Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Islanders hand Ladies their 47th straight loss

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Sunday, January 28, 2001

Islanders hand Ladies their 47th straight loss
Women recover from slow start, slamming Centenary, who hasn’t won a D-I game, 96-60
By Matt Young
Caller-Times
SHREVEPORT, La. - For about eight minutes, it looked like things might finally go right for Centenary women's basketball team. However, after eight minutes of decent basketball, things went back to business as usual.
   After a slow start, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi blasted Centenary, 96-60, Saturday at the Gold Dome. The loss, the Ladies' 47th straight, was par for the school, which has been outscored by an average of 35.3 points per game this season.
   The Ladies actually appeared competitive early in the game, hitting six of its first seven shots and trailing just 18-17 with 12:20 left in the first half. That success proved to be short-lived. The Islanders began the blowout by scoring the next 12 points to go up, 30-17. Centenary never got within 11 points the rest of the way.
   Kristin Rogers led the rout for A&M-Corpus Christi (10-11) with 22 points in just 24 minutes. A&M-Corpus Christi's Anna Hartzell and Kendra Smith both scored a career-high 14 points in the win.
   About the lone bright spot for Centenary (0-19) besides the opening eight minutes was Kayla Forster, who led the Ladies with 22 points and nine rebounds.
   "Anna Hartzell came off the bench and did some good things in the post for us," A&M-Corpus Christi coach Sheryl Estes said. "All of our post players shot the ball really well. Kristin shot well, and Jean Clark came off the bench and made five of her six shots in the post. We were just able to get some good looks under the basket and get those shots to fall."
   Playing a team that has never won a Division I game in its two-year history gave the Islanders a chance to set some team records. A&M-Corpus Christi set records for points in a game (96), points in the first half (51), assists (28) and free-throw percentage (18 for 19, 94.7 percent).
   "It was a lot of fun, because we were up by so much and could relax a little," Smith said. "Everyone got to play, and everyone played so well when they got in there. We didn't have a drop-off, no matter who was in the game for us."
   Centenary came into the game averaging more than 30 turnovers a game, and the Islanders didn't waste any time sticking their full-court press on the turnover-prone Ladies. Even when the Ladies were making shots early in the game, they were having trouble getting the ball upcourt. When A&M-Corpus Christi's press was clicking, it took Centenary at least 15 seconds to get the ball past midcourt and set up its offense.
   "They knew we had trouble taking care of the ball, so they pressed us, which was smart," Centenary coach John Raff said. "Even when we didn't turn the ball over, the press bothered us enough that we had to worry about the shot clock winding down before we could really get the offense moving."
   The press forced Centenary into 29 turnovers, while A&M-Corpus Christi took care of the ball and gave it up just 12 times. Not only did the Islanders not turn the ball over, but they also passed it around efficiently, picking up the team record 28 assists.
   "The key to the win was us only making 12 turnovers," Estes said. "Centenary plays a turnover game, and we didn't want to get into that sloppy type of game, so we did a good job of setting the tone for ourselves."

   TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (10-11) - Vinck 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 1-10 2-2 4, Smith 5-8 2-2 14, Rogers 8-15 6-6 22, Monlux 3-9 1-1 9, Cornelius 1-6 0-0 2, Hawkins 2-4, 1-2 6, Hartzell 6-8 2-2 14, Plaza 1-3 2-2 4, Clark 5-6 2-2 12, Bryant 4-9 0-0 9. TOTALS 36-79 14-15 88
   CENTENARY (0-19) - Pettway 3-5 4-7 10, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Burris 3-7 4-4 12, Nicol 3-6 2-2 8, Forster 10-16 2-4 22, Lhotsky 1-2 0-0 2, Cash 0-1 0-0 0, Arredondo 1-6 0-0 2, Danieles 0-1 4-4 4. TOTALS 21 45 16-21 60 Halftime-Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 51, Centenary 32. 3-point goals - A&M-Corpus Christi 6-17 (Smith 2-3, Monlux 2-5, Bryant 1-2, Hawkins 1-2, Cornelius 0-3, Vinck 0-1, Johnson 0-1), Centenary 2-9 (Burris 2-5, Brown 0-1, Nicol 0-1, Cash 0-1, Danieles 0-1, Arredondo 0-1). Fouled out - none. Rebounds - A&M-Corpus Christi 42 (Bryant 7), Centenary 27 (Forster 9). Assists - A&M-Corpus Christi 28 (Vinck 7), Centenary 15 (Cash, Forster, Burris, Brown 3). Total fouls - A&M-Corpus Christi 19, Centenary 15. A - 453 (3,000).



Staff writer Matt Young can be reached at 886-3702 or by e-mail at youngm@caller.com

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