Sequeena Thomas Earns “SLC” Player of The Week
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Sam Houston State senior forward Sequeena Thomas has been named Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.
Thomas helped the Bearkats moved into a three-way tie for first place with a 5-1 conference mark after two wins one the week against Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts.
In the two games, the senior from Allentown, Pa. (Parkland H.S.), averaged 17.0 rebounds and 13.0 points.
She became Sam Houston’s all-time rebounding leader (990) during the week and set another school record with her 44th career double-double when she pulled down 20 rebounds and scored 18 points against Oral Roberts.
Her 20 boards against the Golden Eagles was only the 12th time a Bearkat woman has accounted for 20 or more rebounds in a game.
Thomas’ three blocks on the week also upped her school record to 190.
Next action for the Sam Houston State women will be a Southland Conference road trip Thursday and Saturday to Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls State.
Bearkat Bowlers On A “Roll” With Fourth Tournament Win
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Sam Houston’s No. 4 ranked women’s bowling team bagged another first place trophy Sunday, winning the team title at the Frederick Underwood Classic in Laurel, Maryland.
The tournament was hosted by Bowie State at the AMF Laurel Bowling Center.
In best-of-seven bracket play Sunday, Sam Houston defeated No. 19 Bethune-Cookman 4-3, Chowan 4-0 and North Carolina A&T 4-0 in the finals.
“Today was an important day for us not only from a competitive stand point but more mental,” head coach Brad Hagen said. “We needed to make shots, manage the emotions, and gear down. Everyone had a piece of today’s success and despite a few silly losses a lot of good came out of this weekend.”
“We have a lot of work to do and still have 50+ matches so its officially time to lock down the focus and take care of business if we want a legit shot at a nationals selection. This team has the heart to get it done.”
Sam Houston ended the tournament with an 11-2 record.
Saturday in traditional team match action, the Kat bowlers defeated Howard 1,046-882, Lincoln University 898-637, Chowan 1,019-686 and Virginia Union 1,011-755.
The only loss came in the second match of the day as Sam Houston feel to North Carolina Central 970-943.
In Friday’s quad baker team play results, the Bearkats started with a 900-781 win over Alabama-Birmingham.
The Kats defeated Coppin State 850-500 and Salem International 740-535 before falling to Bowie State 770-762.
Sam Houston bounced back to down Morgan State 771-690 in the day’s final match.
Sam Houston now stands 63-19 in dual match play for the season.
During the fall semester, the Kats won tournament championships at the Tulane Invitational, the Alabama A&M tournament and the Track Kat Klash in Huntsville and finished as team runner-up at the Bethune-Cookman tournament.
What Goes Around, Comes Around
by Cheval John
Everyone were captivated by the courageous will of Notre Dame’s Manti T’eo to play through adversity.
T’eo led the Irish defense on a run toward the BCS National Championship Game in Miami Gardens, Florida where they eventually lost to the eventual champion, Alabama Crimson Tide.
Many gained respect for T’eo after hearing about his trial due to the death of his grandmother in September.
They were even more fascinated with the fact that he had fell in love with a girl online named Lennay Kukua, who apparently “died of leukemia within two weeks of his grandmother and how he was able to move on and play extremely well to the point that he was one of the three finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
T’eo thought that he lost the girl of his dreams.
But he and everyone was in for a rude awakening.
According to Deadspin.com, “Kennay Kekua” does not exist and that her death from leukemia was allegedly a hoax.
The report indicates that someone made up this “Kennay Kekua” and conspired with others to deceive T’eo into believing that she was real.
Jack Swarbrick, vice president and director of athletics at Notre Dame said that T’eo is the most honest person that he ever met and that the perpetrators knew that he was an easy target because of his trusting demeanor.
He called this a tragedy and that “The single most-trusting human being he’s ever met will never be able to trust in the same way again.”
The pepetrators are really the most sickening human beings on the face of this earth because they aimed at a person who lost a person that was very dear to him and used that for their twisted joke.
They were not sensitive to a guy, who is one of the most respected players in college football, but played with his feelings in order to just get a “laugh.”
In reality, the perpetrators are just a bunch of morons who think that they can do this sought of thing and get away with it.
What they don’t realize is that nothing can be hidden anymore and that they will get caught either for their “joke” and will have to suffer the consequences for their role in creating this fictious “woman.”
Like the saying goes, “What goes around, comes around.”
The Real Losers Of The NHL Lockout Are The Fans
by Cheval John
It has been almost three days since the National Hockey League (NHL) and the NHL Players Union reached a deal that ended the 113-day lockout that canceled most of the season including the 2013 Winter Classic.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, issued an apology to the fans, players and sponsors today for the prolonged lockout and said that he “understand their frustration.
He added that they will now focus more on the ice because the CBA agreement is for 10 years and that will allow them to regain trust with the fans.
In reality, I don’t buy it.
The reason is because they had plenty of time to avoid the lockout because the previous one canceled the 2004-05 season and that left a void in North American sports.
If they had really understand, then they would have done everything that they can to reach a new deal and started the 2012-13 season without a hiccup.
Instead, fans, sponsors and television networks in the U.S. and Canada had to cover their gripe over and over in the last 113 days.
The NHL Players Association, led by Donald Fehr, who previously led the Major League Baseball (MLB) Players Association, didn’t want to reach a deal because he felt that the owners and the board of directors of the NHL would have budge and give in to their demands.
If the NHLPA had done their research on Mr. Fehr before they had hired him to be their representative, they would have seen that he was part of the reason why the MLB canceled the rest of the 1994 season and also was part of the steroid era in the 1990s.
Instead, they hired him and look where they are right now.
The NHLPA blamed the owners for trying to cut their salaries in order to help smaller market teams to sustain the NHL.
The owners are not without fault as well because they wanted to keep as much money as possible because of the revenue that the NHL makes from the television contracts and sponsorships.
In my opinion, I don’t feel sorry for either side because they make enough money (estimated $100,000 for the lower bench players to $20 million for the stars) playing the game they love.
You going to tell me that they are not satisified with their pay while the average “Joe” in this economy have to work at least two jobs to make ends meat and pay the bills and the most dedicated fan have to pay an estimated $400 dollars for season tickets and to pay at least $40 dollars for snacks and drinks while at the game?
That is ridiculous.
What this tells me is that these players want more money just to show off their “bling, bling” and to claim that they are the most paid athlete in the sport.
What they showed by having this lockout is that they don’t give a “flying leap” about the fans who live and die for their team.
They don’t understand that the fans needs this game to help them relax and be themselves after a hard days work or if they are unemployed.
The players and Mr. Bettman hopes that the fans will forgive them for the lockout and that they will come back in hoards.
I really hope that the majority of the fans including the die-hard fans will not return to watch a 48-game season to let these guys to show them that they will not put up with their shenanigans.
Maybe that will let them think twice and get their act together.
Deja Vu For The Falcons
by Cheval John
The Atlanta Falcons were looking to erase a reputation of coming up short in big time games.
Everything was going their way after scoring two quick touchdowns and a field goal to take a 17-0 lead against the San Franscisco 49ers.
But the 49ers made plays when it was needed down the stretch and eventually defeated the Falcons 28-24 that punch a ticket to the Super Bowl that will be held in New Orleans on February 3.
The Falcons on the other hand, choked like they have always done before and are now back to the drawing board.
Matt Ryan, who went 30 of 42 for 390 yards and three touchdowns, came apart at exactly the wrong time in the game.
Ryan has been know for engineering comebacks late in the game that he was given the nickname, “Matty Ice.”
He proved why he earned that nickname after he completed two crucial throws in the final seconds of the game that put kicker Matt Bryant in position to kick the game-winning field goal in a 30-28 win against the Seattle Seahawks to advance to the NFC Championship game and helped people to forget that they blew a 20-point lead and almost lost.
He had an excellent first half, where he schredded the secondary and made clutch throws that allowed the Falcons to have a 17-0 lead.
Even though the 49ers were chipping away and had pulled with a 17-14 score with less than a minute left in the second quarter, Ryan connected with tight Tony Gonzalez for a 10-yard score to extend the lead to 24-14 by halftime.
It seemed as if the Falcons had learned their lesson and was going to finally erase their reputation of coming up short in big games and advance to the Super Bowl for only the second time in their history.
But the 49ers had other ideas.
After a Frank Gore 5-yard score that pulled them within a 24-21 score, the 49ers defense made the adjustments when it was needed and went after Ryan like he stole something from them.
Ryan was overwhelmed by the pressure and made some costly errors down the stretch.
In two crucial drives where they were inside 49er territory, he threw an interception to Chris Culliver at the 49er’s 38 yard line and fumbled the ball inside the red zone that gave San Franscisco another chance to take the lead.
“Against a good team, you can’t have those types of mistakes,” Ryan said in a press conference after the heartbreaking loss.
The 49ers capitalized thanks to a Gore 9-yard go-ahead, game winning touchdown run that gave them a 28-24 lead with 11:46 remaining in the game.
Though the Falcons had plenty of chances to regain the lead, the 49ers defense, led by Patrick Willis stood tall when it counted to preserve the lead and defeat the Falcons on the road to make it back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 18 years.
“I told (them) throughout the game, this is going to come down to us,” Dashon Goldson said to the San Franscisco Chronicle. “We started this. We started slow.”
Now with their hope and dreams dashed away, all the Falcons can do is evaluate this season and figure out how to win in big games because until they do, it will always be deja vu for them.
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