Women's Basketball | 2/19/2015 10:34:00 PM

Box Score LUBBOCK, Texas – In the first half of Thursday night's matchup, the St. Edward's Women's Basketball team looked as though they were going to hand Lubbock Christian its first home Heartland Conference loss since joining the Heartland Conference two years ago; however, could not hold its halftime lead, and fell to the Lady Chaps, 86-70.
 
St. Edward's (14-9, 8-7 HC) played an ideal first half, holding as high as a 10-point lead. More impressively, St. Edward's would display some intelligent defense, holding the first place Lady Chaps to 29 first-half points and 33 percent shooting.
 
Lubbock Christian (20-5, 14-1 HC), who averages 19 assists a game, was held to a mere four in the first half behind the stifling defense of the Hilltoppers and attention to its game plan.
 
On the other hand, St. Edward's shot 43 percent from the field in the first half, behind 10 points from LEXI FATHEREE and nine from MILEKA LOYDRAKE. The Hilltoppers drained four three pointers, two of which came from reserve, KATY BOREN.
 
St. Edward's entered the locker room with a 36-29 lead and great poise for what some though to be, an upset in the making.
 
Lubbock Christian had different plans and showed why they are the Heartland's top team. The Lady Chaps started the second half on a 14-0 run, and quickly took the lead from the Hilltoppers.
 
In a tale of two halves, Lubbock Christian shot 75 percent from the floor in the second and tallied 16 assists. The Lady Chaps dominated the second half and went on to win, 86-70.
 
A balanced attack looked to be a positive outcome taken from the game for St. Edward's, as Fatheree finished with 16, Loydrake with 13, Boren with 12, and KHIANI CLARK off the bench with 11.
 
"Obviously we are disappointed with the outcome tonight. I thought we had a really good game plan and we did a great job executing it in the first half. Unfortunately, we came out in the second half and did not execute as well," head coach J.J. Riehl said.
 
Lubbock Christian guard, Bailey Haist shined on the night, going 9-of-10 from the field, 5-for-5 from behind the arc, while scoring a game-high 26 points.
 
St. Edward's will be back in action Saturday as they travel to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State Saturday afternoon in Goodwell, Okla. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. Live coverage will be available via the Aggie Athletic Website. 

                                             Heartland           Overall
Team (Preseason)                 W-L                   W-L
UA Fort Smith (7)                   13-3                   15-8
St. Edward's (4)                       8-7                    14-9
UT-Permian Basin (8)             8-7                    14-9
St. Mary's (2)                            8-8                   14-10
TAMU-International (3)          7-9                   11-13
Newman (5)                            4-11                   7-16
Panhandle State (10)             1-14                   3-22
Lubbock Christian* (1)          14-1                   20-5
Oklahoma Christian* (6)         8-7                   11-12
Rogers State* (9)                    6-10                   8-16
* - Not eligible for HC Tournament due to NCAA Transition Year.
 
SCHEDULE/RESULTS
February 19
UTPB 76, OPSU 59
STMU 67, TAMIU 59
UAFS 67, NU 41
OC 73, RSU 67
LCU 86, SEU 70
 
February 21
UTPB at LCU                                1:00 PM
UAFS at OC                                   1:00 PM
SEU at OPSU                                1:00 PM
RSU at NU                                    1:00 PM
 
February 26
OPSU at TAMIU                           5:30 PM
NU at UTPB                                  5:30 PM
OC at SEU                                     5:30 PM
Ecclesia College at UAFS             5:30 PM
LCU at SEU                                   6:00 PM
 
February 28
NU at SEU                                    1:00 PM
OPSU at STMU                             1:00 PM
LCU at TAMIU                              1:00 PM
UAFS at RSU                                 1:00 PM
OC at UTPB                                  1:00 PM