BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne University women's basketball team fell, 76-72 to Louisiana College during the first round of the ASC Women's Championship Tournament on Thursday night.
The two sides exchanged leads 18 times throughout the game and matched each other bucket for bucket before the Wildcats (8-16) drained two free throws in the final minutes to collect the victory. Howard Payne (15-11) forced 18 turnovers, which led to 16 points off of turnover's but was held to 36% shooting in the loss.
Micah Cisneroz led all players with 24 points while grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds to finish with her third double-double of the season.
Sarahi Castillo added 22 points and nine rebounds and Valerie Matlock finished with nine assists, six points, and five steals.
Presley McKethan ended the contest with nine points and four assists.
Howard Payne raced out to an early nine-point lead behind solid post play from
Sarahi Castillo and hot outside shooting from
Presley McKethan. The Lady Jackets were able to build an 11 point lead with just 1:26 remaining in the period before Louisiana College mounted a late comeback. After back-to-back buckets in the paint, they trimmed the lead to six, 21-15 to end the first period.
The Wildcats continued to chip away at the lead to begin the second period. At one point, battling back to take a one-point lead, 25-24 after a good three-pointer from the top of the arch.
Presley McKethan responded with back-to-back three-pointers of her own and Howard Payne went into halftime with a 37-36 advantage.
Micah Cisneroz came out hot to start the second half and scored on three consecutive possessions, hitting two shots from distance while collecting a layup. Castillo added a bucket in the paint and the Lady Jackets had built their lead to nine points after four minutes of play in the half.
The Howard Payne offense continued to pace the game and held the lead for the majority of the third period before another late Louisiana College rally helped them take a 57-56 lead heading into the final period of play.
No team led by more than three points for the bulk of the fourth period as
Micah Cisneroz and
Sarahi Castillo did their best to help will the Lady Jackets to victory. Cisneroz continued her impressive second half performance (She scored 20 of her 24 points in the second half while shooting 4-7 from range) but the Wildcats hung tough.
The Yellow Jackets lost the lead for good when Louisiana College received two back-to-back buckets in the paint with .39 seconds left in the contest. They would settle down and win the game, 76-72, on the free throw line. Despite the best efforts of the Howard Payne defense, the Wildcats were able to pull off the upset.
The Lady Jackets finish their 2016-2017 season with a 15-11 record overall. The second round of the ASC Championship Tourney will kick off tomorrow at 5:00 PM inside the Brownwood Coliseum. Stay tuned to HPUSports.com and @HPUwbsk on Twitter, for off-season updates, interactive content and more.
