Forbes forces Lady Badgers past Lady Pilots
January 04, 2007
Shreveport, LA---Keisha Forbes poured in a game high 22 points for the Spring Hill College Lady Badgers (1-8, 1-0) Thursday night at The Dock to lead SHC to a 54-46 victory, spoiling the LSUS Lady Pilots (4-6, 0-1) Gulf Coast Athletic Conference home opener.
Keisha Forbes poured in 16 first half points as the Lady Badgers jumped out to a 30-25 lead at the break. SHC never trailed from the tip-off and led by as many as seven points after connecting on 14-of-21 field goal attempts.
The Badgers offense had success in the paint early with Forbes leading the way shooting a perfect 8-of-8 from in the lane, and out rebounded LSUS by a 17-9 margin.
The Lady Pilots defense forced 13 turnovers, but their offensive woes continued as they finished just 11-of-29 (38%) from the field which included a 2-of-9 (22%) performance from beyond the arc. Janai Sells and Quan Joseph found some success in the post combining for 13 points, but a stingy SHC defense kept the Lady Pilots on the perimeter for the majority of the half.
A Forbes field goal at the 16:26 mark of the second half had the Lady Badgers ahead 37-29, but an 8-0 run by the Lady Pilots which was capped by a Terriyon Fairley field goal tied the score at 37-37 with 12:30 remaining.
Kacie Cryer connected on two free throws with 8:00 remaining which to give LSUS their first lead of the night, 41-39. SHC however responded with an 8-2 run of the own and stretched their lead to 47-41 which was highlighted by Forbes lone three pointer with 4:41 left on the clock.
LSUS managed to cut the lead to as little as three points in the final two minutes, but failed to score in the final 1:46 as the Lady Badgers went on to win by a final score of 54-46.
SHC finished shooting 22-of-44 (50%) from the floor and out rebounded the Lady Pilots by a 36-27 margin. Forbes led all scorers with 22 points and collected a team high eight rebounds. Maria Rodriguez added 11 points while teammate Ashley Aucoin finished with nine points and six rebounds to round off the Lady Badgers offense.
LSUS shot a combined 6-of-24 (25%) from the floor in the second half and ended the game just 2-of-13 (15%) from beyond the arc. Jessica Kelly led the Lady Pilots offense with eight points and eight rebounds. Cryer, Sells, Joseph, and Edie Leonards all added eight points a piece.
The Lady Pilots will not have long to recover from their GCAC opening loss as they will travel to New Orleans, LA Friday to take on Dillard University Saturday afternoon, and will complete the road swing Monday night against Xavier University.
