SFA Tops WBB with Nation's Best Mark from 3-Point

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A late fourth-quarter push by the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team fell short on Saturday at the American Bank Center, as Stephen F. Austin snapped the three-game winning streak for the Islanders (6-14, 3-6) with a 71-66 victory.

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"If you had told me that we would force them into 20-plus turnovers and hold them to single-digit offensive rebounds, I would have said that we had a great chance to win the game," head coach Royce Chadwick said after the game. "We didn't defend the 3-point line like we wanted to. They had some big time players hit some big time shots.

"We did a good job at contesting some of those shots, but they really beat us at the three-point line. We need to do a better job of getting a hand out in their faces and limiting their open opportunities from behind the arc. We need to do a better job of limiting that when we play them the next time."

Camesha Davis came out as the low post presence in the first half for the blue and green with 10 of her team-high 17 points coming in the first two periods, including a buzzer beating shot at the end of the second quarter.

The Islanders gave up eight first half turnovers against an SFA (9-10, 3-5) squad that averaged 19.6 opponent turnovers coming into the game, finishing the game with a 26-15 advantage in the turnover column and a 24-10 lead in points off turnovers.

In a back-and-forth first half that saw four lead changes, the Islanders shot 32.3-percent, while the Lady Jacks connected on 50-percent of their shots and were 6-of-8 from behind the arc.

A&M-Corpus Christi trailed by three points coming out of the halftime break, but missed several close shots early in the third quarter. SFA countered to open a seven-point lead at the 5:32 mark of the period, but Kassie Jones and Mykayla Flores teamed up to record all the points in a 7-0 run for the blue and green to tie the game.

Streaky shooting in the fourth quarter proved to be key for SFA to establish an 11-point lead with 3:34 remaining. The visitors connected on five 3-pointers in the final stanza, as a part of a 13-of-17 performance, which stands alone as the best outing from behind the arc in the nation this season.

Looking to break an 0-12 mark when trailing going into the final frame, the Islanders upperclassmen of Davis, Jennifer Ramirez and Shola Adebayo sparked a 9-1 run to cut the lead to three points, but four free throws from Taylor Schippers gave the Ladyjacks enough distance to hold onto their ninth win of the season.

Stephen F. Austin finished the game shooting 51-percent from the field and 76.5-percent from the arc, which is the best opponent performance since UT-Arlington shot 80-percent on Feb. 4, 2009

DAVIS DOUBLE-DOUBLE

• With 17 points and 15 rebounds, Camesha Davis notched her second double-double of the season.
• Davis now stands in seventh all-time with seven career double-doubles.
• The 15 boards set a new team season high and were four away from the all-time record of 19.
• This season, the Desoto native is averaging 7.7 points and seven rebounds, which ranks fourth on the team in scoring and first on the glass.

NOTABLE STATS

• The Islanders posted 15 steals on 25 Ladyjacks turnovers, which is the most since the blue and green set the season high against Northwestern State on Jan. 13.
• 15 assists for A&M-Corpus Christi were the second most this season, behind a season-high 20 against Lamar on Jan. 7.
• Three Islanders paced the blue and green with at least 10 points with Davis' 17, Shola Adebayo recorded 13 and Kre'Ana Henry chipped in 10.
• Ramirez, Adebayo and Mykayla Flores finished the game with four assists apiece, which is the first time that a trio of Islanders have registered more than three assists in a contest.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Islanders will play game two of their three-game homestand on Wednesday at the Dugan Wellness Center against Houston Baptist for a 7 p.m. tip.