Joel "Jewlz" Morris
Sports Editor
With 32.1 seconds remaining in the game, tied 57-57, Texas A&M University-San Antonio’s senior guard Evelyn Lorenzo dribbles at the top of the key, switching the ball between hands as Xavier University of Louisiana sits in the 2-3 zone with arms extended. Once the clock hits 11 seconds, A&M-San Antonio’s head coach Chris Minner yells out “lets go,” and Lorenzo passes the ball to junior forward Kierra Sanderlin in the middle of the paint for her to faceup and convert a floater off the backboard, giving the Jags the two-point lead with two seconds left in the game.
“I felt like she (Sanderlin) could take their post one-on-one,” Minner said, believing Sanderlin should take the last shot due to her advantage.
Finishing with 13 points, Sanderlin’s name was called all night to isolate, attack the rim and create for her teammates.
Noticing her offensive game is a real threat, Sanderlin says, “Off the dribble, I don’t think anybody can guard me.”
Winning this matchup versus Xavier completes a season sweep for the Jags, but neither game came easy, as the average margin was three points.
Xavier’s size and defense presents a different challenge for the Jags, with the team’s ability to “rebound so well,” Minner said, along with Xavier’s effectiveness in zone defense.
“They’re just so big and physical, and they play zone, so you got to make shots against them,” Minner said. “ You’re not necessarily going to get a lot of second chances.”
Playing a tough Xavier team wasn’t the only battle the Jags faced, as several players were fighting the flu and dealing with fevers.
Though being proud of his team’s gritty effort to pull off the win under their circumstances, Minner still preaches a “no excuse” mentality.
“We had all the excuses in the world,” Minner said. “Sickness, not being able to go, don’t matter, you got to come through. Champions do that.”
With a day between games, the Jags hope to be at full strength versus North American University at 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at home.
Xavier pounces on short-handed Jags
Missing five players entering the game, the Jags fell to Xavier 83-59 at home, sinking their playoff hopes to compete in the Red River Athletic Conference tournament.
Due to injuries and sickness, the Jags were without starters junior guard Dezmon Dudley, junior forward Carson Brown, sophomore center Felix Graf and junior forward Fotis Hristopoulos. In addition, junior forward Paul Stegmann was suited up as well.
Taking advantage of the short-handed Jags, Xavier created a large deficit coming out of halftime, going on a 24-10 run and increasing the lead to 65-38 in the second half.
Xavier rattled the Jags’ offense, forcing 24 turnovers leading to easy transition buckets.
With key contributors out of the lineup, the Jags had players play nearly double their average minutes to compete in the matchup versus Xavier.
Jags head coach Chris Dial saw this as “an opportunity for other guys to really step up,” and increase their experience and development with the bigger role tonight.
Dial credited a few players for stepping into that expanded role and making the most of it.
“Filip (Radulovic), I thought had a good game, not just because shots went down, but he played with some energy,” Dial said. “JoSean (Dembo) made a more deliberate, intentional effort in just staying in the next play.”
The Jags hold the ninth seed in the RRAC trying to push for a playoff spot, creating urgency for coach Dial and his squad to win as much as possible.
“Every single one of these opportunities matter as far as us putting a step forward,” Dial said. “I thought we missed an opportunity to do that collectively. I thought we missed on Monday when we were up in Dallas, so right now we’re unfortunately not putting those best feet forward.”
Even with four starters missing, Dial is keeping the urgency on his team, showing that at this point in the season, excuses are not allowed.
“I’m telling them you have an unlimited amount of excuses,” Dial said. “You’re not allowed to use those. They’re there, they’re always going to be there and we have a hard time turning inwardly.”
The Jags play North American University at 3 p.m. on Feb. 7 at home. Dial is optimistic about having some starters back, saying “we’ll have more than we had today” and hoping to get the team back on track.
