Weekend Series Could Decide The Fate Of SHSU
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
The 2013 Southland Conference softball race is only one week old and already Sam Houston State faces an important series that could have title ramifications before the year plays out.
Central Arkansas, the only 3-0 team in the league, visits the Bearkat Softball Complex for a three-game series starting today with a double-header at 1 p.m.
Sunday will conclude the contest beginning at noon.
Sam Houston stands 12-14 and was won four of its last six games.
But the Bearkats stumbled in their opening league series last weekend in Hammond, La., losing two of three against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions.
Meanwhile, UCA swept Stephen F. Austin.
The Bears, 19-7 for the season, have won 14 of their last 16 games.
The series this weekend features three of the Southland’s top hitters.
UCA’s Sam Forrest (.430) and Melissa Bryant (.418) ranked second and third in the league in hitting while Bearkat center fielder Tori Benavidez (.403) is in sixth place in the Southland.
Designated player Hillary Adams of Sam Houston leads the conference with eight home runs.
Melanie Bryant stands third in the league with six homers.
The Bears are dangerous in the pitching circle as Central Arkansas’s Kelsie Armstrong is tops in the Southland in strike outs (134).
Armstrong owns a 12-5 record and a 1.65 earned run average.
Shelby Lancaster (7-4, 2.75), Meme Quinn (2-3, 3.66) and Haley Baros (3-7, 4.79) share pitching duties for Sam Houston State.
Following the UCA series, the Bearkats will continue a six-game home stand with a contest against the Houston Cougars Wednesday, March 20.
Bearkat WBB Earns SLC Honors
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Britni Martin and Sequeena Thomas both are first team All-Southland selections.
Thomas is the 2013 Southland Conference “Defensive Player of the Year” and Bearkat head coach Brenda Nichols has been honored as the league’s women’s basketball “Coach of the Year.”
Thomas also was named to the first ever Southland All-Defensive team and the Bearkats’ Chanice Smith was an honorable mention All-Southland selection.
The 2013 All-Southland Conference women’s basketball team was announced Monday morning.
The honor squad is selected by vote of the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
Thomas led Sam Houston State to its first-ever Southland regular-season title.
The senior from Allentown, Pa. (Parkview H.S.), led the league in rebounding with 12.5 rebounds per conference game, including 9.4 defensive rebounds per league game.
She registered 1.3 blocks per contest and recorded a league-best 19 double-doubles.
Thomas finished the regular season with 371 rebounds including a conference-best 20-rebound performance in a win against Oral Roberts in January.
Thomas is the first Sam Houston player to earn defender of the year honors.
Thomas stands as Sam Houston’s all-time leader in rebounds (1,129) and blocks (159) and stands No. 4 in Bearkat career scoring (1,381).
She is the only SHSU women’s basketball player to total both 1,000 career points and rebounds.
Smith is the Bearkats’ third leading scorer with 9.5 points per game.
The senior from Mansfield totaled 17 double-figure scoring performances during the 2013 championship season.
She stands as Sam Houston’s 13th all-time leading scorer with 1,081 career points.
Only 14 women’s basketball players in the program’s history have scored more than 1,000 points.
Martin led the Bearkats’ 2013 Southland co-championship team in scoring (16.2 points) and assists (4.2).
The senior from Conroe is a three-time All-Southland first team selection.
She ranks as the program’s all-time leader in both three point field goals (306) and free throw percentage (.795) and stands second in career points (1,797) and assists (442).
Martin, an All-Academic honors candidate as well with a 3.68 grade point average as a Masters’ program student in kinesiology, has scored in double figures in 97 of her 119 games at Sam Houston.
That includes a streak of 47 consecutive double figure games during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Nichols earned her first coach of the year award after guiding the Bearkats to their first overall South Conference regular-season championship.
She is the second Sam Houston State coach to earn the award, joining Vic Schaefer, who was honored in 1996.
The Bearkats enter this week’s conference tournament with a 17-13 overall record and finished 13-5 during conference play.
The Bearkats head into the tournament as the No. 2 seed and winners of four of their last five contests.
Nichols, who led the Bearkats to division titles in 2011 and 2012 before the conference did away with divisional play this season, is looking to guide Sam Houston to its second consecutive postseason trip after advancing to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational last year.
Nichols, who is in her seventh season in Huntsville, has a 78-128 record at Sam Houston, including a 52-39 mark the last three seasons.
The Southland Conference Basketball Tournament begins Wednesday at the Merrell Center in Katy, Texas.
The first four games of the tournament will be streamed live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including Southland.org and the league’s iPhone and Android apps.
The semifinals and championship game of the women’s tournament will be available solely on ESPN3.
Tickets for the tournament are available through Ticketmaster or at the Merrell Center box office.
SLC Opener Not Kind For Bearkat Softball
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
HAMMOND, La. – A three-run homer by Hillary Adams in the third inning gave Sam Houston a 4-2 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in the rubber game of both team’s first Southland Conference softball series.
The Lions won both games on Saturday, the first 4-2 and the second 3-1.
Tori Benavidez went 4-for-4 at the plate Sunday as the Bearkats out hit the Lions 11-4.
Haley Baros was the winning pitcher, spreading four hits over six and one third innings.
Kim Damian and Hillary Adams accounted for Sam Houston’s runs in the first game Saturday with RBI singles in the second and seventh innings, respectively.
Two unearned runs in the fourth inning were in difference in the contest.
Shelby Lancaster was the losing pitcher for Sam Houston.
A two-run homer by Melissa Moore powered the Lions to victory in the second game.
Sam Houston took an early one-run lead on another RBI single by Adams.
Meme Quinn took the loss for Sam Houston.
The Bearkats now stand 10-14 for the year while Southeastern Louisiana is 13-7.
Bearkat MBB Clinches No.6 Seed After Loss To Demons
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Natchitoches, La. – Four Bearkats scored in double figures as the Sam Houston men’s basketball team fell 84-73 to Southland Conference runner-up Northwestern State in both team’s league regular season finale.
James Thomas scored 16 points, Will Bond 14, Paul Baxter 12 and Marquel McKinney 10 for the Kats who dropped to 15-16 for the year and 8-10 in Southland action.
Shamir Davis powered Northwestern State with 24 points while Brison White totaled 15.
The Demons end the regular season 21-8 and are 15-3 in league play.
The Bearkts kept the contest close until the final few minutes, trailing by only two with 7:15 to play.
“Our players really fought hard today,” Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said. “You’ve got to give Northwestern State a lot of credit. They rose up and made some difficult shots. We’re looking forward to heading to the tournament.”
Northwestern State started the game with a 10-0 as the Bearkats went the first seven minutes without scoring a point.
Terrance Motley’s tip-in accounted for the first Sam Houston basket with 13:41 left in the first half.
The Demons built an 11-point lead, 18-7, five minutes later.
Back-to-back jumpers by James Thomas started a 15-7 Bearkat run as Sam Houston pulled within three, 25-22 on a three-pointer by Darius Gatson with 4:50 left in the half.
Northwestern State went into the locker room with a 41-35 lead at intermission.
Sam Houston fought back again to take their only lead of the game 50-49 on a Will Bond trey with 12:15 to play.
Northwestern State bounced back in front and the closest the Kats came afterwards was 63-61 after a Nathaniel Mason layup with 7:35 remaining.
The Bearkat men now head to the Southland Conference tournament at the Ferrell Center in Katy where Sam Houston will be the number six seed and play their first round match Wednesday night.