Women’s basketball squared off against the Cameron University Aggies on Feb. 13. St. Edward’s lost the tipoff, but Ainsley Thunell stole it and Janiah “J.P.” Perkins hit a three. On the next play Kiana Bennett followed suit with another long shot. After a layup by the Aggies, Bennett drained another three. Cameron answered back with a shot behind the arc. Ramsey Robledo stole the ball, which led to a J.P. three pointer. After a timeout, Isabel Langenberg hit a three, and Thunell scored a layup afterwards. Jasmyn Jackson blocked a layup attempt, then another on the following defensive play. At the end of the first quarter, SEU stole the ball and Bailey Featherstone connected with a jump shot. In the final seconds, the Aggies responded with another jump shot, taking the lead over Hilltoppers 20-19.
At the start of the second quarter, Riley Moore stole the ball, and Jackson drew a foul on a layup attempt. She then proceeded to make one of the two free throws, tying the score up at 20. J.P. scored a layup through traffic. Bennett forced a turnover and J.P. was fouled, connecting with both shots. Thunell faked out the defense and grabbed a layup. Bennett attempted a three and missed, but an offensive rebound from Thunell gave the opportunity for another shot, which Bennett drained. Featherstone hit another shot in the next play, then forced a steal and a foul from the Aggies. Featherstone made one of the free throws. Langenberg connected with a pass through traffic to Featherstone, who made a reverse layup and drew the foul, converting it into a three point play. After a tumultuous play where the ball was deflected left and right from the Aggies, J.P. was fouled and scored both free throws. Featherstone hit a mid range jump shot and scored a second one to end the first half, giving SEU the 41-31 lead.
On the Aggies first play of the second half, SEU gave up multiple rebounds and eventually a layup as the shot clock expired. Robledo responded with a layup for the Hilltoppers. Thunell then blocked a layup in the paint and SEU was fouled. Robledo grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on the putback layup for the and-one – she made it for a successful three point conversion. Cameron University made multiple threes in quick succession to take the lead from St. Edward’s. Moore responded with a layup through a crowded paint, and was fouled for a three-point play. Bennett was fouled right after and drained both free throws to regain the lead at 50-49. After a three from the Aggies, Featherstone hit a mid range shot. Bennett hit a putback layup as the clock expired, finishing the third quarter with Cameron University leading 61-54.
Multiple players were hit with big fouls throughout the second half of the game. Cameron University’s section of visitors were adamant that the referees’ calls weren’t fair, and raised a ruckus throughout the game.
“I definitely think that the officials set the tone of how things are going to be played, like the physicality and that sort of thing,” head coach J.J. Riehl said. “I think that’s the biggest thing as a college player though, you’ve got to adapt and adjust to that. We talk all the time about staying where your feet are, and I thought when adversity hit the third quarter — when they made shots and we didn’t make shots — we didn’t do a great job of not letting the officials dictate how we were going to play or our emotions. I felt like the officials whistle kind of was like a yo-yo with our emotions – really highs and lows. And I think that’s definitely one thing that we can improve on going into the next game.”
J.P. connected with a mid range shot at the elbow for the first points of the final quarter. Mikah Chapman deflected a three point attempt to give SEU possession of the ball. J.P. successfully took a charge attempt, which the Aggies’ fans vehemently did not agree with. Featherstone was fouled on a layup attempt, and connected with both attempts. J.P. had two more free throw attempts, connecting with both. Bennett swished a three pointer in the final minute. J.P. grabbed a steal right as the clock expired, unable to get a good shot attempt off. SEU lost with a final score of 79-65.
The loss gives them a record of 10-16 and a Lone Star Conference record of 6-11. Their next game was Saturday, where they squared off against Oklahoma Christian University. The game was also a celebration of 50 years of women’s sports on the Hilltop, and will have a 50th anniversary team during halftime. After the game there was a recognition for the senior players on the team for Senior Day.
