The Sam Houston State Bearkats women’s basketball team defeated South Alabama Jaguars by the score of 53-50. The win gave them a 4-4 record for the season.

Junior forward Sequeena Thomas led the Kats with 12 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 block shots. Junior forward Britni Martin and junior guard Chanice Smith each had 11 points.

The Jaguars started the game strong by scoring nine straight points to take a 9-0 lead. The Bearkats was trailing for most of the first half by the score of 24-12. The Bearkats came back to life and went on a 14-0 run to finish the half by the score of 26-24.

The second half was a different story as both teams battled and exchange points between them. With the Bearkats trailing 41-40, the Jaguars scored the next four out of six points within two minutes to make it 45-42.

The Bearkats rallied and scored the final eleven out of 16 to defeat the Jaguars 53-50.

“We were excited about the way we manage the game,” head women’s coach Brenda Nichols said. “The coaching staff did a great job and the players listened.”

Junior guard Camille Reynolds led the Jaguars with 10 points, 2 rebounds and one steal while senior guard Lauren Walker contributed with 9 points and one steal.

The Bearkats shot a total of 30% from the field while the Jaguars shot for a total of 25%. At the free thrown line, the Bearkats shot for a total of 75% including the final two from Chanice Smith that sealed the game for the Kats.

“I love playing with Chanice,” Martin said. “She came out and played hard. She knows how to finish.”

The Bearkats will travel to Lawrence, Kansas as they will face the Kansas Jayhawks on December 28. For more information on the team and the time of the game, visit gobearkats.com.

by Cheval John

When it was all said and done, five finalist were named in the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year. The interesting part is that Sam Houston State Bearkats head football coach Willie Fritz was not among the finalist. To add insult to injury, Holy Cross head football coach Tom Gilmore was one of the finalist and his team finished with a 6-5 record.

In order to be considered for the award, a person must meet these requirements: sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility, excellence on the field and excellence in the classroom.

Once that person meet the requirements, they must receive the highest number of votes from the fans (20%), the college football Hall of Fame Selection Committee (55%), and from the National Media (25%) in order to win the award.

I understand that the sportswriters, broadcasters, former players and coaches who make up the Hall of Fame Selection Committee and the National Media have been in this business longer than I have and are considered experts, but they drop the ball on this one.

Here are the reasons why Coach Fritz not only should have been finalist, but should have won the award:

Sportsmanship: Though the Bearkats committed 79 penalties during the season, their opponents as a whole committed 83 total penalties.

Integrity: Coach Fritz has run a clean program since he became head coach in 2009. None of the players have been arrested and they have not committed a single NCAA infraction even before he arrived as head coach.

Responsibility: The football team participated in “Operation All In,” a program that was a joint effort with the SHSU ROTC. It ran during the spring 2011 semester and it taught them how to work together as a team. Also, they sported an orange, white and black camouflaged jersey in the homecoming game against Nicholls State Colonels. The jerseys were auctioned off and the proceeds went to the Lone Survivor Foundation, an organization founded by former Bearkat and retired Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.

Excellence On The Field: The Bearkats finished the season undefeated and was the outright Southland Conference Champions and made the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the first time since 2004. It was their fourth title in the 25 years that they have been in the FCS. The previous three were shared with McNeese State (1991, 2001) and Northwestern State (2004). Sophomore running back Tim Flanders and junior safety Darnell Taylor was named the Southland Conference “Offensive Player of the Year”and “Defensive Player of the Year,” respectively.

Excellence In The Classroom: Not only is the team successful on the field, but are successful in the classroom. The grade point average (g.p.a.) for the team is a 2.7. Among them, 31 made the 2010-11 Southland Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll and senior center Travis Watson was nominated for the 2011 National Scholar Athlete Award, the same award that was won by both Eli and Peyton Manning.

In conclusion, I have given examples to show why Coach Fritz should have been the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year. If this doesn’t convince them that this was the biggest snub that was made, then I don’t know what will.

If you agree or disagree with post, e-mail me at chevaljohn80@yahoo.com.

by Cheval John

I have something to say to Kevin Sumlin, head football coach at the University of Houston (UH) Cougars: Stay where you are because you have a chance to build a legacy at UH.

The Cougars are 12-0 and are playing for the Conference-USA championship on Saturday. If they win, then they will receive an automatic bid to play in one of the five bowls in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

The reason why I am saying this is because his name is being mentioned for coaching vacancies at several schools including Texas A&M and Arizona State University. History has shown that the majority of coaches that left their previous jobs for their “dream job” have failed to duplicate their success that was achieved at their previous school.

Here are a few coaches that comes to mind:

Billy Gillispie: Gillispie was the head basketball coach at Texas A&M from 2004-2007. During that time, he led the Aggies to 70-26 overall record and a Big 12 conference record of 31-17 and have made the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament in 2006 and 2007. In the latter, the Aggies made it to the Sweet Sixteen where they lost to the Memphis Tigers. After the 2006-07 season, he was hired by the University of Kentucky Wildcats to return them to their glory years when they made 105 appearances in the NCAA tournament and won 7 national championships. In his two years at the helm, he led them to a 40-27 record and have reached the NCAA tournament only once. Even though it was decent records, he was fired because it wasn’t enough to meet the expectations of the fan base for the University of Kentucky. Now, he is the head coach at Texas Tech University.

Turner Gill: Gill was the head football coach at the University at Buffalo from 2006-2009. Before his arrival, the Bulls was 8-49 and was considered one of the worst Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs in the nation. In his first year, the Bulls finished with a 2-10 record. The next year, the team improved to an overall record of 5-7 and a Mid-American Conference (MAC) record of 5-3. Their breakthrough came in 2008 when they finished the regular season with an overall record of 7-5 record and a conference record of 5-3. They played in the MAC championship game against Ball State at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, where they defeated them by the score of 42-24 to win the MAC championship and made their first bowl appearance since joining the FBS in 1999.

In 2009, the University of Kansas hired Gill as their next head coach, replacing long-time coach Mark Mangino. In his two seasons, the Jayhawks compiled a 25-49 overall record and a Big 12 conference record of 1-12. Gill was fired after the 2011 season.

Here is a quote that sums up this post: “The grass is not always green on the other side.”

If you agree or disagree with this post, you can respond by emailing me at chevaljohn80@yahoo.com.

Almost two weeks ago in front of a record crowd of 3,141, the Sam Houston State Bearkats defeated the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders by the score of 87-53 at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.

“The atmosphere was great,” head coach Brenda Nichols said. “Anytime our players comes out to that type of atmosphere, it motivates them.”

The game was part of “Pack The House” challenge that is sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and 184 Division I institutions participates in the challenge. It is an initiative to increase fan support for women’s basketball events and whoever draws the most fan support are awarded $500 dollars and the winning institution donates the money to a non-profit organization of their choice.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” athletic director Bobby Williams said. “Every year that we had it, we walk out of here with your ears ringing, but it’s an exciting time and it gets our team fired up as well.”

The event draw kids from Walker County area schools to watch a women’s college basketball game.

Sam Houston has won the contest in the past two out of three seasons that they have participated in the Southland Conference region. In the first year, they drew a crowd of 2,261. The second year saw an increase of 2,456. Then last year, they drew a crowd of 2,503 and this year contests brought a crowd of 3,141, the largest crowd to watch a Bearkats women’s basketball contest.

Though the Crusaders lost the game, they felt fortunate to have participated in the event.

“I thought that it was great,” assistant coach Carlos Marbot said. “Anytime you can get young kids to a game and get them all excited about basketball, you can grow the sport.”

“Pack the House” will run from October 30 to March 5, 2012 during the season at selected member institutions in the NCAA Division I.

Sam Houston State Bearkats’ volleyball team are
looking to finish the regular season on a high note as they head on
the road to face Lamar Cardinals on Thursday and the McNeese State
Cowgirls on Saturday.

The Bearkats are 9-5 in the Southland
Conference and 15-12 overall. With wins against University of Texas
at San Antonio Roadrunners and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Islanders, they have clinched a spot in the Southland Conference
Post-Season Tournament that will be held in Conway, Arkansas from
November 18-20.

Though they have clinched a spot, they
are more focused than ever as they will be facing a Lamar team that
are on a three-game winning streak with wins against Nicholls State,
Northwestern State and Central Arkansas and are 8-6 in the East
Division of the Southland Conference and 10-19 overall. The last win
helped them clinched a spot in the tournament.

Lamar totals 1,242 kills for the
season, with sophomore outside hitter Sierra Whittacker leading them
with 318 kills. Four other players on the Cardinals have 100 or more
kills.

The Kats will also face McNeese State
Cowgirls on Saturday. The Cowgirls are 5-9
in conference play and 10-18 overall, with a current three-game
winning streak.

Senior middle blocker Nicole Bowden
lead the Cowgirls with 368 kills, averaging 3.38 per set. Five other
players on the team have 100 or more kills.

On the defensive side, the Cowgirls is
leading the conference with a total of 1,817 digs, averaging 16.7 per
set. They are tied for third in the East Division of the Southland
Conference and will try to hang on to it as they bid for a position
in the tournament.

Heading into the games, the Bearkats
totals 1,303 kills, with senior outside hitter Carli Kolbe leading
them with 334 kills and was named Southland Conference “Offensive
Player of the Week.”

“We need to focus on us and just play
our game,” Kolbe said.

Senior middle blocker Kim Black is
second on the team with 229 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Haley
Neisler, who was named “Defensive Player of the Week” by the
Southland Conference, is third with 188 kills. Three other players
have 100 or more kills while senior setter Kym Loving have 1,053
assists for the season.

“We need to get to where we are on
top of game before the conference tournament begins,” Loving said.

The Bearkats will face Lamar Cardinals
on Thursday night at 7 p.m and McNeese State Cowgirls on Saturday at
2 p.m. For more information on the team, visit gobearkats.com.