HOUSTON – The HCU trio of
Amy Cotton,
Erin Maguire and
Tiffany Tullis combined to score 42 points but the visiting Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks took a 66-59 Southland Conference win over the Huskies on Thursday evening in Sharp Gym.
HCU (6-20, 3-14 SLC) came out strong, forcing turnovers on each of the first two SFA (23-5, 13-4 SLC) possessions and converting those into five points followed by another bucket the next time down the floor for a 7-0 lead in less than a minute and a half of game time. The Ladyjacks bounced back from there, however, scoring the next eight points to take an 8-7 lead. The teams then traded baskets before the Ladyjacks went ahead, 13-11, following a pair of Fath Blackstone free throws. The Huskies answered with an 8-0 run to close the first, including four points from
Amy Cotton, for a 19-13 lead.
The Huskies kept it going early in the second quarter, twice pushing their lead to eight. A Maguire free throw with 7:25 on the clock put HCU ahead, 24-16. Blackstone dropped in a pair of layups to cut the HCU lead in half before Maguire answered with a jumper to go back up by six, 26-20, with 3:25 to go in the half. SFA answered with a 9-0 run, however, to regain the lead before a
Kendall Beck jumper got the Huskies back on the board. Blackstone connected on a pair of free throws before the intermission to send the teams into the locker rooms with the Ladyjacks leading, 31-28.
Harmanie Dominguez drained a three right off the bat in the third but points from Tullis and
Lyric Barr pulled HCU back within two, 34-32. A little over two minutes later, Barr made a driving layup to pull even, 37-37. SFA scored the next six points, however, but a Cotton triple kept things close at 44-41 with 2:44 to play in the quarter. The Ladyjacks' lead got back up to seven but a pair of
Victoria Dixon free throws made it a 48-43 game heading into the fourth.
Mariyah Brown made a layup on the opening possession, again getting the Huskies to within three. Four minutes later, Tullis made a layup to bring the score to 54-49 but the preceded an SFA three-point outburst that saw the Ladyjacks make three-pointers on four consecutive possessions to take a 66-54 lead with just 3:41 left to play. The Huskies kept the Ladyjacks from scoring the rest of the way but a
Kierra Prim three-pointer and a Maguire jumper were all the offense the Huskies could find the rest of the way.
Tullis finished the night with her sixth double-double of the season, totaling 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while also dishing out three assists with a pair of blocked shots. Cotton added 14 points with seven rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots while Maguire had 14 points and four assists. As a team, the Huskies had a season-high eight blocked shots but were hurt by 19 turnovers compared to SFA's 12.
The Huskies shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the field, 50 percent (5-of-10) from three and 75 percent (6-of-8) from the charity stripe. The Ladyjacks finished the night shooting 37.7 percent (23-of-61) overall, 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from beyond the arc and 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the foul line.
The Huskies wrap up the home portion of their 2024-25 schedule this Saturday, Feb. 22, when they host the Lamar Cardinals in Sharp Gym at 1:00 p.m.
