McNeese
McNeese survives Bearkat rally 71-66
2/2/2011 9:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Led by twins Ashlyn Baggett and Caitlyn Baggett, who scored 20 and 17 points, respectively, McNeese held off a rally by Sam Houston State for a 71-66 Southland Conference women's basketball victory Wednesday night.
Down 22 points late in the first period and 46-26 at intermission, Sam Houston fought by to take a 57-55 lead on a lay-up by Nyha Carter with 5:57 to play. Caitlyn Baggett nailed a three-pointer with 5:11 to play to put McNeese back in front and the Cowgirls held the lead the rest of the way.
The victory kept McNeese in first place in the Southland Conference East Division with a 7-1 record. The Cowgirls are 15-6 for the year. Sam Houston drops to 11-11 for the season and 5-3 in Southland Conference play.
Britni Martin led Sam Houston with 16 points. Clarke Davis scored 11 and Sequeena Thomas added 10.
"We left it all out on the floor," said Bearkats sophomore guard Chanice Smith. "It would've been nice to come away with a win, but you can't go back now."
In the first half, the Bearkats couldn't get shots to drop, were dominated on the glass and seemingly couldn't contain McNeese's speedy guards. That all changed in the second half.
On the Cowgirls' first possession of the second half, Smith stole the ball away and went coast to coast for a layup, which seemed to ignite the Bearkats, who went on a series of runs to pull closer and closer.
In the first 12 minutes of the second half, Sam Houston outscored the Cowgirls 24-6 and pulled to within 52-50.
"Basically, we had to come out with some fire. We were down by 20 at half," Smith said. "We didn't have anything to lose. We just had to come out with some intensity and play defense."
A few minutes later, the Bearkats came all the way back and pulled even with McNeese (7-1, 15-6) at 55-55 on a 3-pointer from junior guard Khamra Echols.
After denying the Cowgirls points on the next possession, Sam Houston took the lead for the first time on a layup from freshman post Nyha Carter on a putback with less than six minutes to play.
"It is pretty tiring," said Smith, who scored crucial baskets to help cut into the deficit. "All the intensity and strength and adrenaline, you've got to use all you've got left and put it on the floor. That's what we did."
But the lead wouldn't hold.
McNeese guards Caitlyn Baggett and Ne'Aisha Anderson hit back-to-back treys to give the Cowgirls the lead for good.
With 11 seconds to play, the Bearkats trailed 69-66. Coming out of a timeout, Sam Houston looked to tie the game, but sophomore post Sequeena Thomas' 3-point try was a little long.
"We have some good shooters and we were looking to tie the game with that much time left," Smith said. "We had tried to go to the basket earlier, but we had a turnover, so we had to go for a 3."
McNeese forward Kendra Wells came up with the rebound and the Cowgirls were able to hold on. The loss was the Bearkats' third straight after winning the first five SLC contests.
"We've just got to come out and play from the jump like we did when we were 5-0. We did that in the second half today," Smith added. "We've just got to take the loss and move on to the next game. There's still a long way to go before the conference tournament and we have to keep working toward that."
Sam Houston will seek to end the three-game Southland skid Saturday when the women travel to Hammond, La., to battle Southeastern Louisiana.
