smith scored 18 points and Sequeena Thomas added 17 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead Sam Houston to a 62-53 victory over UTSA in Huntsville Jan. 8.
The Bearats out-scored UTSA 18-8 in the final 8:47 of play. The lead changed hands six times during the contest with the Roadrunners' last lead at 45-44. Ashleigh Franklin led UTSA with 16 points and 19 rebounds. Britni Martin added 13 points and eight boards for Sam Houston. Neither team shot well, with Sam Houston going 22-of-68 from the field (32.4 percent) and UTSA 18-of-68 (26.5 percent).
The victory started a five-game winning streak for SHSU. Stephen F. Austin ended Sam Houston's hopes of a record 6-0 Southland start with a 70-63 victory over the Bearkats Wednesday in Nacogdoches. The 5-1 start to league play this year still ranks among the program's best in SHSU's 24 years in the Southland. The Kats also started the 1998 and 2000 seasons with 5-1 marks.
UTSA leads the all-time series with Sam Houston with 30 wins to the Kats' 13. From 2001 to last season, the Roadrunners ran off 17 consecutive victories over SHSU. The Bearkat women ended that streak with a 73-72 overtime victory in Huntsville in 2010 then added another win 62-53 in Huntsville Jan. 8. Sam Houston has lost nine straight at the Convocation Center. The Kats' last victory in San Antonio was in 2000 by a 62-55 score.
Although the Bearkats were predicted to finish in sixth place in the Southland West in the annual preseason poll of the league's head coaches last October, Sam Houston ended pre-Southland play with the best non-conference record in the division. The Bearkats opened their schedule with five wins in their first six games, the program's best start since 1994.
Three Sam Houston players rank among the top 20 scorers in the Southland Conference. All three are sophomores. Britni Martin ranks third in the Southland with a 16.2 scoring mean. Sequeena Thomas stands seventh in the league in scoring (14.6) and second in rebounds (10.3). Chanice Smith is averaging 11.6 points per game. The trio has combined for 44 double figure scoring performances this season -- 16 by Martin, 14 each by Thomas and Smith.
Both Martin and Thomas have earned Southland Conference "Player of the Week" honors this year. Martin earned her award after a 37-point output in a victory over Charleston Southland that came within one point of tying the school single game scoring mark.
Thomas garnered the honor after posting career highs of 18 rebounds and six blocks in the victory over UTSA Saturday. Thomas scored a career high of 26 points in the victory at Nicholls Saturday.
Junior Khamra Echols and sophomore Clarke Davis complete the Bearkats' probable starting lineup. Echols ranks fourth in the Southland in assists this season with 4.4 per game.
During the 5-0 Southland start, the Bearkat women outscored their opponents 75.0 points per game to 61.2 points per contest.
With 617 career points in her two years of play as a Bearkat, Martin stands 31st in Sam Houston women's career scoring.
