Southern Utah Shakes Road Monkey with 59-37 Victory at Centenary

SHREVEPORT, La. - Jan. 26 - Southern Utah women's basketball snapped a 46-game road losing streak, dating back to the 2005-06 season, with a 59-37 victory over Centenary on Monday night. The win also marked the first time the Thunderbirds have held an opponent under 40 points since the 2004-05 season as SUU improved to 7-13 on the year and 3-6 in Summit League play. Centenary dropped to 3-17 and 1-8 in conference.

The T-Birds opened the contest with the first basket of the game and never trailed from there. Anne Westwood Higbee began the scoring with a lay-up off a Kaila Goff assist, one of nine assists for the sophomore in the game to tie her career-high.

Southern Utah grew its lead to double digits (21-11) for the first time with four minutes remaining in the first half as Cassie Platt cashed in on a lay-up from a Goff dime. The Thunderbirds closed out the opening stanza on an 11-5 run to take a 30-14 lead into the locker rooms.

SUU's defense was strong in the first half, holding the Ladies to 14 percent shooting from the floor while shooting 44 percent on the offensive end.

The lead entered into the 20's for the first time seven minutes into the second half on a Platt 3-point field goal. The freshman finished the night with a career-high tying 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 clip behind the 3-point line.

The lead of 20 or more held for the Thunderbirds down the stretch with Centenary trimming the lead to as close as 18 (55-37) with three minutes to go in the game. However, back-to-back unanswered baskets by Platt and Higbee resulted in the final score of 59-37.

Higbee joined Platt in double figures with 10 points and 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Centenary's Chelsea Johnson was the lone double-digit scorer for the Ladies with a team-high 11 points.

Southern Utah will be back at home this coming weekend when the Thunderbirds kick-off the second half of the conference season. SUU will host Western Illinois on Saturday night with a game against IUPUI to follow on Monday night.

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Players Mentioned

#13 Kaila Goff: G; 5' 8"; Sophomore

#23 Cassie Platt: G; 5' 7"; Freshman

#21 Anne Westwood Higbee: F/C; 6' 1"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#13 Kaila Goff
: 5' 8"; Sophomore
: G

#23 Cassie Platt
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: G

#21 Anne Westwood Higbee
: 6' 1"; Senior
: F/C

Players Mentioned

#13 Kaila Goff

#23 Cassie Platt

#21 Anne Westwood Higbee

Players Mentioned

#13 Kaila Goff

#23 Cassie Platt

#21 Anne Westwood Higbee