Eagles claim conference title with huge victory over LSU-S
TAMU-T's Lovietta Walker named tourney MVP
ALEXANDRIA, La. — Leave no doubt; the top-seed A&M-Texarkana women’s basketball team let it be known they would not be denied, completing a perfect run through the conference regular season and tournament Sunday with a demolishing of second-seed LSU-Shreveport at Rapides Parish Coliseum.
The Eagles (28-1) held a ridiculous 26-point lead after just the first quarter and cruised to claim the Red River Athletic Conference tournament title, the first in program history, with an 81-46 win over the Pilots (24-7).
TAMU-T had already won the regular season title and the automatic NAIA berth that came along with it, but the Eagles didn’t take their foot off the gas in Alexandria, beating Jarvis Christian by 29 in the opening round, Xavier by 24 in the semifinals, and topping it off with a 35-point win in the championship.
The Eagles have now won 25 consecutive games heading into the NAIA Women’s National Championship, the first appearance in the program’s short four-year existence. Their firstround opponent and game location will be announced Thursday, during the NAIA Women’sSelection Show at 6 p.m.
Lovietta Walker was named RRAC Tournament Most Valuable Player, fishing off the weekend with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals in the championship win.
Bre’Asiajah Mathews (17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals) and Vasha Moore (14 points, 5 rebounds) also made the All-Tournament Team.
By all accounts, the game was pretty much decided once the first period buzzer sounded. The Eagles made 10 field goals and sank 10 free throws in that 10-minute frame, while also forcing six steals and limiting the Pilots to 13 percent shooting (2-of-15).
Walker had 11 in the first period, sinking all nine free throws attempts and Mathews added 10 points with five rebounds. The Eagles had 16 points in the paint and 17 points off turnovers in their most dominant period of the season.
LSU-S finished the first half making just 4-of-28 shot attempts (14 percent) while the Eagles sank a cool 52 percent (16-of-31), with 22 of their 47 first half points coming in the paint. TAMU-T attacked inside from the get-go, forcing LSU-S’ tallest player – Chelsey White – out of the game with four fouls in the first frame.
Not surprisingly, the Eagles never trailed, led by 30 at the end of three periods, and had their biggest lead of 36 with two minutes left in the game.