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TWU
Home > Student
Life > Athletics > Basketball > 2002-03
News > January 18
PIONEERS
DROP ANOTHER CLOSE GAME, LOSING TO SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA
69-65
DENTON,
TX—Despite shooting close to 40 percent from the
field and having two players in double-figures in scoring,
Texas Woman's University (4-10) let another halftime lead
slip away to Southeastern Oklahoma State (5-8), 69-65.
The difference in the game were fouls and free throw opportunities
as the Lady Savages went to the charity stripe 29 times
off of 27 Pioneer fouls while TWU only had 12 appearances
at the line from 12 Southeastern Oklahoma fouls. SOSU hit
23 of their 29 shots from the free-throw line.
“The
team did a great job of coming from behind in the first half
to take the lead, but we lost our focus in the second period
and let their post player, Tara Newman, get some easy baskets.
We couldn't gain any momentum during the entire second half
and let one slip away,” head coach Devin Gabbard said. “Jessica
Springer did a good job of battling down low and converted
some nice layups while Julie Prescher stepped up and hit
some big three-pointers when we needed them.”
Southeastern
Oklahoma built an eight-point lead (12-4) early in the first
period after Vanessa Tice and Tara Newman combined for five
field goals. The Lady Savages kept a steady lead for most
of the period until TWU rattled off 10 straight points, beginning
at the seven-minute mark, to take their first lead of the
game 28-25. The Pioneers' Keshun Irving (Karnack, TX/Tyler
J.C.) added six points in the final two minutes to give
TWU a 39-31 lead at halftime. The Pioneers were 14 of 35
from the field in the first half and converted nine second-chance
opportunities to seven points.
Both
teams struggled to begin the second half as TWU and Southeastern
Oklahoma missed a combined 10 shots in the first six minutes
of play. Julie Prescher (Valley View, TX/ Valley View
H.S.) hit three long range bombs and Jessica Springer
(Kirbyville, TX/Blinn College) took a steal coast-to-coast
for an easy layup to push the Pioneer lead to 10 (54-44)
with 10 minutes remaining. Southeastern Oklahoma answered
back with a 13-4 run and brought the game back to within
one point, 58-57, at the five-minute mark. The Lady Savages'
Morgan Moylan converted a three-point play to knot the game
up at 60-all, then her teammate Tara Newman added a short
jumper to give SOSU their second lead of the game with three
minutes remaining. TWU was called for five fouls in the games
final minutes and Southeastern hit 7-of-9 free throws to
ice the game, 69-65.
TWU
finished the game by hitting 25 of 64 shots from the field
and seven of 24 from beyond the arc. Southeastern hit 50
percent of its shots from the field and Tara Newman led all
scorers with 25 points while her teammate Vanessa Tice chipped
in with 17. Springer was high-point for TWU with 14 points
while Prescher made four of nine from three-point land for
12 points. Jennifer Ferrell (Flower Mound, TX/Paris J.C.) led
the team with six boards and three assists.
Next
up, the Pioneers hit the road for two conference games against
Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 23 and Texas A&M-Commerce
on Jan. 25. Thursday's match-up against the Javelinas begins
at 6 p.m. while Saturday's game starts at 7 p.m.
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