March 2nd, 2019
WICHITA- Senior guard Mariah Green scored 15 points to lead the UAFS women’s basketball team in its hard-fought 60-54 loss to the Newman Jets on Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale for both teams at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita, Kan.
Newman (19-9, 10-4) swept the Heartland Conference series against UAFS (10-17, 7-7), which lost to the Jets 62-61 in overtime on Feb. 7 at the Stubblefield Center.
UAFS finished in a four-way tie for third in the conference with St. Mary’s (17-9, 7-7), Rogers State (14-13, 7-7) and St. Edward’s (15-13, 7-7), and the Lady Lions received the No. 6 seed via the tiebreaker rules.
All eight teams qualified for the conference tournament, which begins Thursday at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center in Tulsa, Okla. UAFS will be the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 seed St. Mary’s at 5 p.m. on Friday. The two teams split their regular-season series with each team winning on its home court.
UAFS shot 39 percent from the field (24 of 62) – it was just 4-of-13 shooting from 3-point range – and shot only 40 percent from the free-throw line (2 of 5). Green was the only Lady Lions player to score in double-figures.
Senior forward Ellie Lehne had a team-high seven rebounds, but the Lady Lions were still out-rebounded by four rebounds (42-38). UAFS allowed 16 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 second-chance points for Newman. Junior forward Tamera Gulley had 2 of the Lady Lions’ 3 blocked shots.
UAFS also committed 20 turnovers that led to 17 points for Newman, which led 31-23 at halftime.
Newman shot 32 percent from the field (17 of 54) – it was 8-of-24 shooting from 3-point range – and shot 69 percent from the free-throw line (18 of 26). Guard Bria DeGrate scored 20 points to lead the Jets, while guard Kaitlyn Potter and forward Abbey George had 16 and 12 points, respectively.
George just missed a double-double, finishing with a team-high nine rebounds, and had 2 of the Jets’ 3 blocked shots.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
HEARTLAND CONFERENCE
NEWMAN 60, UAFS 54
UAFS 16 7 14 17 — 54
Newman 14 17 16 13 — 60
UAFS (10-17, 7-7): Green 15, Gulley 8, Lehne 8, A. Brown 5, D. Brown 5, Culley 4, Elkins 4, Terry 3, Richardson 2
Newman (19-9, 10-4): DeGrate 20, Potter 16, George 12, Vestal-Mason 4, Johnson 4, Albers 2, Stewart 2