Lady Pilots outlast Wiley
January 26, 2012
SHREVEPORT, La. - Thursday's Red River Athletic Conference game at The Dock was everything that everyone hoped it would be especially for the home town crowd as they saw their Lady Pilots defeat the Wiley Lady Wildcats 75-70 as they marched to their eighth straight victory.LSU Shreveport (14-5, 12-1 RRAC) remains in the top spot in the RRAC standings after much better second half of play as they shot 46% from the field in a game where the lead changed hands 15 different times. The largest either of the two teams got from the other was eight points which LSUS held with 1:30 to play until the visitors got a big shot in the arm from Kayla Brown who nailed a long three-pointer with 1:17 to play which trimmed the LSUS' lead to five.
The Lady Wildcats (11-6, 7-5 RRAC) trimmed the lead down to just two with :38 seconds to play. LSUS' Meoshi Bradley was fouled and sent to the line where she converted on two free-throws to extend the lead to four. On the ensuing trip down the floor, Wiley missed a three-pointer and the rebound was gathered up by Christy Willis and later Bradley was fouled again and made the front end of her free-throws for the five-point lead.
LSUS finished the game making 40% from the floor on a night where they struggled in the first half and made only one in four attempts from beyond the arc. They fine-tuned their three point shot at the half to drain four of six in the second half with Willis hitting three and Brittany Maddox one.
Jenna Diakos led the Lady Pilots in scoring with 16 points while Willis and Sharde Henry had 15 and Jennifer Hicks 10. Henry was an impressive nine for 10 from the free-throw line while Diakos was seven of 12 from the floor.
The Wiley defense was a menace all night long as they forced 22 turnovers, 15 on steals, while the Lady Pilots played tough D of their own forcing 21 turnovers with 13 steals. The visitors edged out the home team on the boards 42-40.
Wiley's offense shot 40% in the first half while the Lady Pilots made just 34% as the Lady Wildcats stingy defense forced 13 first half turnovers including seven steals with two at the end of the half to give the visitors a two-point lead at the break.
LSUS started off slow in the first half as they did not make their first basket until four minutes into the contest but luckily the Lady Wildcats struggled as well and only led then by a 4-2 mark. Later the LSUS' offense found their groove to go on a 10-2 run to take a 17-12 lead.
The next game for the Lady Pilots will be in Fort Worth, Texas; against Texas Wesleyan on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2:00 p.m. LSUS won the first meeting of the year 83-78 in overtime. The next home game at The Dock will be Monday, Jan. 30, at 5:30 p.m. versus Our Lady of the Lake University.
