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SPORTS
| UPDATED JAN. 29
Ladies in Waiting
With a 3-41 all-time record against
the Ladyjacks, UTA players claim they are now ready to win.
By R.C.
Wendler
The Shorthorn staff
The Lady Mavs have a 3-41 all-time record against Stephen F. Austin
State. Sophomore forward Rola Ogunoye has only played in three of
those 44 games, but her patience has already run out.
“We’re ready to beat them,” she said.
Coach Donna Capps has never beaten the Ladyjacks, but her team came
as close to beating them as possible Saturday, losing 57-56 in Nacogdoches.
She said the narrow loss was an indicator that the Lady Mavs are
ready to contend with Stephen F. Austin, winner of the last five
conference championships.
“Our years of hard work are finally paying off,” she said.
“We are ready for a rematch.”
The team will have to wait nine days for that rematch, when the
Ladyjacks will visit Texas Hall. Until then, UTA has two road games,
against Northwestern State and the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
Ogunoye said the players realize the danger of looking past their
next two opponents, especially considering what happened to the
team when it
played Southwest Texas State two days before Stephen F. Austin.
The Lady Mavs lost 70-61.
“We probably did look past Southwest a little bit,” Ogunoye
said. “We didn’t give them enough credit.”
Sophomore point guard Krystal Buchanan said the team’s one-point
loss to the Ladyjacks was a learning experience, especially at the
onset of the contest. The DeSoto native got into a trash-talking
match with Stephen F. Austin point guard Brittany Vinson that escalated
into the two shoving each other. This prompted Ladyjack coach Lee
Ann Riley to launch herself onto the court.
Buchanan said she did not back down from the challenge, and the
tone was set for the game.
“We were letting them know that ‘you all might be SFA
but we’re UTA, and we’re not backing down,’ ”
she said.
Capps said center Sheena Johnson also had to get physical against
Stephen F. Austin. Johnson, a 6-foot junior, was matched against
6-foot, 3-inch Ladyjack senior center Amy Collins and managed to
grab six more rebounds and score seven more points.
“Sheena’s just steady; she’s our rock,” Capps
said. “If anything, she feeds off the other team getting physical.”
Capps said she was also pleased with the team’s rebounding
against the Ladyjacks. The Lady Mavs out-rebounded Stephen F. Austin
by 16.
Buchanan said she thinks the Lady Mavs match up well with Stephen
F. Austin, and it will show when the team visits Texas Hall on Feb.
6. No verbal sparring will be at the beginning of the game, though,
she said.
“I don’t think we play like that,” she said. “We
just go out and play to the best of our ability without having to
say anything. We let the scoreboard do our talking. When they come
here, the outcome is going to be different.”
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