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KATY, Texas – Cinderella is alive in Katy, and Cinderella comes in the form of the Houston Baptist University women’s basketball team.
Tayler Jefferson scored 29 points as the eighth-seeded Huskies overcame an early 18-point deficit to shock top-seed Stephen F. Austin 88-81 in a Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament semifinal game at Merrell Center on Saturday afternoon to advance to Sunday’s championship, becoming the first No. 8 seed to reach the tourney final.
“I’ve never seen her play like that before,” said HBU coach Donna Finnie, whose team is now 40 minutes away from the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in just their second season in the conference. “When a kid’s playing with that kind of confidence, you let them go.”
A back-and-forth second half slugfest went to the Huskies for good when Anna Strickland’s layup with 1:08 left gave HBU a 78-76 lead before Rachel Arthur’s fast-break layup extended the margin to 80-76 with 44 seconds remaining. The Ladyjacks (23-7) would twice cut the lead to within a point, yet the Huskies finished strong by converting all eight of their free throw attempts in the final 34.5 seconds.
“From the beginning, coach put up on the board, ‘March 15.’ This has been our goal since the first day of practice,” said Jefferson, who tied her career scoring mark while also eclipsing the 1,000-point barrier with the Huskies.
Jefferson knocked down six of her nine 3-point attempts as HBU shot a blistering 60.4 percent from the field. Guard Rachel Arthur also added 22 points, six assists and three blocks for the Huskies, who finally toppled the Ladyjacks after losing both regular season matchups.
“It’s really hard to beat a team when they shoot 60 percent,” said SFA’s Brandon Schneider, the conference co-coach of the year. “We felt like maybe they might cool off after intermission, but they came out and shot it better.”
“I was confident,” said Jefferson. “I said [Friday] that no team was going to beat us three times. The third time’s the charm.”
Few may have thought the third time would be the charm at the 8:37 mark of the first half, as SFA bolted out to a 30-12 lead behind the scoring of Southland Player of the Year Porsha Roberts, who scored 10 of her 22 points in the early going. The Ladyjacks appeared to be on the way to a rout and a bid for the program’s 16th conference tournament title before HBU guard Heidi Sihvola began the Huskies’ 3-point barrage with consecutive treys which ushered a 25-11 run that cut the margin to 41-37 at intermission.
Jefferson’s fourth triple of the afternoon gave HBU a 51-50 lead with 15:07 left, setting the stage where both teams swapped the lead nine times in the second half.
SFA took a 68-64 lead with 7:55 remaining, but the Huskies’ defense played its best stretch of the day, holding the Ladyjacks without a basket for 5:48.
Brentney Branch and Taylor Ross each scored 14 points for SFA, which will still play in the postseason due to the automatic invite the regular season champions will receive to the Women’s NIT, which will be announced on Monday.
“It’s an opportunity for this team to continue to play,” said Schneider. “I think it will be imperative for our seniors to decide how they want to approach the postseason. Last year, we made a lot of noise in postseason play, winning three games, and I’d like to think this team will bounce back and do the same thing.”
POSTGAME QUOTES
Houston Baptist
Head Coach Donna Finnie
Opening Statement…
“That was incredible, it really was. Tayler Jefferson said she was confident and I’ve never seen her play like that before. When we recruited her out of high school she was a leader on the floor and today she led her team. I said yesterday players make plays and I told them the same thing today. They were making shots today with such confidence. It’s unbelievable how hard they play today and with heart. Our whole team played with heart today. The kinds on the bench deserve a lot of credit because they were with it the whole game. Our staff was supporting us the whole game. I thought we did a great job defensively after we clawed back from that initial deficit, but the offensive execution was incredible.”
On Jefferson’s shooting…
“Earlier in the year, I didn’t want them shooting 3’s because we had the leading scorer in the league in Shernise Steenholdt. The three was our last option offensively and I used to get on to Tayler [Jefferson] because she would pull up early, but when she’s shooting with that much confidence you let her shoot.”
Junior Forward Anna Strickland
Opening Statement…
“Team basketball. From the beginning of the season, Coach wrote on the board, March 15th. This has been our goal since the first day of practice and we are so happy we made it. We really want this, especially for Shanice Steenholdt. She went down with an ACL tear this season and seeing her come to the middle when we win, that’s what it’s about. We needed everyone for that win. We’re so proud of ourselves. I’m so proud of our whole team.”
Senior Guard Tayler Jefferson
Opening statement…
“March 15th has been our goal. In conference play it started looking bad, but we always say it’s not how we got here is that we’re here and what we’re doing while we’re here. When we got here our record was 0-0 and now we’re 3-0 and tomorrow will be 4-0. We’re up for a challenge. I have a lot of faith in my ream and I know we’re going to do it. I said yesterday, no team was going to beat us three times and the third time’s the charm.”
Stephen F. Austin
Head Coach Brandon Schneider
Opening Statement…
“I give a lot of credit to Houston Baptist, not only how well they’ve played today, but the last three days. I felt like watching them the last couple of days they’ve really taken their game to a new level and I don’t know that today was any different. Jefferson and Arthur were terrific. It’s really hard to beat a team when they shoot 60 percent. I don’t know that it was a lack of defensive effort on our part, but credit to HBU.”