Ladies Battle Southwestern Before Falling 63-53 On Friday

Shreveport – The Centenary women's basketball team battled the Southwestern University Pirates in a hard-fought Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest on Friday evening before falling by a score of 63-53 inside the Gold Dome.

The Ladies (2-11, 1-4 SCAC) were led by freshman F Shyanne Phillips (Leesville, La.) who recorded another impressive double-double with 23 points to lead all scorers along with a game-high 20 rebounds. Freshman G Nevaeh Rivera (Rosepine, La.) was right behind her with a season-best 22 points. The Pirates improved to 4-10 and 1-4 in SCAC play and three Southwestern players reached double figures, led by 19 from Ellie Ward.

Southwestern led 15-10 after one quarter and outscored Centenary 18-11 in the second to hold a 33-21 halftime lead. The Ladies edged the Pirates 18-14 in the third quarter and then the Pirates scored 16 to the Ladies' 14 in the final period. Centenary shot just 25.8 % overall (17-66) for the game and struggled from beyond the arc, hitting just 1-12 attempts for 8.3 %. The Ladies were solid, though, at the free-throw line as they finished 18-22 for 81.8 %. The Pirates finished 19-51 for 37.3 %, 8-21 from 3-point range for 38.1 %, and 17-21 at the FT line for 81.0 %.

The Pirates outrebounded the Ladies 45-40 with 35 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive while Centenary grabbed 24 on the defensive end and 16 offensive boards. Southwestern tallied 11 assists, four steals, and blocked one shot while Centenary had 10 steals, five assists, and one blocked shot. The Ladies finished with a 28-16 edge in points in the paint, bench points (7-4), fast break points (4-0), and second-chance points (13-7) while each team scored 12 points off of turnovers. The Pirates turned the ball over 22 times and the Ladies gave it away 15 times.

Phillips, who was named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week on Tuesday after she exploded for a career-high 26 points in the Ladies' win over Dallas at home on Jan. 12 with 19 rebounds for an impressive double-double, nearly matched her point total on Friday as she finished 10-15 from the floor and 3-3 at the FT line in 29 minutes with a season-best 20 rebounds, which are tied for the sixth-most in a single game in Ladies' program history. Her 19 rebounds on Jan. 12 against Dallas were tied for the seventh-most in a single game as she now owns two of the top-10 all-time performances in Ladies' program history. Phillips added an assist and a blocked shot on Friday as she has now reached double figures seven times this season and has recorded five double-doubles.

Rivera was 5-19 from the floor, 1-4 from beyond the arc, and 11-12 at the FT line in 35 minutes with six rebounds and four steals and now has eight double-digit scoring performances this season. Her previous season high in points was 21 in a win over LeTourneau on Nov. 14.

Phillips and Rivera combined to score 45 of the Ladies' 53 points as junior F Kyra Stokes (Shreveport, La.) added seven and freshman G Julissa Cabrera (Denham Springs, La.) scored one. Stokes was 2-4 from the floor and 3-4 at the FT line in 13 minutes with two rebounds and Cabrera started and played a season-high 26 minutes and went 1-2 at the FT line with four steals and three rebounds.

Junior F Layla Powell (Fort Worth, Texas) was held scoreless for the first time this season as she came into the game averaging 8.2 PPG but she did not score as she was 0-6 from the floor and 0-3 from beyond the arc in 32 minutes with two assists and a steal. Freshman F Anaya Yunusah (New Orleans, La.) played just four minutes and had two rebounds and a steal, freshman F/C Marilynn Guillory (Sulphur, La.) played six minutes and grabbed three rebounds, and freshman G Kaysharia Woods (Zachary, La.) had one assist in her 13 minutes.

Ward was joined in double figures by Taylor Boddie (13) and Emma Flores (10) while Trinity Benitez scored nine, Adrianna McCoy eight, and Lauren Stevens and Anna Wierzowiecki each had two. Ward gabbed a team-high 14 rebounds for an impressive double-double in her 29 minutes. She finished 7-9 from the floor, 2-3 from beyond the arc, and 3-3 at the FT line with one assist. Boddie was 4-8 from the floor, 4-4 from 3-point range, and 1-2 at the FT line in 37 minutes with three rebounds and an assist. Flores played 38 minutes and was 3-10 overall, 2-6 from beyond the arc, and 2-2 at the FT line with three rebounds and four assists.

Benitez was 1-3 from the floor and 7-10 at the FT line in 20 minutes five rebounds, an assist, a blocked shot, and a steal and McCoy was 3-13 overall and 2-2 at the FT line with three rebounds, four assists, and a steal in 31 minutes. Stevens grabbed 11 rebounds and with a steal in 16 minutes and was 2-2 at the FT line and Wierzowiecki played 12 minutes and was 1-2 from the floor.

The Ladies, down 33-21 at the half, scored the first six points of the second half to cut their deficit to 33-27 as Rivera had two baskets and Phillips scored one. Ward stopped Centenary's brief run with a trey at the 5:37 mark of the third period but Rivera answered with one of her own to make it 36-30. But, just seconds later Ward found the net again from deep to make it 39-30. The Pirates maintained a double-digit lead for the final minutes of the period but a jumper by Stokes beat the buzzer and got the Ladies within eight at 47-39. A basket by Phillips and a FT by Cabrera cut the Southwestern lead to 50-44 with 5:02 remaining in the game, but the Ladies would get no closer as the Pirates made timely shots and went 4-4 at the FT line down the stretch to seal the win.

Centenary is back home on Sunday to face the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs in another league contest set for Noon.

See the complete Ladies' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wbkb/2024-25/schedule 

Admission is FREE to all Centenary women's basketball home games. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.

#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity