Thanks to a defense that forced 17 turnovers, the Lady Colonels basketball team rallied to bury Sam Houston State 62-58 last Saturday in Stopher Gym.
The careless turnovers by Sam Houston (6-14, 3-10 SLC) played a huge role in the Lady Colonels’ (9-12, 6-8 SLC) four-point victory.
“Our biggest problem was that we did not make the proper reads and being careless with the ball. You have to have possession of the ball if you want to score, and all those turnovers may have lost us the game,” Erika Ritter, Sam Houston head coach, said.
The Lady Colonels held Sam Houston to only 34 percent shooting from the field, and 31 percent shooting for the game.
Despite giving up 28 points to Sam Houston guard Alice Johnson, the Lady Colonels were able to shut down the rest of Sam Houston’s roster.
“I think our guards played a good game defensively from the perimeter. If we could limit one player that way and can shut down everyone else, it worked for us and we still managed to win the game,” Louise “Do” Bonin, Lady Colonels basketball coach, said.
Bonin said the Lady Colonels knew when the key to the game was to shut down Johnson.
“I felt we can hold her to 20, and we didn’t expect for her to get 28. You have to give her credit because she has stepped up and given her team extra scoring when she has to,” Bonin said.
“We tried everything on her, but she was just the best player on the floor tonight.”
By giving Johnson 16 points in the first half, the Lady Colonels switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone in the second half.
“That was a smart decision by them because it stopped me from getting good looks at the basket. When we came into the game, we knew that everyone had to do their part when they switched to a zone. We didn’t and we couldn’t get the win.” Johnson said.
The Lady Colonels shot 38 percent from both the field and the three-point line, but they shot 82 percent from the free-throw line. Sam Houston out-rebounded the Lady Colonels 38-36.
Throughout the game, Bonin said she was pleased with the way her team performed as a team.
“I thought the one thing we did better tonight was our clock management with the last two or three minutes of the game. We made a couple of bad mistakes towards the end, but there weren’t as many as we made against Lamar,” Bonin said.
Lady Colonels junior guard Deandra Walter, who scored 17 points with four assists and seven rebounds, led the team offensively.
Bonin said she was proud of the way Walter controlled the Lady Colonels offense against Sam Houston’s versatile defense.
“They threw a lot of different traps and defenses at us, and I was very impressed with the way Deandra handled our ball club tonight. Deandra stepped it up and ran the floor very good,” Bonin said.
“This is definitely my best starting game and all around game this season. I think I did a good job of helping my team win,” Walter said.
Senior forward Mandy Broussard, who scored 16 points and collected five rebounds, also led the Lady Colonels offensively. Junior forward Kaci Fulton scored 12 points, and senior guard Crescent Washington scored 11 points with four rebounds.
With the victory, the Lady Colonels are now in seventh place in the Southland Conference. In order to make the Southland Conference tournament, the Lady Colonels must clinch either a sixth seed are higher.
As of this weekend, the Lady Colonels trail Southwest Texas by two games for fifth, and Louisiana-Monroe by one game for sixth.
With only six games left in the regular season, the Lady Colonels know the time to win is now if they hope to participate in any postseason games.
“We really couldn’t make the playoffs with this win against Sam Houston, but we just went out and did what we have to do,” Fulton said.
Bonin feels the Lady Colonels have the easier schedule opposed to Southwest Texas and Louisiana-Monroe, despite playing five teams with a better record than the Lady Colonels in their last six games.
“I think the schedule favors us a little bit more than it does them going down the stretch, but I hope we can continue to play good on the road,” Bonin said.
The Lady Colonels start a two game road trip starting tonight against Stephen F. Austin, and Saturday against Texas-Arlington. The Lady Colonels hope to avenge early season losses to both of them in Stopher Gym.
“We only lost by three points to Stephen F. Austin and by four to Texas-Arlington, so we are going in their house and prove that this team is capable of winning on the road against the big teams in our conference,” Walter said.