After making changes to its culture on and off the court, the Sam Houston State University women’s basketball team is off to its most impressive start in recent history.
In her first year as Bearkats head coach, Ravon Justice has made her mark on the team and as a result, we have seen a major offensive boost. With both home wins resulting in 100 plus points scored by the Bearkats,Justice has completely turned the team around. If this Bearkat squad continues on this trajectory the rest of the year,we could see a dangerous team come conference play.
Justice took over the program with nowhere to go but up. After receiving only 32 votes in the 2018-19 Southland Women’s Basketball Preseason poll, the Bearkats were projected to finish last place in the Southland Conference.
Starting her tenure as head coach, Justice and the Bearkats,traveled to Baton Rouge to take on Louisiana State University where the team came up short by 14 points. Motivated by close game, Justice’s Bearkats came back to Johnson Coliseum to get her the first win of the season defeating Jarvis Christian, 100-55. The Bearkats’ first 100-point game since 1994-1995 season.
The Bearkats would continuing their winning ways by scoring 101 points in their next home game against Wiley College. It was the first time since the 1987-88 season that a Bearkat women’s basketball team has scored 100+points in multiple games in the same season.
Being led by transfer junior guard Jaylonn Walker and redshirt senior guard La’Sha Haynes, the Bearkats are looking to make history.
Starting five out of the six games, Walker has stepped up as a leader on this Bearkat squad. Averaging 29 minutes per game, she leads the team with 15.2 points per game, and 22 steals this season. Walker also is not a stranger to sharing the rock, placing second on the team in assists with 21 assists, just one shy of junior guard Jenniffer Oramas with 22 assists on the season to date.
Helping the team defensively is redshirt senior forward La’Sha Haynes who transferred from Prairie View A&M last season. She is the team leader with 39 total rebound, 28 of those being defensively. With this defensive front by Haynes the Bearkats haven’t allowed more than 84 points and outscoring their opponents by 60 points through six games. Haynes looks to continue on with her record year with the Bearkats.
The Bearkats looks to continue their season against St.Thomas at 3 p.m. Saturday December 1st at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville TX. If this team continues, the run they are on, we could be in the midst of a historic season to remember for Bearkat women’s basketball.