ASU advances in women's championship with 53-46 victory over NSU
The Angelo State women's basketball team jumped out to an early lead on Northeastern State and held on for a hard-fought 53-46 victory in Thursday's quarterfinal game in the Lone Star Conference tournament.
ASU had four players averaging double figures in scoring, and despite the low-scoring affair, the 'Belles had four players with at least eight points, including freshman standout Camille Perkins, who led all scorers with 15 points. Lindsey Leatherman had 11 points and Nichelle Perks had eight points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Tiffany Hardwell had nine points and seven boards.
The 'Belles, the No. 3 seed in the South Division, advance to Saturday's semifinal round to play the winner of West Texas A&M-Southeastern Oklahoma State. Angelo State has now won five straight first-round games in the LSC tournament.
ASU (23-7) defeated Northeastern for the second time this year, after a 63-41 win over NSU back on Dec. 1 in an LSC crossover game in San Angelo.
The season ends for Northeastern State (16-12), the No. 2 seed in the North. The RiverHawks were led in scoring by Kim Hunter's 13 points and 11 points from Jezzal Quintana.
The 'Belles got off to a 10-2 start in the first half and later led by as much as 17 points in the second half, taking a commanding 40-23 lead on a short jumper by Leatherman with 12:10 to play.
Slowly but surely, NSU trimmed into the lead. With 4:07 remaining, Kim Hunter nailed a 3-pointer from the left baseline to get the RiverHawks within eight points at 44-36, the closest since the first minute of the second half.
After two free throws by Perkins, NSU cut the lead to seven on a three-point play by Jessica White. But ASU kept answering. Alix Flores hit a short jumper on the right wing for a 48-39 lead with just over three minutes remaining.
NSU got as close as four points when Hunter hit another 3-point basket with just 34 seconds on the clock. But Perkins hit two more free throws to ice the game.
Perkins, who played all 40 minutes, was the only freshman named to the All-LSC South Division first team. With 15 points, Perkins moved from 11th to ninth place on ASU's single-season scoring list with 479 points. She needs just two more points to move into eighth place.
Sally Brooks - General comments...
"I told the team before the game that three-pointers and offensive rebounds were going to be the key to the game. Then after the game I told them that I was glad that I was right."
Coach Brooks - on possible regional implications...
"I don't know what the win means really. I knew that the loser had no shot and the winner still had hope. So, we still have hope. We kind of ended the season wanting to be conference champions. We got rid of the regional notion out of our heads and thought about a conference championship. If the season ended after the championship, we would be happy."
Lindsay Leatherman - on how the Belles have lost leads in the past...
"It seems that we have been doing it a lot lately. We get up by several points and then let the other team somehow crawl back into the game. I wasn't really nervous about it, but then again I didn't want this to be our last game either."
Camille Perkins - on what it was like to play in her first LSC Championship...
"It was a great atmosphere. Unfortunately it was more like a home game for them. But I thought overall it went well."
Northeastern State
Randy Gipson
"Obviously we are disappointed. We were a bit tentative in the way we came out. It took us a half to get settled down and find any rhythm to get things going offensively."
"Our three-point shooting has been something that has carried us through our North Division games this year. We just turned down some open looks at the beginning that we normally are more aggressive in taking."
"I thought the first half we guarded them pretty well, but we still let them have too many easy baskets."
"If we could do it again, I think we would have more of an attack mentality on the offensive end."
"I'm proud that this team stuck with it. We competed well in some big games. It was a disappointing to end the season on this stage with showing. We didn't put the game out there today that we consistently played over the last two months."
Verresa Gaston
"It was a pretty physical, but it wasn't anything we were not used to. It was tough do-or-die."
"I felt ready, but it all happened so fast. I felt we just didn't make quick enough decisions. We just didn't come ready."
Kim Hunter
I felt I could do better. I got my shots off on some good screens. We didn't
come out ready to play like we should. They didn't pick it up. I think some of us were just too hesitant.
AngeloStateas a team
- The Rambelles have won five of their last six meetings against Northeastern State and 7-4 all-time.
- The Rambelles now have a 22-15 all-time record in the Lone Star Conference Tournament
- UPDATED RECORD WHEN: Angelo State raises its record to 15-1 when leading at the half...4-0 when shooting over 50% in a game (shot 51.4% for the contest)...16-2 when they shoot more free throws...16-1 when they outrebound their opponent...17-1 when they have more defensive rebounds.
Head Coach Sally Walling-Brooks
- She is now 11-3 all-time in her career against Northeastern State
- With the ASU win, the Rambelles have 23 victories - second most in a single-season for her as the head coach
Lindsey Leatherman
- Leatherman scored 11 points and was in double figures for the 26th time in 2007-08.
Nichelle Parks
- Parks grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds
- The 15 rebounds are the most by an Angelo State player in 2007-08
- It is the seventh time that she has grabbed 10-plus rebounds
Camille Perkins
- Scored 15 points for her 17th straight game in double figures and for the 26th time in 2007-08. During the stretch of 17 games in double figures, she has scored at least 13 points.
- With her 15 points, she has now scored 479 to move into ninth place in the single-season all-time list at Angelo State
- It is the 14th time that she has been the Rambelles' leading scorer
- She has
played at least 38 minutes in a game for the 11th time this
season after playing all 40 against NSU. This is the fifth time
this season she has not exited a game.
Northeastern Notes
Lindsey Sams, who recently set NSU's single-season record for assists with 130, had just three against ASU . . . RiverHawks head coach Randy Gipson is now 7-7 in conference tournament games since taking over as head coach in 1999-2000 . . . Gipson is looking to take his team back to the LSC tourney finals for the first time since 2005, the third of three consecutive trips to the championship game . . . With nine points, Jessica White saw her streak of five straight games of double-digit scoring come to an end . . . With 11 steals, NSU tied a season-high for a single game. The RiverHawks posted 11 steals in a Nov. 24 game against Washburn . . . NSU had a season-low 21 rebounds, with no player recording more than four. The previous low was 24 rebounds against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 10.
