COMMERCE – Rezo Po floated in a jumper with less than four seconds left on Monday evening to give the East Texas A&M University women's basketball team a 71-68 win over Stephen F. Austin on the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court in the Field House.
SFA entered the fourth quarter trailing by 10, but held the Lions without a field goal for a stretch of four minutes and 44 seconds and scored four in a row to tie the game at 68 with 1:08 to play, the first tie since 16-16 in the first quarter.
Both teams had multiple chances to take the lead, but could not come up with the basket. Po (San Bruno, Calif.) drained the jumper with three seconds to play and then added a free throw to score the final three points of the game overall and the final five points for the Lions.
REZA PO GAME WINNER HIGHLIGHT
The Lions won their second game in a row and the first Southland Conference game of the season as well as their first ever win over SFA in the seventh meeting all-time. East Texas A&M improves to 5-5 on the season and 1-2 in Southland play, while the Ladyjacks, who won the SLC Tournament last season and played in the NCAA Tournament, fall to 7-5 overall and 1-2 against Southland opponents.
SFA started the game with a 14-6 lead on an 8-0 run at the 4:14 mark of the first quarter, which was its largest lead of the game. Following a Lion timeout, East Texas A&M scored the next eight and tied the game with 1:06 to go in the quarter and then drilled a three-pointer on its final possession of the quarter to lead 19-18 after the first.
The Lions had a lead as big as 12 in the game, which came at the 1:15 mark of the third quarter. SFA shot 75 percent in the fourth quarter, while holding the Lions were held to shoot 21.4 percent in the fourth quarter.
Po shot 7 for 11 from the field and 6 for 8 at the line for team-best 22 points and had six assists as well, while
Cora Horvath (Oberwart, Austria) added 13 points and six assists.
Tiani Ellison (Durant, Okla.) scored 10 along with two rebounds and off the bench,
J'Unti Franklin (Natchitoches, La.), totaled 12 points.
For the Ladyjacks, Kaylinn Kemp scored 22 with Key Roseby adding 15 points and eight rebounds and then Cha Gardner totaled 14 points and seven rebounds.
POST GAME INTERVIEW
UP NEXT
The Lions close out the home stand on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. against Lamar. The game is also Family Fun Day presented by Northeast Texas Gellyball with all kids 12 and under receiving free admission.
-ETAMU-
