Johnson Has Big Night in Wildcats Loss

1/26/2017 8:34:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information

Box Score

A surging UT Tyler women's basketball team proved why they were picked win the ASC East at the start of the season with a convincing 89-68 win over Louisiana College Thursday night. A double-double from Zharian Maxmillion and a career scoring night from Rachel Johnson could not keep the Wildcats from losing their fourth straight game and fall to 4-6 in conference play.

The Patriots started on a 9-0 run out of the gate in the first quarter before the Wildcats got on the board on a layup from RyDeja McQuarn. LC took advantage of a missed Patriot jumper and an offensive rebound to pull within three with 3:34 left in the first, but Tyler quickly stretched their lead back to nine with two straight field goals, and led 24-17 at the end of the first.

Tyler pulled away even further in the second quarter thanks to 16-5 rebounding advantage and a 52.4% field goal percentage, outscoring the Wildcat 26-15 in the final 10 minutes of the first half. The quarter-by-quarter scoring was much closer in the second half, 25-23 in the third and 14-13 in the fourth, but the margin was too great to overcome.

Despite the tough outing for the team, Rachel Johnson put in the best game of her young career with a game-high 19 points plus six rebounds. The freshman from Shreveport had her best numbers by far on the season with a 5-for-9 shooting night from the field and an 8-for-9 performance from the free throw line.

Head Coach Patrece Carter said of Johnson's play, "The last two games Rachel has been really bug for us. She has always had the green light but we had a conversation this week about being more aggressive on both ends of the floor, and for her, especially on offense. Tonight, we saw her at her best because she started the game aggressive."

Johnson led all scorers with 19-points in the game and the game's only double-double came from another Wildcat freshman, Zharian Maxmillion. Zee had 10 points to go along with her 12 rebounds, her first double-double since December 10^th and the second for her this year. Kristen Breaux added 10 points for the Wildcats as well with five rebounds and Kourtney McGhee finished with nine.

The Wildcats fall to 5-11 on the season and 4-6 in conference play and travel to Longview, Texas Saturday for the first of back-to-back games against LeTourneau. LC returns to H.O. West Fieldhouse next Thursday for a date with the Yellowjackets, tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 pm. Stay updated on LC basketball at lcwildcats.net or, following @LC_WBB or @LC_Wildcats on Twitter, of liking LC Athletics on Facebook.

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