Lady Lions cool off SFA in Southland opener
 
    HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana cooled off the hottest-shooting team in the Southland Conference in upsetting reigning regular season league champion Stephen F. Austin, 65-56, in the Lady Lions' conference opener Monday evening in the University Center.

    Southeastern (2-10, 1-0) held SFA (7-6, 1-1), which came in shooting 42.6 percent, to 32.8 percent from the field in ending the Ladyjacks' 12-game regular season league winning streak. The Lady Lions also broke a school-record eight-game home losing streak and a 10-game drought in conference play, both dating back to a win over Northwestern State on Jan. 31, 2015. It was also Southeastern's first league-opening win since 2013-14 and its first win in a home league opener since the 2008-09 season.

    "This is a big conference win," Southeastern head coach Yolanda Moore said. "This is the second part of our season and we're 1-0 in it."

    KaeLynn Boyd led a balanced Southeastern attack with 19 points. Taylin Underwood added 18 points, three assists and three steals. Peaches Anderson contributed 11 points, including a crucial 3-pointer and putback in the final two minutes. Nanna Pool had her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 15 rebounds as the Lady Lions shot 36.1 percent from the field.

    "We got contributions from a lot of people, especially our guards KaeLynn Boyd and Taylin Underwood and Peaches Anderson," Moore said. "Nanna Pool had another big game. She always comes to play. We tell them we are very well-prepared. We've seen some of the toughest competition (in non-conference play) we're going to see. Not to take anything away from Stephen F. Austin, but just to let them know we're prepared."

    It was the free throw line that played a major role in the upset as Southeastern shot 87.5 percent (14-of-16) while SFA was at 50 percent (8-of-16).

    Stevi Parker had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Stephen F. Austin. Brentney Branch came off the bench to score 15 points. Taylor Ross was held to eight points, eight points below her season average, while also recording six assists, six rebounds and four steals.

    Southeastern led for all but 59 seconds of the game and took its biggest lead at 35-22 with 3:11 left in the third on a 3-pointer by Underwood. But a 3 by Ross started a 12-7 run for SFA with a jumper by Parker with 35 seconds left cutting the deficit to 42-34 going into the fourth quarter.

    Another 3 by Underwood pushed the lead back to 51-40 with 7:01 remaining. But Stephen F. Austin rallied with an 11-2 run to get to within 53-51 on a Branch 3 with 3:26 left. After Boyd and Ross traded baskets, the Ladyjacks had a chance to tie it but Kyle Felton blocked a layup attempt by Ross. Parker would be fouled later in the possession and hit the back end of a pair of free throws to make it 55-54 with 2:01 remaining.

    Anderson answered with a 3 with 1:41 left. Then after a missed 3 by Branch, Boyd launched up a 3 with the shot clock running down but came up short. But Anderson grabbed the ball off the backboard and tossed it in, making it 60-54 with 44 seconds left. Boyd and Underwood each hit a pair of free throws in the final 37 seconds to seal the win.

    Southeastern took the lead for good at 4-2 on a jumper by Peaches Anderson at the 5:46 mark and went up 8-4 on another jumper by Pool with 3:06 left in the corner. Branch knocked down a 3 to cut the deficit to one with 2:09 left. But the Lady Lions came back with four Boyd free throws and a Pool jumper to take a 14-9 lead into the second quarter.

    Boyd, who scored 12 points in the first 14 minutes, hit a pair of 3s to extend the lead to 22-12 with 6:47 remaining in the half. Parker and Charisma Alexander both hit jumpers to pull SFA to within 22-16 at the 5:07 mark, but that would be the last field goal of the half for the Ladyjacks. Underwood broke a nearly six-minute field goal drought for the Lady Lions with a 3 from the top of the key with 50 seconds left, then drove the lane to beat the buzzer to give Southeastern a 28-16 halftime lead.

    Neither team shot well in the opening half as Southeastern hit 29 percent (9-of-31) of its shots and SFA 25 percent (7-of-28). But the Lady Lions were 7-of-8 from the free throw line to SFA's 1-of-6 and out-rebounded the Ladyjacks 26-19.

    The scoring difficulties continued for both teams into the third quarter. Felton scored off an Underwood pass to give the Lady Lions a 30-18 lead with 7:06 left in the period. That would be Southeastern's only points of the first 5:42 of the half as SFA pulled to within 30-22 on a Paulletta Powell layup at the 4:44 mark.

    Southeastern returns to action Thursday with a Southland Conference trip to Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m.