The final game of the 2005-2006 SHSU women’s basketball season fell flat Friday night, as Stephen F. Austin crushed Bearkat playoff hopes with an 84-45 blowout.
The Kats (9-18, 4-12 SLC) came to the season’s last week with a glimmer of hope for the playoffs, yet ran into the buzz saw that was the top teams in the Southland Conference.
After losing three in a row, against the best three teams in the conference, the team will finish second to last in the SLC and miss the SLC Tournament, which started Monday.
Sam Houston State was dominated in every statistical category Friday night by SFA (20-7, 14-2 SLC), the number one seed in postseason play. Though the game initially remained within reach, the Lumberjacks almost had the door entirely closed by the 10 minute mark of the first half by a score of 21-13.
Over the next four minutes, SFA would go on a 12-2 run.
By halftime, SHSU was down 41-23 and shooting only 27 percent compared to SFA’s 47 percent shooting.
In the second half, the Kats would get as closest to SFA’s lead at the 16:21 mark. Jamie Barr sunk a three-pointer to make the score 43-28 and the Lumberjack lead down to 15 points.
After Barr’s three, SFA tightened up its chokehold on the game and went on a 35-4 run. The Kats had gone almost seven full minutes without scoring a single point. A three by Adah Wells ended the drought but was nothing more than a drop in the bucket, evidenced by the 75-35 score.
The remaining game played out much the same, with SHSU eventually losing by 39 points. The team shot only 25 percent from the field, had almost twice SFA’s foul count with 23 and had 27 turnovers.
Friday’s game would be the last collegiate competition for three graduating SHSU seniors. Guards Angel Brown and Stephanie Trachier, along with forward/post player Jamie Davison, will be graduating at the end of the semester.
Stephen F. Austin finished the regular season with the best SLC record at 14-2. Texas-Arlington finished second with a 13-3 record and Texas-San Antonio rounded out the top three with a 11-5 finish.