SLC Championship Bracket
SAN ANTONIO – Head coach
Royce Chadwick broke the record for most Southland Conference victories in a coaching career Saturday in a 60-55 win for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program over UIW at the McDermott Center.
Additionally, A&M-Corpus Christi (19-9, 11-3 SLC) clinched a double-bye to the semifinals of the SLC Championship and earned the No. 2 seed.
Chadwick's 211 SLC wins surpassed James Smith's mark of 210 at Northwestern State from 1987-04. Chadwick's career SLC record is 211-100 including 13 wins at Sam Houston, 111 at Stephen F. Austin and 87 at A&M-Corpus Christi. Chadwick also reached the 700-win total in his career earlier this season and is up to 708.
The Islanders trailed 43-39 at the end of three quarters when they outscored the Cardinals (9-16, 5-9 SLC) in the fourth 21-12. A&M-Corpus Christi shot 7-of-11 (.636) from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line in the fourth.
A&M-Corpus Christi outrebounded UIW 45-36. Playing a big role in that was junior
Alecia Westbrook who tallied 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Also in double-figures was senior
Makinna Serrata with 14 points. Freshman
Maya Ellis contributed with a big eight points off the bench.
UIW was guided by Jaaucklyn Moore's 18 points in 40 minutes. Tiana Gardner finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Islanders started behind 9-4 in the first quarter when sophomore
Nabaweeyah McGill made a lay-up at the 5:02 mark. Still trailing 13-8, A&M-Corpus Christi scored the final five points including a buzzer-beating lay-in by McGill to tie it 13-13.
A&M-Corpus Christi trailed 18-16 in the second when Ellis scored seven consecutive points including a three and a pair of running lay-ups to lead 23-18 at the 3:59 mark. A pair of free throws by junior
Hayle Campbell kept the Islanders up 29-24. The Cardinals scored the final two points of the half, but the Islanders were in front 29-26 at the intermission.
A&M-Corpus Christi led 34-30 with 5:50 to go in the third after free throws by Westbrook. Though, the Cardinals scored the next five points to take their first lead of the half 35-34 with 4:17 left. UIW extended it to 43-38 and the Islanders called timeout with 1:20 remaining. A&M-Corpus Christi was down 43-39 at the end of three.
The Islanders scored the first five points of the fourth quarter and regained the lead 44-43 after an old-fashion three-point play by Westbrook with 8:18 to go. A basket in transition by Serrata made it 48-44 with 6:51 left. Serrata hit another jumper to lead 54-49 with 2:07 remaining.
With 21.0 seconds, UIW converted a four-point play with a three-pointer and a foul to trail 56-55. The Cardinals fouled and Westbrook made two free throws to make it 58-55 with 18.4 seconds. The Islanders got a stop defensively with 5.0 seconds and UIW was forced to foul.
A&M-Corpus Christi will await its opponent in the semifinals of the SLC Championship on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
NOTES
- The Islanders posted their fourth win of the season against UIW. The two teams played a pair of non-conference games after the SLC Preseason Tipoff was canceled on the women's side. A&M-Corpus Christi is 17-2 all-time against UIW and have won the last seven meetings.
- The Islanders have more-than tripled their win total from last season when they finished 6-13.
- The Islanders have been stout defensively all season and held the opposition to 60 points or less in 12 of 14 conference games.
- Westbrook entered the game top-30 in the nation in rebounding (10.3 rpg) and will increase her average with 12. It was her 18th career double-double and 10th this season. It was also her fourth 20-plus scoring outing of the year as she was two points shy of her career-high.
- Serrata notched her 32nd career double-figure scoring game, 20th this year and 10th in a row. She entered the game ranked fourth in the SLC in field goal percentage (.495) and was 5-of-10 from the floor.
- Ellis' eight points were a conference-high. It was the second-most of her career behind a 13-point performance against St. Thomas.
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