KATY, Texas – After scoring 10 points in the first quarter and trailing Northwestern State by two in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals, Sam Houston State women's basketball coach Brenda Welch-Nichols had three words for her team.
“Feed the Beadle,” Welch-Nichols said. “We started getting the ball inside. When you finally realize when you pass the ball and you're not selfish, big things happen. They don't care who scores or who gets the assists. At the end of the game, they care that we keep advancing.”
Sam Houston downed the two-seeded Demons, 78-71, earning its second appearance in four years in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game. The seventh-seeded Bearkats will be pitted against No. 1 Central Arkansas on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. with CBS Sports Network carrying the broadcast.
The win against the Demons was the Kats third of the tournament, doubling the program's all-time wins at the event. Sam Houston entered the league tournament a combined 0-4 against Nicholls, Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State, and has used redemption as motivation.
“When we started conference, we took a few hits pretty hard,” Welch-Nichols said. “We weren't playing well as a team. As we kept grooming, we got tired of losing. When we knew we drew Nicholls and Stephen F. and Northwestern, we wanted to show we were a better team.”
Angela Beadle logged her seventh 20-point game this season and eighth straight double-double, finishing with 26 points and 10 rebounds. The point total was her second highest of the season, only behind the senior's 28 at Lamar 10 days prior.
Even while being limited with two early fouls, the second-team All-Southland selection got a big lift from a bench, outscoring NSU 11-5, including eight from Jasmin Anderson, who hit two big three-pointers.
“When I first came out, I was really frustrated,” Beadle said. “You never to take yourself out of the game. When one player is out, the bench comes in and get the job done. I am really proud of our team and the way they battled in the first half.”
In the second quarter, the Bearkats found their groove offensively, outscoring NSU 22-18 in the frame, helped by six points from senior Shernise Robertson who finished with 13 for her 27th double-digit game of the season and sixth straight.
The Bearkats matched their 22-point output in the third quarter, and clamped down defensively. Sam Houston held NSU scoreless for 3 ½ minutes and took an 11-point advantage with a Beadle layup to make it 49-38 with 2:31 remaining in the frame. Laurynn McGowen sunk a three-pointer from the left wing as time expired for a nine-point lead entering the final 10 minutes.
“It's a total team effort,” Welch-Nichols said. “These girls have definitely pulled together and are doing it at the right time. Everybody is doing their job and doing the little things. We talk about keeping the basics. We haven't done anything special, we're just playing well as a team.”
The final quarter would not go without theatrics against a team that concluded regular-season play 21st nationally in three-point percentage (36.4) and 26th in fewest turnovers (398). After maintaining a 14-point lead, its largest of the game, with 7:47 left, NSU clawed back, four times cutting the lead to five points, even putting the game as close as three with 2:22 remaining.
“I basically told them you better meet and great on defense,” Welch-Nichols said. “We knew they would come back at us. (Janelle) Perez is an outstanding young lady. She's a fighter. She will put the team on her back and go. At every timeout, I told them defense would win the game.”
When it mattered most, the Bearkats were clutch at the free-throw line, sinking 12 of 15 in the final 10 minutes, including a perfect 7 of 7 from Beadle. Six total Bearkats finished with eight points or more to help place the team one win shy of reaching the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Meanwhile, Central Arkansas enters the title game at an impressive 27-3 overall and 16-2 in league play, including a pair of wins against the Kats. Records aside, the Kats seem to have embraced their role and hope to showcase their improvements in front of a strong showing on Sunday.
“We definitely would love to see Huntsville just leave Huntsville and come down to Katy,” Welch-Nichols said. “In women's basketball, we have a group of fans that have been with us the whole way. We'll take anyone that wants to jump on our bandwagon right now. It's exciting to be the underdog.”
