Cowgirls Look For Seventh ASC Title
By: Chad Grubbs, HSU Sports Information
Updated: February 23, 2012
ABILENE, Texas - Hardin-Simmons' women's basketball team has been on a roller coaster ride all season long never winning more than three or losing more than three games in a row, the result was a 13-12 season that has them in the American Southwest Conference Tournament for a league-record 14th time.
The Cowgirls have been a part of every ASC Tournament in the league's history (the only team in the league to do so), they have won more titles than any program with six and are looking for their first title since 2004. HSU has won at least one game in 12 of the 14 seasons they have been in the tournament.
The Cowgirls open the tournament on Friday at 7:30 against host Louisiana College.
HSU will have to pull what would be considered an upset in the first round, but it is not unprecedented for the No. 1 seed from the ASC East to lose to an ASC West team. It has happened on seven different occasions in the first round. The ASC West has won 12 of the 13 previous tournaments.
Louisiana College is 22-3 on the year and ranked No. 22 in the country. The Wildcats beat HSU 80-68, forcing a school-record 47 turnovers.
"You have to be able to handle their pressure, they really want to turn you over and get points off of it and they force almost 35 turnovers per game," said HSU 10th year head coach Shanna Briggs. "We have to handle the pressure defense to have any chance to win. I think we have a bunch of resilient girls and they have seen the unorthodox style that LC plays and I feel good about how we are playing heading into the tournament."
The Cowgirls are led by senior Angela Newcombe. She leads the team with 13.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. She is one of four Cowgirls that average in double figures. Junior guard Alexis Popelar averages 12.1 points, senior forward Jasmine Lewis averages 11 points per contest and Kara Looten scores 10.5 points per game.
All of the games will have a video broadcast that can be found at http://www.ihigh.com/louisianacollege/ and HSU fans can listen to Al Pickett's internet broadcast at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/hsu.portal#.
You can follow all of the ASC Women's and Men's Tournament action at the ASC Central page at http://www.ascsports.org/news/2012/2/22/MBBALL_0222125217.aspx
The Cowgirls have been a part of every ASC Tournament in the league's history (the only team in the league to do so), they have won more titles than any program with six and are looking for their first title since 2004. HSU has won at least one game in 12 of the 14 seasons they have been in the tournament.
The Cowgirls open the tournament on Friday at 7:30 against host Louisiana College.
HSU will have to pull what would be considered an upset in the first round, but it is not unprecedented for the No. 1 seed from the ASC East to lose to an ASC West team. It has happened on seven different occasions in the first round. The ASC West has won 12 of the 13 previous tournaments.
Louisiana College is 22-3 on the year and ranked No. 22 in the country. The Wildcats beat HSU 80-68, forcing a school-record 47 turnovers.
"You have to be able to handle their pressure, they really want to turn you over and get points off of it and they force almost 35 turnovers per game," said HSU 10th year head coach Shanna Briggs. "We have to handle the pressure defense to have any chance to win. I think we have a bunch of resilient girls and they have seen the unorthodox style that LC plays and I feel good about how we are playing heading into the tournament."
The Cowgirls are led by senior Angela Newcombe. She leads the team with 13.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. She is one of four Cowgirls that average in double figures. Junior guard Alexis Popelar averages 12.1 points, senior forward Jasmine Lewis averages 11 points per contest and Kara Looten scores 10.5 points per game.
All of the games will have a video broadcast that can be found at http://www.ihigh.com/louisianacollege/ and HSU fans can listen to Al Pickett's internet broadcast at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/hsu.portal#.
You can follow all of the ASC Women's and Men's Tournament action at the ASC Central page at http://www.ascsports.org/news/2012/2/22/MBBALL_0222125217.aspx
