Box Score
PINEVILLE - The Lady Wildcats trailed 36-27 at the half, but rallied fora 30-3 run late to notch a 68-55 win over Howard Payne to punch their ticket to their first ever American Southwest Conference Championship game, Sunday at 2 p.m. at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
A night after logging their first ever ASC Tournament win, Janice Joseph-Richard's Louisiana College women wouldn't let the sharpshooting Yellow Jackets deter their quest for the championship game berth.
“They were amazing," Joseph-Richard said. "They went on a super run to pull this out. This is probably the biggest win LC Basketball history, and I've seen a lot of wins.”
LC used a tenacious press and the low-post presence of Tillisha Givens to overcome a game Howard Payne team, the No. 2 squad out of the ASC West Division.
Defensively, LC forced 26 HPU turnovers while committing just 14.
Meanwhile Givens, who finished with a game high 26 points, was a force in the paint scoring all but four of her points in the low post, pulled down six rebounds and made five steals.
“Credit goes to the whole team," Givens said. "We played some man, some zone, and
it's all a team effort.”
“Tillisha is being very modest," Joseph-Ricahrd said. "We played a lot of man-to-man and she was responsible for Hope and she did a good job on her.”
Fellow LC juniors Christy Pantallion and Briana Lewis were also integral in the Lady Cats' success.
Pantallion scored 18, dished out four assists and had two steals while Lewis scored 11 and made two steals for the reigning ASC East champs.
Howard Paynehad its own offensive standouts, chief among them Elaine Hobbs, who scored 20 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Guard Brittany Zemora was good for 16 points but committed 10 turnovers in the contest.
With the big run, the Lady cats were able to relax in the waning seconds of the game and enjoy the capacity crowd, clad mostly in blue and orange, that has turned out en mass throughout the tournament to support the host team.
“The fans gave us our drive. When you hear fans cheer for you can't not give that effort," Pantallion said.
The fans ... and a desire to remain perfect at home.
“We were determined to not let them come into our building and win," Joseph-Richard said. "We're undefeated at home. I knew these girls weren't gonna walk off the court without giving everything they had. This is a determined group.”