CEDAR CITY, Utah– A career-high 30-point double-double from Alexa Lord and a dominant second half lifted the Southern Utah University women's basketball team over the La Sierra Eagles 77-44, Saturday evening in the America First Event center. The win improves the Thunderbirds to 4-6 this season.
"It was a great win," said SUU head coach Tracy Sanders. " Alexa played a great game, and it was so much fun to watch. I was a little disappointed with how we started the game. We gave up a lot of points in the first quarter, but I thought we buckled down and played very well in the last three quarters. I'm proud of this group, and I think there's some great stuff we can take away from this game. We will celebrate this win and then start to move on to next week against Utah.
TBIRD TIDBITS
In the first double-double of her career, Lord shot 11-17 from the floor with ten rebounds and three assists. Megan Jensen added a massive double-double scoring 13 points and ten rebounds. Samantha Johnston and Daylani Ballena chipped in offensively as Johnston finished with nine points and four assists, and Ballena racked up eight points. Lizzy Williamson also finished with a game-high three blocks.
The Thunderbirds controlled several areas of the game, outshooting the Eagles from the field 42.3 percent to 28 percent while continuing to dominate the boards, racking up 48 total rebounds to La Sierra's 29. Southern Utah also commanded the paint, scoring 36 points compared to the Eagles' 10.
FIRST HALF
SUU got off to a bit of a slow start as the Eagles jumped out to a 14-5 lead into the first media timeout, but the Thunderbird attack would come alive as Johnston, Ballena, and Lord all knocked down threes to tie the game 18-18 with 1:50 left. Ballena closed out the quarter by splashing another three-pointer and a lay-up to give the Thunderbirds the 23-20 at the end of the first.
Coming out of the quarter, Lord began to catch fire, drilling a corner three and a short jumper in the first two possessions. The Thunderbirds started to lock down defensively, forcing seven second-quarter turnovers, sparking an 11-3 run, capped off by straight two buckets from Jensen, sending Southern Utah into the half up 37-23.
SECOND HALF
The second half began with two back-to-back tough layups in the paint from Williamson and Jensen. After the Eagles hit two mid-range jumpers to cut the deficit to 43-30, Lord took over, scoring nine points to close out the quarter, putting the Thunderbirds up 59-36 heading into the fourth.
Lord continued to remain the hot hand in the final quarter, getting to the rim at will, and scoring eight of her 13 total fourth-quarter points in the paint, helping the Thunderbirds cruise to a 77-44 victory.
UP NEXT
Southern Utah will now hit the road for another difficult non-conference test as they will face off against the No. 13 ranked Utah Utes on Dec. 22 at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. Tip-off is set for 5 P.M. MT.
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