Lady Pilots advance to semis with crushing win over Texas College
March 02, 2012
WAXAHACHIE, Tex. - Jenna Diakos nailed the first bucket of the game and the LSU Shreveport Lady Pilots never looked back as they ended the season of the Texas College Steers with an 86-60 win in the first round of the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament at the Schaefer Center on the campus of Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
LSUS (24-7) started the contest with a 9-2 run that Texas College never recovered from as Sharde Henry nailed one from behind the arc with 17:43 to play. The Lady Pilots finished the half on an 11-2 run for a 22-point halftime lead in a game in which they never trailed.
Texas College (11-19) struggled shooting the basketball on Friday afternoon as they shot just 26% from the field making only 22 of 82 attempts. The Lady Pilot forwards gathered a total of seven blocks with Jennifer Hicks leading the game with four while Diakos rejected three Texas College shots.
The second half was much of the same but did see Texas College increase their score by 44 points in the second half but it was too little too late since they only scored 16 points in the first half. The Lady Pilots shot 50% from the field for the game while making half of their shots from beyond the arc (7-14) thanks to Christy Willis who had a hot streak draining five of six from downtown as she finished with 19 points tying Henry as the two led all scorers as LSUS had five finish with double figures while Henry pulled down the game-high 11 rebounds for a double-double.
Hicks tossed in 15 points while Victoria Smith added a dozen and Diakos 10.
LSUS made 19 of 28 from the free-throw line while Meoshi Bradley and Henry were a perfect four of four as Bradley finished with six points. Smith added a four of five performance from the line.
The 26-point victory propels the Lady Pilots to the semi-finals in the RRAC Tournament to face the Texas Wesleyan Lady Rams at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, March 3). The Lady Rams defeated the Jarvis Christian Lady Bulldogs 72-68 in the first round match up.
This will be the third meeting of the season between the two school with LSUS picking up two overtime wins; 83-78 at The Dock and 56-46 at The SID Richardson Center.
