CEDAR CITY, Utah– Cherita Daugherty matched her career-high of 28 points as the Southern Utah University women's basketball team outlasted Sam Houston State 60-55, Saturday night in the America First Event Center. The Thunderbirds remain undefeated in conference play with the win (9-7; WAC 5-0), while the Bearkats fall to (6-9; WAC 2-3).
" It was a gritty win," said SUU head Tracy Sanders. " We had a great second quarter and did a solid job on the defensive end overall. They are a good team, and we had to weather the storm at some points when they made runs, but I think we came together and finished. We gave them a lot of second-chance opportunities, but I think our defense won us the game."
Individual Leaders
In a low-scoring affair, the Thunderbirds outshot the Bearkats 36.5 percent to 29.2 percent while also dominating from the charity stripe, shooting 90 percent to 53.8.
Daugherty turned in another complete performance, shooting a sensational 16 of 16 from the free-throw line while adding six assists, five rebounds, and two blocks. Daylani Ballena also amassed an impressive stat line, finishing with 12 points and two assists. Megan Jensen corralled a game-high 11 rebounds with five points.
First Half
The Thunderbirds started the game strong, exploding to a 9-2 lead after Ballena and Samantha Johnston splashed two threes midway through the quarter. The Bearkats pulled the game back with two consecutive buckets before a melee of suffocating defense ensued from both sides. After neither side scored for two straight minutes, Sam Houston struck back on an 8-2 run to give them the 16-13 lead at the end of the first.
Southern Utah answered immediately out of the quarter with a 10-0 run of their own, highlighted by a step-back jumper from Daugherty and a deep Ballena three, giving the Thunderbirds a 23-16 lead with 3:19 to play.
After the Bearkats stopped the run with a fast break layup, Daugherty began to assert her dominance, hitting four free throws and a three-pointer to send the Thunderbirds into the half up 33-21.
Second Half
Sam Houston State got hot at the start of the second half, hitting two layups and a three to cut the Thunderbird's lead to 33-28 at the 4:44 mark. Following the Bearkat run, Alexa Lord hit a second chance layup, and Daugherty began to attack the rim, earning four straight possessions to the free throw line, resulting in eight points. Sam Houston would stay close, but the Thunderbirds had the 43-36 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter began with back-and-forth play from both sides. Lizzy Williamson hit a mid-range jumper, and Ballena rattled in a layup to get the lead back to double digits, 47-36. Sam Houston State responded with a quick 6-0 spurt off two layups and a pair of free throws to pull the score back to 49-42 at the 5:38 mark.
As the clock ticked under five minutes to play, Daugherty sunk three free throws to extend the SUU lead back to 56-43, but the Bearkats would answer with a 9-2 run to bring the game back within four points, 56-52, forcing an SUU timeout, with 1:17 left.
Coming out of the timeout, Daugherty banked in a layup before Sam Houston hit a deep three, making the score 58-55 with 28 seconds remaining. Looking to get one more chance without sending an SUU to the line, the Bearkats elected not to foul, and Jensen muscled in a layup with two seconds left to secure the 60-55 victory.
Up Next
The Thunderbirds will now look ahead to a rematch with their WAC southern Utah foes as they will travel down I-15 to take on the Utah Tech Trailblazers on Thursday, Jan 19. at 7 p.m. MT in Burns Arena.
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