Lady Privateers Keelhaul Patriots In Second Half
December 9, 2006
Stats -- Broadcast

NEW ORLEANS -- The Patriots led by six at halftime, but Division I University of New Orleans came back with a strong second half to win the game, 69-56.

The game was part of a special celebration at UNO, a favor returned to The University of Texas at Tyler after the Patriots hosted the Privateers home games last season in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

For the third time this season, Sha Shead (SR/LaRue, TX) was in double figures by halftime to lead UT Tyler (5-2, 3-1 ASC). Shead finished with 20 points and seven rebounds.

“Sha kept us in the game,” Patriots coach Terri Deike said. “Her shooting was the only consistent thing we had in the game.”

The halftime lead wilted in the first seven minutes of the second half, with UNO taking advantage of their height advantage to score inside. The Lady Privateers also pressed the Patriots to open the half.

“We did a great job in the first half,” Deike said. “We were up six points at halftime, but they started pressing and we had problems with that. We got down, and just didn’t run our offenses.”

“We stayed in it through rebounding and blocking out, but we got too far away from the game plan.”

The Patriots played well in spite of the large height disadvantage to the Division I school, giving up 3-4 inches of height at every position. The Lady Privateers blocked nine shots, but the Patriots were even with them with rebounds. Deike says her team wasn’t intimidated.
 
“They did a good job. They weren’t afraid to shoot over them and go up against them, we just missed too many easy baskets.”

Kasey Buggs (JR/Corinth, TX) had eight points and seven rebounds for UT Tyler.

After a week off for final exams, the Patriots come back to the Herrington Patriot Center for their final games of the semester. They will host Howard Payne Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. live on the UT Tyler Sports Network.

Reid Kerr can be reached at rkerr@uttyler.edu.

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