It was only an exhibition game, but the lone senior for the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks was in midseason form.
Whitney Cormier led all scorers with 21 points as SFA took a 70-43 win over St. Mary's (Texas) in women's college basketball action Monday night at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
"She's good," SFA head coach Lee Ann Riley said of Cormier. "I don't think there's a better player in the Southland Conference. She wants her senior year to be her best, and she came out and showed it."
The Ladyjacks used a stifling defense to hold the visting Rattlers to 11 first-half points.
The score was close early with the two teams tied at 8, a piece, but SFA ended the half on a 31-3 run, with St Mary's going more than 13 minutes without a field goal.
"When we got after it defensively, the game changed," Riley said. "We can guard our opponents, and we want to play fast. We looked very good defensively in the first half, but we really need to improve on offense.
"We are running a new offense. We were very excited at the start of the game, and we rushed some shots and missed some easy shots. That is why we play these games though. We have some good film to watch and get better."
Cormier scored 17 of her points in the first half on 8-of-14 shooting, outscoring the Rattlers. She was the only Ladyjack in double figures.
"We need other players to score," Riley said. "We locked down pretty good on defense, but we've got to work on our balance on offense."
DeCreasga Goodner had 9 points and seven rebounds. Tammara Marion had 8 points and six rebounds. Amina Sawyer added 7 points. Jordan Ford led the Ladyjacks with eight rebounds, and Cambria Smith had five assists.
Kristen Williams led St. Mary's, which shot 4-of-22 from the field in the first half, with 12 points and nine rebounds. Nicole James added 10 points for the Rattlers, who outscored the Ladyjacks 32-31 after the break.
SFA will return to the court to host Ouachita Baptist at 7 p.m. Friday at William R. Johnson Coliseum in the final exhibition . The Ladyjacks open the regular season against North Texas Nov. 14 at William R. Johnson Coliseum.
SFA 70, St. Mary's 43
St. Mary's
Bailey 4-10 0-3 8; Noble 0-6 0-1 0; Patterson 0-4 1-2 1; James 4-5 1-1 10; Williams 5-14 2-6 12; Jacobs 1-3 0-0 3; Cantu 0-0 0-0 0; Endres 0-0 0-0 0; Sophus 2-3 1-3 5; Boyd 1-7 0-0 2; Phillips 1-2 0-0 2; Totals 18-54 5-16 43.
SFA
Davis 1-9 2-4 4; Sawyer 3-5 1-2 7; Smith 3-7 0-0 6; Cormier 10-20 1-2 21; Goodner 3-4 2-2 9; Marion 3-10 2-2 8; Foy 2-4 0-0 6; Conwright 0-4 5-6 5; Ford 2-7 0-0 4; Drennan 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 27-71 13-18 70.
Halftime: SFA 39, St. Mary's 11.
Rebounds: SFA 47 (Ford 8, Davis and Goodner 7); St. Mary's 44 (Bailey and Williams 9).
3-pointers: SFA 3-13 (Foy 2-4, Goodner 1-2); St. Mary's 2-13 (James 1-1, Jacobs 1-1).
