Sam Houston challenges Demons on road Monday
1/4/2016 3:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
MONDAY NIGHT GAME
Sam Houston versus Northwestern State, 5:30 p.m.
Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, LA.
Live play-by-play on KSAM 101.7 FM
BEARKATS ONE OF FIVE OPENING GAME WINNERS
Sam Houston defeated Incarnate Word 65-60 Saturday to stand as one of five teams that earned victories in their Southland Conference openers Saturday. Northwestern State, the Kats' opponent Monday night in Louisiana, also is in the group. Abilene Christian, Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin join the Sam women and the Demons in first place in the league. The Bearkats bring a 5-6 overall record into Monday's contest while the Demons stand 7-5 for the year.
DEMONS LEAD ALL-TIME WOMEN'S SERIES
Northwestern State leads the all-time women's basketball series with Sam Houston with 37 victories to the Bearkats' 16. The Demons defeated the Kats 66-57 last year in Huntsville. The pair split in 2014 with Northwestern State winning 78-59 in Natchitoches and Sam Houston taking the rematch 57-53 in Huntsville. The Sam women have not won in Natchitoches since an 84-65 victory in 2004.
NORTHWESTERN STATE SCOUTING REPORT
The Demons defeated Houston Baptist 55-44 in their Southland Conference opener Saturday. Northwestern State own a 7-5 overall record with all seven wins coming at home in Prather Coliseum. The Demons come into Monday's contest with a four-game winning streak.
Beatrice Attura, a 5-6 junior guard, leads Northwestern State with 16.3 points per game. Janelle Perez, a 5-2 senior guard, adds 12.3 points per contest. Tia Youngblood, a 5-10 sophomore forward, and Cheyenne Brown, a 6-2 freshman post player, given the Demons a formidable inside attack.
SAM HOUSTON IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
The Bearkat women posted a 4-6 record in the non-conference portion of their 2015-16 schedule. The victory total included a pair of road victories with the Kats defeating LIU-Brooklyn 63-56 in New York and Texas Southern 53-51 in Houston. Sam Houston posted home victories over Our Lady of the Lake and LSU-Alexandria.
ANGELA BEADLE JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB
Senior center Angela Beadle has become the 16th Sam Houston women's basketball player to score 1,000 career points. With 18 points Saturday at UIW, her career mark stands at 1,002 points. The 2014 All-Southland Conference selection stands fourth in Bearkat women's career rebounding with a total of 776 boards and third in SHSU career blocked shots with 140.
SHERNISE ROBERTSON HITS SEASON SCORING HIGH
Senior guard Shernise Robertson scored 24 points to lead the Kats in their 65-60 victory at Incarnate Word last Saturday. The point total is her best this season. Sixteen of her 24 points came in the second half as Sam Houston overcame a 31-24 halftime deficit. The Kats out-scored the Cardinals 17-7 in the third period to take control of the game.
COACH BRENDA WELCH-NICHOLS ON MONDAY NIGHT
“Northwestern State has an outstanding program and will be tough to beat, especially on their home floor. To be successful, we need to play as a team. We need to box out, rebound, run the offense and hit the post. If we plays as team we can win as a team. Our post players (Angela Beadle and Shadijah Moore) are playing extremely big right now. We're excited about Angela getting her 1,000th point. And Shernise Robertson … she just plays with a true grit spirit.”
NEWCOMERS ADDING BIG STATS
Two freshmen guards, Laurynn McGowen and Kamry Orr, have brought addition scoring punch to the Bearkat offense. McGowen is averaging 8.1 points while Orr adds 5.7 per game. McGowen has scored in double figures in five games including a season best of 17 points against LSU-Alexandria. Orr's top game of 11 points came in the Kats' season opener at TCU.
HEAD COACH PASSES CENTURY WINS MARK
Brenda Welch-Nichols became the second coach in Sam Houston women's basketball history to direct the Bearkats to 100 victories with the squad's win over Our Lady of the Lake November 20. A former All-Southland performance for Sam Houston, Welch-Nichols now has 103 wins as the university's women's coach. The late Rebecca Bilsing totaled 133 coaching victories from 1974 to 1982.
TWO KATS AMONG SOUTHLAND LEADERS
Guard Shernise Robertson and center Angela Beadle rank fifth and 16th, respectively, in Southland scoring with averages of 14.8 and 7.3 points per game. Beadle is the league's sixth-leading rebounder with 7.3 boards per contest.Robertson led the Southland in scoring as a junior last season.
BEARKATS HAVE WON THREE ON ROAD
The Sam Houston women have won three games on the road, all with strong comebacks in the final minutes for victories. The games marked the team's first road wins since last January. First, the Bearkats defeated LIU-Brooklyn 63-56 in New York. Tied 51-51 with 5:40 to play Angela Beadle led a 7-0 Sam Houston run then held off an LIU rally to pick up the Sam women's first road victory since last January. Trailing by as many as 12 points at Texas Southern, Shernise Robertson sparked a comeback that saw the senior guard sink the game-winner with four seconds to play in a 53-51 victory. Saturday, in a 65-60 victory at Incarnate Word, Robertson scored 16 of her 24 points in the second half to overcome a 31-24 halftime deficit.
