Complete Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas - Reigning RRAC Player of the Week Shayla Coleman continued her hot play with 33 points, but it wasn’t enough for the Lady Rams, who on Saturday night lost to Langston University for the second time this season.

The first half of Saturday night’s game was a close battle, as the lead teetered back and forth. The Lady Rams got up by as much as six points after Coleman knocked down a pair of free throws with just over 11 minutes left in the half. After the Lady Lions closed the gap to three, she hit another pair of free throws at the 7:08 mark to bring the score to 26-21, but Langston scored the next six points to take a one-point lead.

A three-point play by Jessica James increased the Langston lead to four points with 1:50 left in the half, and Coleman traded a pair of baskets with the Lady Lions’ Natoshia Rouse to make the score 42-38 at the break.

In the second frame, Wesleyan pulled to within a point several times in the early going before Jashana Pitt’s bucket with 12:37 remaining finally tied the score at 51. Kayla Smith followed for Langston with a back-breaking three-pointer, then scored on a lay-up underneath to give the Lady Lions a lead they would hold on to for the rest of the game.

Valen Little hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 62-58, but the Lady Rams, who scored a season-low 22 points in the second half, would only manage two points over the final 7:32. Langston, meanwhile, rode the hot hands of Rouse, Patrice Simms and Cynthia Hogg, who combined for 13 points over the final seven minutes, to clinch their 16th conference win of the season.

Teo Grant led the Lady Lions with 19 points, hitting five of ten shots from the floor and nine of 12 free throws. She also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds. Smith scored 14 for Langston, and Hogg and Simms each had 11 points. Hogg also recorded ten rebounds, and Simms had six steals. Rouse finished with eight points.

The Lady Lions shot 39 percent from the floor on the game, 33 percent from long-range, and 65 percent from the line.

The Rams were led by Coleman’s 33 points and 11 rebounds. Courtney scored nine, and also had eight rebounds and four blocks. Valen Little scored six, and Kim Cooper, Jashana Pitt, and Stephanie Reder each finished with four points. Little led the squad with three assists and three steals.

As a team, the Lady Rams shot fairly well from the floor at 38 percent, but were abysmal from three-point distance at 13 percent. They also shot below average at the line, hitting 14 of 26 for a percentage of .538.

The Lady Rams fall to 12-18 on the year, 6-13 in conference play.

With one game remaining in the regular season, the Lady Rams sit in the seventh spot, meaning that if the seeds do not change after Monday night’s action, these two teams would square off again in the first round of the conference tournament. This time, however, the game would be at Langston. Monday night’s season finale is against Bacone College. Game time is 5:30 PM in the Sid Richardson Gymnasium.