Women end three-game losing streak

The Patriots got a much-needed win on Saturday when they defeated The University of the Ozarks, 88-74, improving to 8-0 all-time at home against the Lady Eagles.

The win, which ends a three-game losing streak, pushes the Patriots to 7-5 in the American Southwest Conference, keeping them tied for third with Louisiana College in the ASC East Division. However, due to a loss earlier this month to the Lady Wildcats, the Patriots technically sit in the fourth and final playoff spot, losing the head-to-head tiebreaker.

However, the win on Saturday may have come at a costly price when Melissa Thomas went down early in the second half with an apparent right knee injury. Thomas is averaging 15.4 points per game and she left Saturday’s game with 14 points.

The injury to Thomas now leaves the Patriots without its top two scorers. Marzetta Shepard, the leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, has missed the last three games with a concussion and is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday. Thomas is a game-time decision for Thursday. Despite these two injuries, the remainder of the Patriots stepped up on Saturday and refused to let Ozarks come to campus and pull off the upset. A total of five Patriots finished the game with double figures in scoring.

The biggest performance of the day came from Becky Taylor, perhaps the teams’ most consistent player this season. Taylor recorded yet another double-double while playing all 40 minutes, recording a game-high 27 points and 15 rebounds.

“Becky gave us a great effort today as she always does for us,” coach Terri Deike said.

Right behind Taylor was Lindsay Eaton, who put in 17 points, pulled down six rebounds and dished out seven assists. Freshman point guard Lindsay Hausmann, who is starting in place of Shepard the last three games, finished the game with 14 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists.

“She has done a great job, along with Staci Hankins, in coming in and giving the team a spark while Shepard is out,” Deike said. The last Patriot to finish in double figures in the game was Marci Trogus who put in 11.

Leading the way for the Lady Eagles was Lacey Phillips who scored 15 points in 21 minutes before she also left the game with a knee injury. Despite ending their three-game losing streak, Deike said she is still not fully pleased with the way her team is playing.

“When you play somebody that is at the bottom of the conference, you got to play better than we played today,” Deike said. “I did not think our defense was up to par, we did not block out and our shooting percentage from the free-throw line was not as good as it usually is. It was good though to get the win and get everyone in to play and spread the ball around.”

For the game, the Patriots shot 46 percent from the field (29-for-62), 33 percent from the three-point line (7-of-21) and 69 percent from the free-throw line (23-of-33).

The women did out-rebound the Lady Eagles, 47-32, while holding the Ozarks to 42 percent shooting. “We got a lot of work to do in practice this week to get better, especially for these next few games. We need to work on ball-handling, boxing out and defensive drills,” Deike said.

Up next on the schedule for the Patriots is four games against two teams with combined records of 8-25. On Thursday, the Patriots travel to Marshall to face East Texas Baptist University followed by a trip to Longview on Saturday to take on LeTourneau University.

After that two-game road trip, the Patriots turn around and return home to face ETBU and LeTourneau again.

ETBU (4-12, 4-8 in ASC) is three games behind the Patriots for the fourth and final playoff spot while LeTourneau (4-13, 3-9 in ASC) is in a tie for last place with the Ozarks.