Bearkat WBB Reaches Pinnacle Of Success
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
The Sam Houston women’s basketball team will play the Tulane Green Wave Thursdays night in New Orleans in the first round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
The full 64-team field for the postseason WNIT was announced Monday night.
The winner of the Sam Houston vs. Tulane game faces the Arkansas vs. Memphis winner.
Those two teams will face off Thursday in Fayetteville.
Tulane reached the quarterfinals of the Conference USA post-season tournament, falling to host Tulsa 75-68.
The Green Wave produced a 22-8 record during the 2013 seasons.
Tulane tied for second place in Conference USA with an 11-4 league mark.
Sam Houston State earned its WNIT postseason berth by finishing as co-champions in the Southland Conference and advancing to its first Southland post-season tournament finals appearance.
The 2013 WNIT field will include 31 teams that earned automatic berths and 33 teams that are selected at-large.
“The girls and coaching staff are excited to still be playing basketball,” head coach Brenda Nichols said. “Looking at who some of the bubble teams are for NCAA selection, the WNIT should have an outstanding field this year. It’s a thrill to get to test ourselves against the best.”
The postseason WNIT will open with first-round games Wednesday through Friday, March 20-22.
The event culminates Saturday, April 6, with the championship game which will be telecast live on CBS Sports Network.
All games are hosted by participating schools.
Sam Houston earned its first women’s basketball Southland Conference regular season title in its 26 years in the league in 2013 with an 18-14 overall mark and 13-5 league record.
The WNIT schedule by round:
Round 1 – March 20-22
Round 2 – March 23-25
Round 3 – March 27-29
Quarterfinals – March 30-April 1
Semifinals – April 3-4
Championship Game – April 6, 2 p.m.
Benavidez’s Earns SLC “Hitter of The Week” After Captivating Performance
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Sam Houston’s Tori Benavidez has been named as Southland Conference softball “Hitter of the Week”, the league office announced Monday.
Benavidez helped lead Sam Houston State to a 4-1 record on the week, which included a doubleheader sweep of Purdue and a series win against Central Arkansas.
Against the Boilermakers, the senior from Midlothian, Texas (Midlothian H.S.), went 3-for-7 at the plate and knocked a solo home run in the second game which the Bearkats won 3-2.
In the series against Central Arkansas, Benavidez recorded two hits in each game, going 6-for-11 in the three games.
In Sam Houston’s 9-8 win against the Bears, Benavidez recorded two hits, including a triple and accounted for five runs with three RBIs and two runs scored.
On the week, Benavidez hit .500 with an .889 slugging percentage and .500 on-base percentage.
For the season, Benavidez is hitting .420 with a double, three triples, two home runs and nine RBIs.
She ranks second in the Southland Conference in hitting this season.
Next action for the Bearkat softball team is a 5 p.m. matchup with the University of Houston Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Following the contest with the Cougars, Sam Houston will head to Beaumont for a weekend three-game series against Lamar.
Splitsville For The Bearkats
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Kim Damian’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning brought in the winning run as Sam Houston defeated Central Arkansas 9-8 in the second game of a Southland softball doubleheader Saturday.
Behind 13 strikeouts by UCA pitcher Kelsie Armstrong, the Bears won the first game of the doubleheader 5-3.
The two teams will meet in the third and final game of the series Sunday at 12 noon.
The loss in the nightcap was Central Arkansas’s first in conference play.
UCA is 20-8 for the year and 4-1 in the Southland.
Sam Houston now stands 13-15 for the year and 2-3 in league action.
Shortstop Lissa Avitia unleashed a double down the left field line to put a run on the board for UCA in the top of the second inning of Saturday’s first game.
The shot scored first baseman Ashley Boswell who reached second on an error.
Hillary Adams got the run back immediately, leading off the bottom of the second with a solo shot to left center for the designated player’s ninth home run of the 2013 season.
Third baseman Tiffany Roby put the Bears up 2-1 in the top of the fourth with her third home run of the year on a shot to left center.
UCA upped its margin to 5-1 with a two-run double by pinch hitter Jessie Taylor and a sacrifice fly by right fielder Sam Forest in the top of the sixth inning.
The Bearkats picked up two runs in the bottom of the fifth as catcher Ashley Isbell produced her second home run of the season.
Kelsie Armstrong, the Southland Conference’s strike out leader this season, fanned 13 Bearkats in the first game to up her record to 13-5.
Shelby Lancaster (7-5) took the loss in the pitching circle.
Amber Neal pitched one and two thirds innings in relief.
Kim Damian continued the home run parade with a solo shot to left fielder to open the second game for the Bearkats.
A three-run triple by center fielder Tori Benavidez and an RBI single by right fielder Cecilia Castillo added four runs to the Bearkat total in the second.
Back-to-back run-scoring singles by shortstop Tiffany Castillo and left fielder Jessica Slater lifted Sam Houston to a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning.
SHSU pitcher Meme Quinn did not give up a hit until the fourth inning and shut out the Bears for five innings before giving up a home run to Ashley Boswell in the sixth.
The solo shot opened the floodgates, however as UCA ended the innings with seven more runs and an 8-7 lead.
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.