DeCoud's Career-Night lifts Crusaders to 1st SCAC Win on Saturday
SHREVEPORT, La. – The University of Dallas women's basketball team captured its first win in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) play with a 72-64 final at Centenary College on Saturday. Dallas (8-7, 1-4 SCAC) snaps a four-game slide and wins for the first time in 2017. The Crusaders outscored Centenary 41-31 after trailing by two at halftime.
Michelle DeCoud (Monument, Colo.) had an incredible game with career-highs in points (34) and field goals (13). She also had a double-double with 15 rebounds to help break 500 in her career. The victory ties as many Dallas finished 2015-16 campaign with.
STAT NOTABLES
(Individual Notes)
- DeCoud collected her 8th double-double on the season. She shot 13-of-23 from the field, which topped her previous person best by one (at Colorado College Jan. 18, 2015 and at Austin College Feb. 20, 2016). Her 15 points are 2nd most since having 19 in season opener.
- Caitlyn Worry (Lumberton, Texas) registered the other double-digit point total with 14. She tied a career-high from last Friday against Southwestern University. She had four three-pointers which also matched career-best in same contest.
- Holly Tonry (Seattle, Wash.) dished seven assists and added just as many points. The recent 300-assist career holder combined for 14 this weekend and has now posted at least seven in six games. Celsi Caraway (Arlington, Texas) also had six dimes.
- Seana Stoia (Tulsa, Okla.) chipped in nine points and seven boards.
- Centenary was led by Jasmine Morris with team-high 24 points. Peyton Hurst contributed 11 points and seven rebounds. Linda Gil grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
(Team Notes)
- Dallas outshot the Ladies 46.4 percent to 28.8 percent. The Ladies did hit one more three-pointer with 6-for-24 (25%) compared to UD with 5-for-11 (45.5%).
- The Crusaders won the battle on the boards 72-64 and dished more assists 17-7.
- Points in the Paint favored UD 38-22.
- Centenary narrowly edged points off turnovers 18-16 thanks to UD committing 17 compared to the Ladies' 10.
- The Maroon and White scored 8 fastbreak points compared to none by Dallas.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Down 2-0 early to the Ladies, UD's Worry drained the first of three treys in the half to gain a lead that would be held throughout the late portion of the second quarter. Layups by Tonry and DeCoud continued an eventual 10-0 run that was capped by another Worry trifecta. The team's leading three-point shooter had another one to stretch the largest lead of the stanza for the Crusaders at nine (15-6) with 4:13 left.
The Maroon and White got hot from the floor and used an 11-3 scoring swing to close out the quarter. Hurst drained a three with 1:23 for the final points of the first and Dallas carried an 18-17 edge.
Both teams exchanged baskets through the first five minutes of the second quarter. The Ladies tied the contest at 24 on a layup by Erin Temple with 4:32. Stoia split at the free throw line a little over 30 seconds later to give UD its final advantage of the first half. Centenary's Morris responded with two free throws to give the home team its first lead since 2-0. The final 3:45 before the halftime break resulted in a 9-6 run for the Ladies. A three-pointer by Temple stretched the largest lead to four for Centenary, 31-27, with 2:23. A free throw by Panda Green (Farmersville, Texas) brought the margin 33-31 heading into the break.
Morris made a layup to start the next half and extend Centenary's edge to four, but the Crusaders countered with the next seven points. Worry tied her career mark for made treys to nip the gap to one and then Stoia and DeCoud each scored inside baskets, respectively. Morris put down a layup and from there it was a UD 6-0 run that pushed the margin to 43-37 with 5:26 left in the quarter.
The Ladies erased the deficit with eight-of-nine points tallied to retake the lead 45-44 and 3:24 remaining. A free throw by Green re-knotted the score and after two more lead changes, the Crusaders went up by four (52-48) heading into the last quarter.
Dallas led the entire rest of the way as DeCoud recorded 13 points in the 4th and had 25 in the second half. Centenary's leading scorer, Morris, was limited to a pair of free throw attempts and tallied no points in the final 10-minute span. Another big difference in this quarter was 11 rebounds to three favoring UD. That included six offensive rebounds for the guests.
Both squads traded two makes at the charity stripe and then a layup by DeCoud put Dallas up six. Eventually the Crusaders led by as many as eight (60-52) about midway through the frame. A layup by Stoia with just under a minute in the game stretched UD's largest advantage to 59-68. Gil quickly chimed back on a trey to make it a two-possession game, but Dallas wrapped the triumph up.
UP NEXT
Dallas takes a break from conference play and hosts Dallas Christian College on January 17. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m.