Good stuff. Looking forward to matching the guy's energy from last night. Axe 'em.
Photo by sfasYOU
Stephen F. Austin Women's Basketball
Ladyjacks to begin their run at NCAA Tournament berth in Katy
Well, here we are. After a 14-game winning streak and a tumultuous ending to the season thereafter, the Ladyjacks stuck their finish to the regular season with the #3 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament.
The Ladyjacks will look to wreak some havoc at the Merrell Center in Katy beginning on Friday against McNeese, fresh off of their hardnosed win over Nicholls. All eyes from the SFA faithful will be on this game, but hopefully their trek won’t end until Sunday when the streamers make their way down around the newest SLC Tournament Champions.
It’s been more than a decade since that time has come for the women’s basketball team that continuously makes it back to Katy. Twice in the last four years the Ladyjacks have emerged as regular season champions only to be upset in the conference postseason. Exorcising the demons of the Merrell Center has always been the season's goal for this bunch.
The last SLC tournament trophy hoisted by the women’s team from SFA was in Nacogdoches and had the year 2006 written on it, two years prior to the tournament's move to the Merrell Center. Stephen F. Austin State University is known for a lot of things, and prior to the 2003 season, one of those things was collegiate women’s basketball. SFA had won 14 of the previous 15 Southland titles. Dare ask the question: what keeps this era of Ladyjacks from beginning a tradition of that sort again?
Coach Mark Kellogg has proven in his short time in Nacogdoches to be a remarkable leader at the helm, and is accompanied by a phenomenal staff and with young talent. The Ladyjacks have had the worst of fortunes in Katy of late, but if there were ever a team to break out of that slump, this just might be that one.
As is the “the standard and the expectation” of the program per Coach Kellogg, nothing less than an NCAA Tournament berth will suffice for the fans that fill William R. Johnson Coliseum. Without senior Brentney Branch on the roster (who recently left the team), SFA will look to work inside more and use their 6-foot and taller paint players to muscle opportunities inside. If Riley Harvey and Lovisa Brunnberg can both get things going like they have towards the end of the season, the affects of losing Branch's three-pointers could partly mitigated.
After beating Sam Houston State in the regular season finale, Coach Kellogg admitted that there wasn’t much of a flow to the game. His confidence in the bench has certainly proved a positive for the Ladyjacks, though. The ladies from SFA haven’t protected the ball particularly well, but are ball hawks pretty much every night on the defensive end. Should SFA survive the first round, that may be the key to knocking down the top two seeds.
The ladies of McNeese State will be a lot tougher to handle than many may realize, given their interior rigidity and the momentum of coming off a win the night prior. The Ladyjacks got the win handily in their only matchup of the regular season, thrashing their way to a 31-point win and almost breaking 100 points as a team. Five SFA players scored in double-digits in that game, to the one of McNeese. But both teams have changed quite a bit since that January 2nd matchup in Lake Charles.
Such was a topic that McNeese head coach Kacie Cryer addressed in the press conference after their win on Thursday afternoon, mentioning the loss of Branch and the transformation of both teams to date. The first-year coach was able to lead her team to a SLC tournament win in her first season at the helm, a great accomplishment by a program on the up-swing. McNeese was all smiles after their game on Thursday at the press conference, and rightfully so. SFA will have their work cut out for them.
In that 79-58 win against Nicholls, the Cowgirls interior offense and overall defense was phenomenal, holding the Colonels to less than 30% shooting and grabbing 61 boards. The starters didn’t step foot on the court for the last six minutes of the game, a luxury considering the quick turnaround to matchup against SFA’s full court pressure usage. McNeese handled the Nicholls press extremely well, but SFA is a much different team with a lot of energy, and fresh bodies.
The seniors from SFA, Adrienne Lewis and Taylor Ross, have the sense of urgency that is needed, and we’ll be looking for leadership on the floor and not just in the locker room. With the Southland Conference Player of the Year in Ross and an All-SLC selection in Stevi Parker, the Ladyjacks are certainly good enough to run the table this weekend.
And to some, losing out on that double-bye isn't entirely a bad thing. “It could give us momentum going into the championship game,” said Parker earlier in the week. The Ladyjacks will need a lot more than just momentum to hoist the trophy and cut the nets in Katy, considering Central Arkansas is sitting atop the seeding. But they’ve got the tools to make it happen, and the run begins today.
"We can play and beat anybody in this conference,” said head coach Mark Kellogg after the regular season finale.
I, for one, believe him.
The SFA versus McNeese quarterfinals matchup at the Merrell Center will have a 1:30PM tipoff and will be airing on ESPN3.
The Ladyjacks will look to wreak some havoc at the Merrell Center in Katy beginning on Friday against McNeese, fresh off of their hardnosed win over Nicholls. All eyes from the SFA faithful will be on this game, but hopefully their trek won’t end until Sunday when the streamers make their way down around the newest SLC Tournament Champions.
It’s been more than a decade since that time has come for the women’s basketball team that continuously makes it back to Katy. Twice in the last four years the Ladyjacks have emerged as regular season champions only to be upset in the conference postseason. Exorcising the demons of the Merrell Center has always been the season's goal for this bunch.
The last SLC tournament trophy hoisted by the women’s team from SFA was in Nacogdoches and had the year 2006 written on it, two years prior to the tournament's move to the Merrell Center. Stephen F. Austin State University is known for a lot of things, and prior to the 2003 season, one of those things was collegiate women’s basketball. SFA had won 14 of the previous 15 Southland titles. Dare ask the question: what keeps this era of Ladyjacks from beginning a tradition of that sort again?
Coach Mark Kellogg has proven in his short time in Nacogdoches to be a remarkable leader at the helm, and is accompanied by a phenomenal staff and with young talent. The Ladyjacks have had the worst of fortunes in Katy of late, but if there were ever a team to break out of that slump, this just might be that one.
As is the “the standard and the expectation” of the program per Coach Kellogg, nothing less than an NCAA Tournament berth will suffice for the fans that fill William R. Johnson Coliseum. Without senior Brentney Branch on the roster (who recently left the team), SFA will look to work inside more and use their 6-foot and taller paint players to muscle opportunities inside. If Riley Harvey and Lovisa Brunnberg can both get things going like they have towards the end of the season, the affects of losing Branch's three-pointers could partly mitigated.
After beating Sam Houston State in the regular season finale, Coach Kellogg admitted that there wasn’t much of a flow to the game. His confidence in the bench has certainly proved a positive for the Ladyjacks, though. The ladies from SFA haven’t protected the ball particularly well, but are ball hawks pretty much every night on the defensive end. Should SFA survive the first round, that may be the key to knocking down the top two seeds.
The ladies of McNeese State will be a lot tougher to handle than many may realize, given their interior rigidity and the momentum of coming off a win the night prior. The Ladyjacks got the win handily in their only matchup of the regular season, thrashing their way to a 31-point win and almost breaking 100 points as a team. Five SFA players scored in double-digits in that game, to the one of McNeese. But both teams have changed quite a bit since that January 2nd matchup in Lake Charles.
Such was a topic that McNeese head coach Kacie Cryer addressed in the press conference after their win on Thursday afternoon, mentioning the loss of Branch and the transformation of both teams to date. The first-year coach was able to lead her team to a SLC tournament win in her first season at the helm, a great accomplishment by a program on the up-swing. McNeese was all smiles after their game on Thursday at the press conference, and rightfully so. SFA will have their work cut out for them.
In that 79-58 win against Nicholls, the Cowgirls interior offense and overall defense was phenomenal, holding the Colonels to less than 30% shooting and grabbing 61 boards. The starters didn’t step foot on the court for the last six minutes of the game, a luxury considering the quick turnaround to matchup against SFA’s full court pressure usage. McNeese handled the Nicholls press extremely well, but SFA is a much different team with a lot of energy, and fresh bodies.
The seniors from SFA, Adrienne Lewis and Taylor Ross, have the sense of urgency that is needed, and we’ll be looking for leadership on the floor and not just in the locker room. With the Southland Conference Player of the Year in Ross and an All-SLC selection in Stevi Parker, the Ladyjacks are certainly good enough to run the table this weekend.
And to some, losing out on that double-bye isn't entirely a bad thing. “It could give us momentum going into the championship game,” said Parker earlier in the week. The Ladyjacks will need a lot more than just momentum to hoist the trophy and cut the nets in Katy, considering Central Arkansas is sitting atop the seeding. But they’ve got the tools to make it happen, and the run begins today.
"We can play and beat anybody in this conference,” said head coach Mark Kellogg after the regular season finale.
I, for one, believe him.
The SFA versus McNeese quarterfinals matchup at the Merrell Center will have a 1:30PM tipoff and will be airing on ESPN3.
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