The LadyKats will play the Texas-Arlington Lady Mavs Thursday for the second time this season, but this time it will be played in Huntsville.
UTA is currently second place in the Southland Conference, with an 11-3 SLC record (13-8 overall).
The LadyKats hope to turn their luck around from the last time the two teams played. The two teams met in Arlington on Jan. 16, and the LadyKats were dominated in a 77-46 loss.
Alice Johnson, with 21, and Kelley Kramer, with 10, were the only LadyKats to get double figures in scoring, while the Lady Mavs had four players achieve that. Rola Ogunoya had 18, LaToya Lewis had 17, Sheena Johnson had 12 and Chronda Reagan had 10.
In fact, UTA’s three top scorers got as many points as SHSU’s entire team.
The biggest problems the LadyKats faced were that they gave the Lady Mavs the ball too often and UTA was able to capitalize on the opportunities.
The LadyKats turned the ball over 28 times in January’s game and allowed 48 total rebounds. The Kats were only able to grab 28 rebounds.
“We allowed 24 offensive rebounds,” LadyKats head coach Erika Ritter said. “We have to allow only one shot per possession.”
The LadyKats are trying to rebound from a four-game losing streak. The team has not won a game since Feb. 3 in a non-conference game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The last conference game won was the upset victory against Northwestern State on Jan. 25.
“We need to play smart and play as a team,” Ritter said. “We need to come out with some emotion and want to beat a top three team.”
The LadyKats will rely heavily on the SLC’s leading scorer, Alice Johnson, but a victory Thursday will require a strong team effort.
“Whoever is out on the court has to perform,” Ritter said. “We need about eight people to really step it up.”