Jan. 19, 2008

Box Score

After leading by four at the half, the SU women's basketball team allowed Birmingham-Southern College to score 50 points in the second half in what turned out to be a 76-56 loss for the Pirates in Georgetown, TX on Friday (Jan. 18) evening.

The Panthers led by seven in the early going but Southwestern made good use of a 13-0 run with five different players scoring points to go ahead 20-13 with 10:50 on the clock in the first half. A pair of free throws by Amanda Gordon (Houston, TX/Bellaire HS) and a layup by Beth Thomas (Houston, TX/Clear Lake HS) in the final 1:22 made the score 30-26 at the half.

In the second half, BSC got hot and connected on 54.3 percent of shots from the field. The Panthers were also 35.7 percent from three-point range and 87.5 percent from the free throw line. To open the half, the Panthers out-scored SU 20-4. Birmingham-Southern cruised the rest of the half and led by as many as 21.

Thomas continues to put up solid numbers as she led the Pirates in scoring with 12 and rebounding with seven. The senior was 6-10 from the floor. Gordon finished the contest with nine points, four assists and four rebounds. She was a perfect 5-5 from the charity stripe. Junior Natasha Azizi (Katy, TX/Cinco Ranch HS) and sophomore Narisa Trammell (Godley, TX/Godley HS) both finished with eight points.

The Pirates were out-rebounded 35-30 and turned the ball over 23 times. Southwestern was able to shoot 41.2 percent (21-51) from the field but just 3-12 (25 percent) from beyond the three-point arc. BSC connected on nearly 50 percent of their shots, making 29-60.

The loss was the third straight for the Bucs who are now 8-6 and still 2-3 in the conference as games with Birmingham-Southern do not affect the SCAC standings this season. Birmingham-Southern improves to 12-3 on the year.

The Pirates will lace them up again on Saturday (Jan. 19) when they host Rhodes College at 6:00 pm.