SHREVEPORT, La. - Feb. 23 - Southern Utah women's basketball ended the
game on the short side of a 58-52 decision at the hands of the
Centenary Ladies on Saturday night. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to
6-20 on the year and 4-11 in The Summit League. With the win, Centenary
snapped a 12-game losing skid and captured its first conference win (1-14) and moved to 4-21 overall this season.
The Lady T-Birds started out strong in the game, capturing their first lead on back-to-back shots by Aubrey Mackintosh from the charity stripe at the 15:27 mark. The lead grew to as much as ten (20-10) with six minutes remaining, but a strong 16-5 run over the final minutes of the half swung the momentum of the game in Centenary's favor and gave the home team a 26-25 lead going into the break.
The Ladies held onto the lead through the second half with Southern Utah trimming the deficit to one on multiple occasions. However, Centenary always weathered the counter attack and built the lead to its largest margin of the half at eight (52-44) with less than four minutes remaining. SUU made a strong last effort, pulling together a 7-0 run to get to within one with 1:51 remaining in the game.
Centenary once again countered with a jump shot and five-of-five shooting from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the 58-52 home victory. The loss left the Thunderbirds still looking for their first road win of the season.
The Ladies' Anne Farrell led all scorers with 16 points and also led Centenary in rebounding with a game-high nine. Ashley Jackson was just behind her in the scoring category with 14. Erin Heuett and Anne Westwood led the Thunderbirds with 11 points each with Aubrey Mackintosh also collecting double figures in points with ten.
Southern Utah out rebounded Centenary during the night with 44 rebounds to the home team's 40, but the difference may have been from the free throw line where the Ladies shot 92 percent (23-of-25) for the game to SUU's 68 percent (17-of-25).
The Thunderbirds will have their final chance this season to earn a road win when Southern Utah travels to Oral Roberts University on Monday. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
