Jan. 31, 2008

Box Score

SAN MARCOS, Texas - After trailing by as much as 25 points in the first half, the Ladyjack basketball team rallied in the second half to knot the score before falling 76-75 to Texas State before a record crowd at Strahan Coliseum on Thursday.

SFA (6-12, 3-3) tied the score at 71 apiece with 1:57 left in the game when Nikki Carr hit an off-balance jumper along with a foul, but the senior could not convert the free throw that would have given the Ladyjacks their first lead of the game.

Texas State (12-8, 6-1) followed that by scoring the next four points on a layup by Marie Moser and a pair of free throws from Aimee Hilburn. Decreasha Goodner and Brooke DeGrate would trade free throws and Nikki Carr would bank in a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining before the `Cats would run out the clock and claim the win.

Texas State had its largest lead of the night at 40-15 with 2:54 left in the first half, but the Ladyjacks would have four different players score during an 11-point run to close out the half and keep SFA within striking distance at 40-26.

The first half saw polar opposites in the shooting column, as SFA could only muster up 27 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes compared to Texas State hitting at a 62-percent clip.

In the second half, the Ladyjacks did the majority of their damage at the charity stripe as SFA scored nine points during an eight-minute stretch of the half that saw the Ladyjacks unable to convert a field goal. Ebony Alexander quelled that drought with a pull-up jump shot as SFA and the Bobcats traded baskets until the seven-minute mark.

It was then that the Ladyjacks put the defensive clamps down and turned up the offense, going on another 11-0 run behind seven points from Goodner and four from Chantol Drennan to cut the lead to four at 64-60.

Overall, the Ladyjacks converted 21 of 27 free throws in the second half, going 26-34 for the game, but lost the edge on the glass as the Bobcats pulled down 13 offensive rebounds in the second half alone.

Alexander paced four Ladyjacks in double figures with 16, including a pair of three-pointers, while Chantol Drennan finished with a career-high 12 points.

The Ladyjacks return to action Saturday when they host Texas-Arlington. The game against the Lady Mavs is slated to begin at 6 p.m. from the William R. Johnson Coliseum.

-SFA-