HOUSTON, Texas – The University of St. Thomas women's basketball team came up with a big win Friday night in the Jerabeck Activity & Athletic Center, beating Louisiana State University-Shreveport, 74-65.
The win secured a berth in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament and pulled the Celts within a game of the Pilots in the league standings. St. Thomas (11-11, 8-7 RRAC) will host No. 20 LSU-Alexandria at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Sheridan Hopkins (JR/Galveston, TX) notched her school-record 14th straight double-double, scoring 27 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Sydney Hayes (JR/Houston, TX) added 12 points and six assists, and Aerial Starks (FR/Houston, TX) had 10 points, six boards and five blocks for the Celts.
Shaniqua Tobias scored 16 points, Sabrina Banks 12, and Keiara Williams and Leah Silva each 11 for the Pilots (11-12, 9-7 RRAC).
Starks weaved her way through traffic in the paint and scored to tie the game at 9 at the 6:27 mark in the first quarter after the Pilots raced out to a 9-3 lead. Hopkins' basket on an offensive putback put the Celts in front for the first time 1:22 later. Hopkins hit two three-pointers, and Hayes buried another as the Celts built a 22-16 advantage. The Celts hit five of eight triples in the first quarter to open up a 25-19 lead.
Tobias canned a triple to pull LSU-Shreveport within six before Alexya Castillo (FR/Cypress, TX) hit a pull-up jumper on the other end. The Pilots pulled within two on Banks' bucket in the paint. Silva scored for Shreveport in the last minute to tie the game at 34 at halftime.
The Celts were 12 of 32 from the floor in the first half. LSU-Shreveport went 15 of 35. The Pilots led by as many as seven, while the Celts' largest lead was nine on Castillo's triple with 40 seconds to go in the first quarter.
Hopkins had a block, and Starks canned a three with 7:44 remaining in the third to put UST ahead, 40-36. Zariah McInnis (SO/Richmond, TX) scored a little over a minute later to extend the lead to six. Silva drained a three-pointer at the 5:24 mark as the Pilots trimmed the gap to one. Banks sank two free throws to give Shreveport a 45-44 lead. The Pilots bumped the advantage to three before Hayes found Olivia Anga (FR/Rosharon, TX) underneath for a bunny as the Celts cut it to 48-47. But Keiara Williams hit a triple with 24 seconds to play in the period to push the Pilots back on top, 55-49.
St. Thomas erased the deficit with a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter, taking a 58-57 lead on a floater in the paint by Hopkins with 7:05 to play. Hopkins canned a three falling backward, and Unique Finley (SR/Houston, TX) scored on a nifty find from Starks to put the Celts up, 66-59. McInnis scored on a follow-up with 2:15 to go, giving UST a 10-point lead to put it away.
The Celts shot 48 percent in the second half, while the Pilots were held to 25.6 percent.
McInnis finished with eight points, and Castillo scored seven.
