SUNDAY’S SCORES
SIUE 74, @IPFW 67
Belmont 74, @Texas A&M-CC 54
@Alabama 80,
Jacksonville State 43
SIUE 74, IPFW 67
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - A dominant second half led the SIUE women's basketball team to a season-opening victory on the road against IPFW Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars prevailed by a final score of 74-67 after finding themselves down by 10 at halftime.
Senior Raven Berry started off the season with a double-double, leading SIUE with 23 points and 16 rebounds.
Fellow senior Courtney Kenner added 11 points and a team-high five assists, while junior Valerie Finnin chipped in with 10 points of her own.
IPFW got off to a fast start and never trailed during the first half. They closed the first half with a 9-2 run to take a 39-29 lead into halftime.
But the Cougars flipped the script in the second half, and Berry was at the center of the comeback.
The visitors slowly climbed back into the game in the early stages of the second half before a Berry jumper gave SIUE a 51-50 lead with 10:53 to play in regulation.
The two teams traded the lead over the next minute and a half, but two more baskets in quick succession from Berry handed the Cougars a lead they would never give back.
SIUE shot 49 percent from the field and were 4-7 from three-point range. Rebounds were just about even, with the Cougars holding a 39-37 advantage on the boards.
IPFW was led by Amanda Hyde, who contributed 14 points, six assists, and five rebounds.
The Cougars will hit the road again later this week, as they travel to Chicago, Ill. to face UIC Thursday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
BELMONT 74, TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A total team effort went into Belmont women's basketball's (1-1) dominating win on the road at Texas A&M Corpus Christi (0-1) on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins soundly defeated the Islanders, 75-54, to notch their first win of the 2012-13 campaign.
The Bruins opened the contest hot from inside and outside, jumping out to an 8-0 lead behind a jumper by sophomore Katie Carroll and back-to-back triples by junior Molly Ernst (Louisville, Ky.) and senior Alyssa Visbeen (Franklin, Tenn.). BU maintained its stranglehold on the tempo on both sides of the ball and TAMUCC was unable to find the bottom of the net for the first three and a half minutes of action. Belmont continued to pile on the points and by the 11 minute mark found itself ahead 16-6 after baskets by senior Jordan Coleman (Orlando, Fla.), Visbeen, and redshirt freshman Blair Bryce (Dallas, Texas).
Belmont kept streaking as the clock ticked to under 10 minutes. Junior Julianne Downs (Franklin, Tenn.) exploded on the hardwood and single-handedly added 10 points en route to tallying a new career-high of 13 points just in the first half. The Bruins saw point production from senior Katie Brooks (Maryville, Tenn.) and Coleman down the stretch that opened the door for a Joubran layup to give the team its largest lead of the half, 18 points, 36-18, with 3:42 remaining in the half. The Islanders went ice cold on the floor as Brooks stunned the TAMUCC crowd into giving her applause after a Kobe Bryant-like crossover and fade away jumper on the next possession. TAMUCC, who was held to a mere 25 percent shooting from the floor, would not be able to add another field goal for the remainder of the half as Downs knocked down her third triple of the half to send Belmont to the locker room ahead, 41-23.
After the break, both teams struggled to break the ice off the rim in the first two minutes. Finally, Coleman slashed and worked her way to the basket on back-to-back possessions to put BU up, 45-24, and forcing the Islanders to call a timeout in hopes of slowing the Bruins down. BU continued to work on both sides of the ball and the Islanders were unable to net a single field goal in the first five and a half minutes of play.
Belmont maintained control of the contest down the stretch. TAMUCC attempted to surge around the nine minute mark but the Bruins quickly put out the Islander comeback spark. BU saw point production from a three by Brooks and jumpers near the elbows by Coleman, Downs and Visbeen as the team pushed to rebuild its 20-point lead. In the final four and a half minutes, the Bruins rolled, going on a 6-0 run to solidify their 75-54 victory.
Texas A&M Corpus Christi shot 30.9 percent from the floor, 33.3 from long range and 76.2 percent from the free-throw line. The Islanders held the advantage in rebounds, 36-32, blocks, 3-1, and steals, 9-5.
TAMUCC was led in scoring by Janae Blount's 14 points. Brandi Huff led the team in rebounds with a total of seven.
Belmont shot 56 percent from the hardwood, 44.4 percent from behind the three-point arc and 64.7 percent from the charity stripe. The Bruins held the advantage in assists, 16-11.
For the second consecutive game, Belmont had at least three players reach double digits. Downs led the way for the Bruins with a team, game and career-high 18 points. Brooks added 14 and Coleman netted 13 points. Coleman also led BU in rebounds with seven and one block. Sophomore Adrienne Tarrence (Bowling Green, Ky.) finished with a game-high six assists.
Belmont returns to action on Wednesday, November 14 in its home opener at the Curb Event Center. The Bruins host in-state rival Chattanooga beginning at 6 p.m.
ALABAMA 80, JACKSONVILLE STATE 43
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Jacksonville State women's basketball team dropped its season opener to Alabama, 80-43, on Sunday afternoon in Foster Auditorium on the UA campus.
A sluggish start by the Gamecocks proved to be the difference in the contest as the Crimson Tide built a 20-point, 27-7 lead by the midway point of the opening half. UA took advantage of JSU 17 first half turnovers and turned them into points on the offensive end of the floor. JSU sophomore Candace Morton scored six of her final nine points total in the first half. The Lexington, Ky.-guard shared team-high scoring honors with senior Amanda McCarthy. McCarthy knocked down nine free throws, including eight in the final 20 minutes. Sophomore Marikate Gardler came off the bench to spark the Gamecocks with four rebounds and a basket in the first half and added two more points in the second half.
The slow start to the half continued after intermission as Jax State did not hit its first basket until the 15:35 mark of the half on a Brian Morrow shot. The Gamecocks only connected on 5-of-20 from the field in the second half, but posted 16 points from the free throw line
JSU held a plus-eight edge in the rebounding category after 20 minutes and went on to pull down 48 rebounds, while UA finished with 47. The Crimson Tide forced 38 JSU turnovers and tallied 33 points on the offensive end of the floor. UA also had the advantage in the paint by out-scoring JSU 33-12.
UA used a balanced attack in its season debut by playing 14 of the 15 players on the roster in the first half alone. UA had two players in double figures in the scoring column, led by Shafontaye Myers' 19 points off the bench. Meghan Perkins finished with 15 points.
Jax State played ten players with seven etching their names in the scoring column. Morrow, the Gamecocks' leading scorer a season ago, tallied eight points and a team-high nine rebounds. In her first action in a JSU uniform, freshman Peyton Hisel drew the start in the post and turned in seven points before fouling out of the contest. Freshmen Sydney Brown and Dareyelle Avant added three points each. Avant knocked down Jax State's lone three-pointer of the contest late in the game.
Jax State continues its season-opening road trip on Wednesday, Nov. 14 in Atlanta, Ga. against Georgia State. Tip off is set for 6 p.m. CST.