| Senior Onika Anderson scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds on Friday. |
KATY ? Senior forwards Onika Anderson and Ryba Pawlaczyk both posted double-doubles to lead No. 2 seed UTSA to a 58-47 victory against sixth-seeded Northwestern State in Friday's first semifinal at the State Farm Southland Conference Tournament. The Roadrunners will play No. 1 UT Arlington, a 67-62 winner over No. 4 Lamar, in Saturday's Championship Game for the right to advance to next week's NCAA Tournament.
Anderson recorded her 14th double-double of the season with a career-high 29 points and game-high 14 rebounds. Meanwhile, Pawlazcyk added her ninth of the year with 15 points and a dozen boards. The duo combined for 15 of UTSA's 18 offensive rebounds and that led to 28 second-chance points for the Roadrunners.
UTSA improved to 23-8 on the year and tied the school record for single-season wins, which was set just a year ago. The Roadrunners advanced to their fourth conference final, three of which have come in the last four years.
"This was another tough game," head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair said after the game. "You have to give Northwestern State a lot of credit. They could have laid down and died. We had them down 23-4 and they came at us hard. We didn’t handle the pressure very well. We really tried to go in to Onika and she had an awesome game. She wanted the ball and wanted to score. I thought she did a tremendous job on the boards, as did Ryba. Our three seniors have led us and, when one of the young ladies isn’t having a good night, one of the others has stepped up and I think that’s what happened tonight.”
Demetria White led the Lady Demons (18-13) with 17 points, while Courtney Shead added 14.
Northwestern State took its first and only lead of the game at 34-33 on Brooke Shepherd’s 3-pointer that highlighted a 10-2 run with 15:56 left in the contest. However, UTSA responded with an 8-0 stretch over the next two minutes and retook the lead for good. Akilah Givens’ layup ended the run and pulled the Lady Demons within five at the 11-minute mark, but that would the closest they would get for the rest of the way. Pawlaczyk’s second three ball of the game capped off a 17-6 spurt, which gave the Birds their largest lead of the game at 58-42 with under four minutes to play and they went on for the 11-point triumph.
UTSA opened the game on fire, scoring the first 16 points to take a commanding lead. Lyndzee Greene finally snapped Northwestern State’s 6:30 scoreless drought with a layup and the Lady Demons then went on a 20-4 run over the next six minutes to get within three at 27-24. The Roadrunners countered with four points and took a 31-27 advantage into the locker room.
Saturday's title game is scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m. and it will be televised on the Southland Television Network (in San Antonio on Time Warner Cable’s channel 50) and on espn360.com at no charge. It also can be heard in the Alamo City on 92.5 The Outlaw.