Box Score
BROWNWOOD, Texas - Just one day after learning of the passing of their head coach, Janice Joesph-Richard, the Louisiana College women notched an emotional, 79-69 win over American Southwest Conference foe Howard Payne to improve to 5-0 on the year and 3-0 in conference play.
"All things considered, we did pretty well," Jason Tinsley, LC's interim head coach, said. "It was not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination. Our press defense was effective but not effective. It gave them some trouble towards the end of the game, but for most of the 40 minutes, we were just in a fog on both ends of the floor. But, that's to be expected in a situation like this.
"I think that all of the circumstances played a role in our performance, but the girls still managed to do well despite us not playing our best game. Take nothing away from Howard Payne. They were prepared and did a good job stopping us from doing what we wanted to do.
"I told the girls after the game that Coach Richard had a hand in this one. We weren't at our best and she helped us out on this one. It wasn't pretty, but it was a win. We'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week."
Prior to the tip of games across the conference, a moment of silence was held in honor of Richard, who passed away Wednesday after a long, courageous battle with breast cancer.
When the ball dropped on the Lady Cats' game, Tillisha Givens, Louisiana College's All-American and among the closest players on the team to Richard, took over, scoring 23 points, pulling seven rebounds, making two steals and taking three charges to force Howard Payne several of its 24 turnovers.
"Without a doubt, for 40 minutes Tillisha was the most consistent player on the floor," Tinsley said. "She was out there for 35 minutes tonight and just played her heart out for us. She just competed and competed. She scored the ball well for us. She rebounded the ball for us. She took three charges. No one else on the team took one. Thirty-five minutes is a lot more than we'd like to have her out there on a nightly basis, but we needed everything could give us tonight."
Other players, all of whom were recruited by Richard, had solid performances as well.
Kayla Guidry was good for 18 points while Natosha Gottlieb put up 12 points and pulled down five rebounds and Janet Butler went 4-for-9 from three-point range en route to a 12-point performance.
"There were a few who had good games," Tinsley said. "Tillisha was big for us. (Butler) hit the three for us, Natosha made some plays and (Guidry) was the one who put us over the top late."
Three player reached double figures for Howard Payne ( 2-3, 0-3 ASC): Katy Sarem (15), Brittany Roberson (16) and Tresta Donahoo (14).
Next up for the Lady Cats will be a 1 p.m. Saturday visit to ASC opponent Sul Ross State in Alpine, Texas.
