Patriots enter postseason on two-game losing streak

The Patriots are going to the playoffs, but they enter the postseason losing three of its last four games.

Thanks to two road losses last week at Louisiana College (76-68) and Mississippi College (77-66), the Patriots fell to fourth place in the American Southwest Conference East Division.

By finishing in fourth place, the Patriots play the No. 1 seed from the ASC West, McMurry University, who is playing host to the conference tournament.

Tip-off for the first-round match up is slated for 8 p.m. Friday at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena in Abilene.

The winner of that game plays the winner of the Howard Payne-Mississippi College game at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Earlier in the season, McMurry came to the Herrington Patriot Center and stole a 66-65 win when Amber Horton scored the game-winning basket with 14 seconds left in the game.

The Patriots are 0-6 all-time against McMurry.

On Thursday night, the Patriots went to Pineville, La. for a key road match up with the Lady Wildcats during senior night at H. O. West Fieldhouse.

To open the game, the Lady Wildcats got off to a quick 10-4 lead in which Lindsay Eaton got a quick technical foul in the first five minutes of the game for slamming the ball and was benched for the rest of the first half.

Things settled down and the Patriots managed to take a quick 13-12 lead with 10:42 to go in the first half.

The lead then changed hands five more times before the Patriots made it 30-28 on a basket by Kamryn Hall with 3:23 left in the half.

Over the next two and-a-half minutes, the Patriots went on an 8-2 run to give what turned out to be the Patriots biggest lead of the game at 38-30 with 42 seconds left.

However, Lady Wildcats’ lone senior Krystle Hunter scored six straight points over the final 42 seconds to cut the deficit to 38-36 at the break.

In the second half, the Lady Wildcats opened with a 5-0 run to take the lead back at 41-38.

Patriots’ Becky Taylor goes up for the layup against Lady Wildcats’ Taylor Henderson during the women’s 76-68 loss Thursday night at H.O. West Fieldhouse in Pineville, La. Photo by Kyle G. Horst

After the Patriots tied the game at 50-50, the Lady Wildcats went on a 10-2 run to go up 60-52.

The closest the Patriots would get is three (67-64) after Eaton made both of her free throws with 2:17 remaining in the game.

The Lady Wildcats responded with a 5-0 run to make it 72-64, forcing the Patriots to foul, but it was too late as LC won its final regular season game of the year.

“We got off track and did not handle their pressure at all in the press, even though I told them how to do it,” coach Terri Deike said. “However, our defense was not good enough and we did not put a body on anybody when rebounding. We just had a total lack of focus tonight.”

Lady Wildcats’ Tillisha Givens led all scorers with a game-high 28 points and 13 rebounds. Hunter finished with 17 points.

Becky Taylor led all Patriots with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Despite the loss, Taylor ended the game breaking the ASC single-season rebound record.

Taylor entered the evening with 305 rebounds this season, ending the night with 315, breaking the previous record of 305 set by LeTourneau’s Sara Vestfals during the 2001-2002 season.

Other double-digit scorers for the Patriots were Marzetta Shepard with 13 points, Marci Trogus with 11 points and Hall, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, all season-high’s for her. Hall finished the game shooting 5-for-6 and recorded the only points off the bench.

“Kamryn came in and gave us some good points, rebounds and minutes and I think she did a great job,” Deike said. “I appreciate what she did for us tonight because she usually does not get a lot of playing time.”

With the win, the Lady Wildcats finished the regular season with an overall record of 16-8, 12-8 in the conference. The loss dropped the Patriots to 12-7 in the ASC, giving the women one more chance to clinch the third seed for the tournament, otherwise LC ends up as the third place team.

Needing a win to clinch third place in the division, the Patriots fell for the second road game in three days, this time to Mississippi College, 77-66.

With the loss, the Patriots enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed, giving LC the No. 3 seed.

Saturday’s game started out similar to the LC game on Thursday.

The Patriots jumped to the early lead, but once again, could not hold strong in the second half, eventually losing the lead and the game.

After starting the game out tied at 6-6, the Patriots went on a 14-4 run to take their biggest lead of the day at 20-10.

For most of the first half, the Patriots kept the lead to at least more than five points, but the Lady Choctaws managed to cut the deficit to one by halftime, 34-33.

In the first five minutes of the second half, the Lady Choctaws went on a 14-1 run, putting the game out of reach at 47-35 with 15:43 remaining.

The closest the Patriots got was with 27 seconds remaining when MC led 72-65.

Lady Choctaws’ Rosemary Green led her team with 18 points with four other players scoring exactly 10 points each.

Shepard led all Patriots with 19 points while playing her second straight 40-minute game.

Following Shepard was Eaton, who put in 16 points and seven rebounds.

Taylor had perhaps the better all-around game, dropping in 12 points while pulling in 17 rebounds, adding to her single-season record rebounding record, which now sits at 332.

It also was Taylor’s 22nd double-double of the year, which ties her for fourth on the NCAA Div. III single-season double-double list.

By Jeremy Cotham Sports Editor