Three Southland Teams Head into 2015 Postseason
Postseason Schedule
Thursday, March 19
Stephen F. Austin at TCU, 7 p.m. (Women’s National Invitational Tournament)
Furman at McNeese State, 7 p.m. (Women’s Basketball Invitational)
Friday, March 20
Northwestern State at Baylor, 1:30 p.m. (NCAA Tournament)
News & Notes
Conference Sends Three Teams to the Postseason: Northwestern State headlines three Southland Conference teams that will be participating in the 2015 postseason. The Lady Demons won their second consecutive Southland Conference Tournament title with a 58-50 win over Houston Baptist to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Northwestern State earned a No. 15 seed and will face the region’s No. 2 seed Baylor Friday at 1:30 p.m., Central, on ESPN2. Stephen F. Austin guaranteed itself a fourth postseason trip after winning the conference regular-season title posting a 16-2 league record. The Ladyjacks will participate in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament and face TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday at 7 p.m. McNeese State is also in the postseason after accepting a bid to play in the Women’s Basketball Invitational. The Cowgirls are making their fifth consecutive postseason trip after appearing the in the NCAA tournament in 2011 and 2012, and advancing to the WBI in 2013 and 2014.
Northwestern State Claims Second Consecutive Southland Conference Tournament Title: The Lady Demons became the first No. 6 seed in Southland Conference history to claim a tournament title when they defeated No. 8 Houston Baptist to return to the NCAA tournament. For the second consecutive season the Lady Demons will put on their dancing shoes. Northwestern State completed its four-game sprint to the Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament title with a 58-50 win over the Huskies at the Leonard E. Merrell Center.
A program that had recorded 10 seasons of at least 19 wins from 1991-2004, Northwestern State hit a slow yet gradual decline after winning the 2004 Southland tournament. Co-coaches Brooke and Scott Stoehr arrived in 2011, and after the team missed the conference tournament for only the fourth time since joining the Southland Conference in 1987, the Lady Demons won 11 league games and the conference tournament last year and entered this season picked to finish second in the coaches poll and third in the sports information directors poll.
Throughout the tournament, the Lady Demons held their opponents to an average of 57.5 points per game and 31 percent shooting from field-goal range. In the championship game, Northwestern State turned the ball over just six times while holing Houston Baptist to under 30-percent shooting from the floor.
Southland’s All-Tournament Team: Four of the five spots on the all-tournament team were made up from players in the championship game. Northwestern State placed two players, including Beatrice Attura and Janelle Perez. Houston Baptist also had two representatives with Erin McGarrachan and Tayler Jefferson. Stephen F. Austin’s Porsha Roberts completed the five-member team. Sophomore guard Attura, who was the tournament MVP, averaged 16.5 points and 4.5 rebounds while grabbing three steals throughout tournament play. Junior guard Perez averaged 19 points and 4 rebounds while shooting 91 percent (21-23) from the free-throw line. Houston Baptist’s Jefferson put up 29 points against the regular-season champions, Stephen F. Austin. McGarrachan averaged 12.3 points and 12.3 rebounds in the Huskies’ four games. SFA’s senior center Roberts put up 22 points, while going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and grabbing eight rebounds in the Ladyjacks’ solo showing of the tournament.
Northwestern State in the NCAA Tournament: Northwestern State is making its fourth overall appearance to the NCAA tournament and second consecutive showing. In 2004, the Lady Demons fell to Duke, 103-51. That year, the Blue Devils advanced to the Elite Eight. The Lady Demons are 0-3 all-time in the NCAA. Northwestern State is looking to give the Southland its first tournament win since 2000 when Stephen F. Austin upset Xavier, 73-72.
About the Lady Bears: Baylor, 30-3 overall and the Big 12’s tournament champion, is making its 12th straight NCAA tournament appearance and 14th in the last 15 years. The Lady Bears finished the season ranked No. 5 in the final AP Poll as the team earned its fourth overall No. 2 seed. Baylor is 33-11 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, all coming under head coach Kim Mulkey. Naylor has won its first-round game in each of the last 12 NCAA trips. The Lady Bears have three Final Fours and two national crowns (2005, 2012).
Last Year – Tennessee Uses Second Half Run to Defeat Northwestern State: A "fearless" Northwestern State women's basketball team, led by Trudy Armstead's 12 points, went step-for-step with the No. 1-seed Tennessee until the third-ranked Lady Volunteers opened the second half with a 15-2 run to help overcome the Lady Demons, 70-46, Saturday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. After Northwestern tied the game in the first two minutes after halftime, Tennessee pounded the ball inside and took advantage of some empty possessions by Northwestern State to score 12 unanswered points to finally get control. The Lady Vols finally pushed the margin over 20 points for the first time with 5:52 left. The Lady Volunteers finished with 18 second chance points and 38 points in the paint. Tennessee jumped out to its 12-point lead, the Lady Demons cut the deficit to 10, twice, but could never break into single digits.
Southland Conference in the NCAA Tournament
· The Southland Conference is 18-27 all-time in the NCAA Tournament
· This marks the sixth time a Southland team has been a No. 15 seed.
· Northwestern State is the highest seed to win the conference tournament. The Lady Demons were the No. 6 seed in 2015.
· The Southland has had one team appear in the Final Four. Former member Louisiana-Monroe accomplished the feat in 1985.
· Since 2000, the highest seed a Southland team has received was No. 11, when Stephen F. Austin made it to the second round in 2000.
· The best seed a Southland team received was in 1985 when former member ULM was a No. 2 seed. That year, ULM advanced to the Final Four before falling to Old Dominion.
· The current members of the conference are 13-31 in the tournament. SFA has won 10 times while Lamar has earned the other three wins.
Southland in the WNIT: The Southland Conference has sent a team to the WNIT for nine consecutive years with Stephen F. Austin receiving its fourth invitation and its first time since 2010. The Ladyjacks are looking for their first win in the WNIT since SFA won two games in the tournament following the 1987 regular season. Lamar has made two WNIT appearances falling in 2014 to Southern Miss (75-60) and in 2011 to Arkansas (91-65) in the first round. Since 2007, the conference has only picked up one WNIT win when former member Texas State defeated Prairie View A&M in the first round before falling to Texas Tech in the second round. Northwestern State has appeared in the WNIT championship game twice. In 1986, before the Lady Demons were conference members, Northwestern State fell to Idaho, and in 1995, the Lady Demons lost to Texas A&M.
Last Year – Lamar Falls to Southern Miss in WNIT: A great season for the Lamar Lady Cardinals came to a disappointing end, as Lamar dropped a 75-60 decision at Southern Miss in the first round of the Women’s NIT. JaMeisha Edwards had 19 points to lead Lamar (18-13), which was competing in a postseason national tournament for the fourth time in the past five years. Gia Ayers had 16 points and four assists in her final game in a Lamar uniform, while Kiandra Bowers added 10 points.
Southland in the WBI: In the five years of the Women’s Basketball Invitational, the Southland has always had at least one team invited. This postseason marks the third consecutive season that McNeese State accepted an invitation to the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Last season, the Cowgirls dropped their opening game with an 84-72 loss at Northern Kentucky. Stephen F. Austin made a run in the 2014 WBI, but fell short, 73-64, to Illinois-Chicago in the championship game. In 2014, McNeese State and Lamar represented the league while Sam Houston State and SFA were in the tournament before that. In the inaugural year in 2010, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi made a run to the semifinals before falling to Memphis. Four seasons ago, Central Arkansas made its first- appearance in the postseason and drew eventual champion Alabama-Birmingham in the first round. Two seasons ago, Lamar picked up a first round win against Presbyterian College before falling to South Dakota in the second round. McNeese State made a run to the championship game, picking up road wins at Mercer, Elon and South Dakota before falling at Detroit-Mercy.
Stephen F. Austin's Porsha Roberts Named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year: Roberts, a native of Waco, Texas (La Vega H. S.), helped the Ladyjacks to a first-place, league-best 17th overall Southland regular-season title. SFA shared the regular-season title with Lamar last season. The senior ranks second nationally in field-goal percentage shooting 62.3 percent from field-goal range and eight in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game grabbing five boards per game throughout the season. Roberts led the Ladyjacks in scoring (17.2) and rebounding (9.4) while also leading the league in blocked shots (2.2) in conference action. The defensive player of the year helped her team hold conference opponents to 58.7 points per game while grabbing 11 double-doubles on the season. This marks the third time an SFA player earned defender of the year after Roberts claimed the title in 2014 to join Nikki Carr (2008).
New Orleans Randi Brown Tabbed as League's Top Freshman: Brown ended the regular season with back-to-back player of the week honors while leading the Privateers with 14.5 points per league game, good for eighth in conference competition. The Houma, La. (Central Catholic H.S.), native, was the best freshman from the charity stripe, shooting 78.6 percent (44-for-56), which was tops on New Orleans in league play. Brown averaged 2.5 rebounds and just shy of one (0.9) assist per conference game while grabbing 11 steals. This marks the first individual award for New Orleans in program history.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Shay Weaver Honored as Newcomer of the Year: Weaver made an immediate impact for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after transferring from Marshall. The junior guard from Arlington, Texas (Arlington H.S.), led the Islanders and was fifth in the Southland in scoring with 15.7 points per game. She led the Islanders in 3-point field goals made with 2.2 (29-of-63) per game, placing her fifth in the league in all games. Weaver averaged 6.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. Weaver is the second A&M-Corpus Christi player to be named the league’s top newcomer after former teammate and Marshall transfer Jasmine Shaw claimed the honor last season.
Ladyjacks’ Schneider and Colonels’ DoBee Plaisance Selected as Co-Coaches of the Year: Schneider and Plaisance each earned their first coach of the year honors. Schneider led the Ladyjacks to back-to-back regular-season titles and a 16-2 conference mark and 23-6 overall. Stephen F. Austin completed conference play undefeated on its home court, suffering just one loss during regular-season action. The team enters the Southland Conference Tournament riding an 11-game winning streak to earn the No. 1 seed in the tournament. This marks the ninth time an SFA coach has earned coach of the year honors with the last going to Lee Ann Riley (2006). Plaisance’s Colonels earned the No. 3 seed heading into the conference tournament after posting a 13-5 Southland record. Nicholls went on a seven-game winning streak while claiming victories in 10 of its last 12 games to earn a top spot in the standings. Plaisance is the second coach in program history to earn this honor, joining Louise “Do” Bonin (1999).
First-Team All-Conference Announced: Roberts, a two-time first-team and one-time second-team all-conference selection, is joined on the first team by Lamar junior guard JaMeisha Edwards, Northwestern State junior guard Janelle Perez, two-time all-conference McNeese State junior guard Allison Baggett and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi junior guard Shay Weaver. Edwards is fourth in scoring (16.3), third in free-throw percentage (.852) and second in 3-pointers made (2.6). Perez is sixth in the league in scoring (14.7) and seventh in assists (3.4). Baggett is third in the league in scoring (16.4) and second in free-throw percentage (.888). Weaver is fifth in the league in scoring (15.7) and 3-pointers made (2.2).
A&M-Corpus Christi’s Shay Weaver and McNeese State’s Allison Baggett Making Single-Game History: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Shay Weaver and McNeese State’s Allison Baggett each made seven 3-pointers in one game this season. Weaver drained seven shots beyond the arch against Huston-Tillotson on Dec. 30 while Baggett’s hot-hand came in conference action on a match up with New Orleans on Jan. 31.
Two Making Strides from Charity Stripe: McNeese State junior guard Jayln Johnson knocked down 17 free-throws against New Orleans to tie for second all-time in single-game free throws made. Sam Houston State Shernise Robertson made