ALEXANDRIA, La. – Huston-Tillotson University's women's basketball team ended up playing into the second day of the postseason Red River Athletic Conference tournament, but not in the way they had hoped as Texas A&M–San Antonio outlasted the Rams by a score of 66-60.
Playing in the last of eight quarterfinal games (four men's games and four women's games), the Rams and Jaguars were scheduled for an 8:15 p.m. start Friday but had to wait an extra two hours to tip off. With the late start time, the final horn sounded several minutes after midnight on Saturday morning.
HT senior forward
Summer Thomas ended her collegiate career with an exclamation point as she led the Rams (13-15) with game-high totals of 23 points and 17 rebounds. Both of those totals were also HT career highs.
Wilashia Burleson also posted a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling in 12 rebounds.
Aliyah Carter added 10 points and four steals for the Rams.
A&M–San Antonio's Evelyn Lorenzo scored 21 points to lead the first-year program in their quarterfinal matchup.
The battle between the RRAC's Nos. 4 and 5-seeded teams featured five ties and seven lead changes. The teams were tied 46-46 at the end of the third quarter; the Jaguars didn't start to pull away until late in the fourth period, and even then they couldn't get ahead by more than seven points.
TAMUSA's ability to get to the free throw line helped the Jaguars' cause, as they shot 38 free throws, compared to 20 by HT. But the Jaguars failed to take advantage, as they made only 20 of their attempts (52.6 percent), while the Rams shot 16-of-20 (80 percent) from the line.
The Rams and Jaguars split their regular-season series, with each team winning on their home floor. The trip to the tournament was continued HT head coach
Kendall DuCree's trip of eight consecutive appearances in nine seasons. (HT did not compete in any intercollegiate sports during the 2020-21 season in the aftermath of the CoVID-19 pandemic.)
Senior guard
Destiny Stanford scored nine points for the Rams.
Gabby Cantu,
Tyaija Coleman, and
AaKiyah Sorrells were also among HT's senior class that contributed in the Rams' postseason game and throughout the season.
– HT –
