For the first time all season Lady Tiger head coach Donnita Rogers started Markisha Patterson, Brittney Allen, Jasher Blocker, and Tonishea Mack all in the same game, for it would be their last time stepping foot in the Fred Hobdy Assembly Center as a player. The final home game for the Lady Tigers (13-13, 9-7 SWAC) 2011-2012 season concluded with Senior Night as they successfully blew out the Lady Golden Lions of the University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff (1-27, 1-16 SWAC) by the score of 85-56.
In her first start as a Lady Tiger, Patterson led the way scoring a career high 22 points, including five of nine 3-pointers.
“My family was here so I wanted to make them proud and I think I did by dropping 22,” Patterson said. “My shots felt good tonight, I ran the wing a lot tonight and that had a lot to do with me being able to catch and shoot.”
After the first 20 minutes the game was tightly contested, the Lady Tigers were up one with a score of 39-38. During the halftime break coach Rogers told her team to work on not letting UAPB hang around and in the second half, the Lady Tigers ran away with the game.
In the second half, UAPB Junior forward Jenise Gentry scored a lay-up for the Lady Golden Lions to cut the lead to 49-46 with about 14 minutes remaining, and the Lady Tigers responded with a 46-10 run to close out one of its best halves all season. Seven different players scored for the Lady Tigers during a six-minute, 22-0 run.
“It’s probably in my top three,” coach Donnita Rogers said about the second half. “I would go back to the Oral Roberts second half when we were down 15, came back, tied it within regulation and then only allowed them to score two points in overtime, and I liked the second half of the LSU game. It was 26-26, and we played our behinds off. I absolutely loved this second half as well.”
Freshman guard Cierra Ceazer opened the run with a 3-pointer, freshman forward Bria Venson scored again for the Lady Tigers and drew a foul, and senior guard Patterson hit another 3-pointer that put the Lady Tigers up 11 with a score of 57-46.
Junior guard Alexis Watson, freshman guard Savannah Carter, freshman guard Dayla Threatt and junior forward Wymeka Randle aided to the run before the Lady Golden Lions could register a single point.
UAPB’s scoring drought ended at the 7:57 mark with a basket from freshman guard Corredur Vaden, followed by Grambling’s senior guards Allen and Mack scoring the teams’ next 10 points making it a 32-2 run with a score of 81-48.
“That’s absolutely awesome, whenever you can share the ball like that and get good play from several different girls, especially freshmen,” Rogers said.
Mack scored 14 points, nine in the second half and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Allen scored all of her 7 points in the second half.
The 85 points scored by the Lady Tigers was the highest point total scored in conference play, its second-most in regulation and, second-most against a Division-I opponent.
