The University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team headed into the Heartland Conference Tournament on Friday as the No. 1 seed for a second round game against St. Edward's University.
St. Edward's had won an overtime matchup in the first round on Thursday against Texas A&M International University and were playing their second game in as many days. Incarnate Word, as a top seed, enjoyed a day off on the first day of the tournament – but had lost its last two games of the regular season.
Questioned if she had been worried, before the game, that her team was going to show any rust or nerves, head coach Angela Lawson responded with “It did cross my mind, but I had confidence that they would show up and play when there was something big to play for. Our seniors were talking about how if you lose you go home – so I think reality set in.
“I was really happy with how they came out and maintained their intensity level. I was also happy to play more players so I could rest some of our girls for tomorrow.”
The Cardinals (20-9 on the season) played an intense game on the defensive end of the court and shot nearly 54% from the floor on the opposite end to eliminate St. Edward's University, 66-48. UIW forced 23 turnovers by the Hilltoppers and scored 25 points off those mistakes.
Senior guard Jasmine Smith scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed a team-high 6 rebounds to lead the Cardinals, while Nia Torru added 14 points and Nikki Brown scored 12.
Smith also added five assists. Freshman Katherine Frost also had five assists to go with her four points and two steals.
UIW also limited St. Edward's from getting production out of all three of their leading scorers – allowing Sara Head 10 points (six on free throws), Kelli Payton 19 points (her per-game average is approximately 17) and Brittany Ward to 0 (the guard was 0-for-5 on the floor and had six turnovers).
“I don't think we anything differently for them with our defense,” Lawson said. “For one thing, Nikki Brown played really well for us on both ends of the floor – I thought that was a factor. Sara Head is a true, low-post player who is hard to matchup for anybody. But their go-to players all year have been Payton and Ward – and Nia guarded Ward today and I thought that was a good defensive effort.”
Incarnate Word and St. Edward's both had trouble getting on the scoreboard to start the game, but after SEU's first bucket at 19:05 for a 2-0 lead, the Cardinals responded by holding the Hilltoppers scoreless until the 14:41-mark (a total of 3:24) and never surrendered the lead the rest of the way.
UIW led by as many as 20 points in the contest. The score was 36-20 at halftime.
With the game in the books and UIW still alive, Lawson and her team now must prepare for the winner of the second women's game of the tournament on Friday between St. Mary's University and Texas-Permian Basin. But the coach and her team don't plan on sitting around, waiting to draw up a last-minute game plan for Saturday's championship game.
“We've done our scouting on both teams, so we're prepared either way,” Lawson said. “Their styles are completely different, but I think we match up either way.
“UTPB is more transition, more pressing – so obviously we're going to have to take care of the ball, but we're a transition team. St. Mary's is more of a half-court, man-defense team, but we have gotten better at our half-court offense.”
Now, the Cardinals will have to maintain their emotional levels for one more contest to not come out flat in the finals – but Lawson's experienced team is ready to keep that from happening.
“You have to keep things in perspective,” the coach said. “They don't want to get too high – and if you've been here before you know you can't waste too much energy after winning the first game. So, yes they are excited but they're focused on the next task at-hand.”
Saturday's championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Bill Greehey Arena.
