JOURNAL SPORTS
The LSUS Shreveport basketball teams are both atop the Red River Athletic Conference standings early in the league race, and won three of four RRAC Player of the Week awards issued Monday.
LSUS is on the road this week for a pair of conference doubleheaders, tonight in New Orleans at Xavier, and Saturday in Houston at North American. Next week, the teams are home Thursday and Saturday.
The LSUS men have cracked the NAIA Top 25 in the 25th position. They carry an 11-3 overall, 8-0 conference record into tonight’s showdown with always tough Xavier (8-3, 5-1).
In the women’s race, LSUS is also perfect in eight RRAC games, 12-2 overall and receiving votes but not yet in the top 25. Xavier is 6-5, 3-3.
Senior forward Hayden Brittingham won his fourth RRAC honor this season when he was chosen Offensive Player of the Week for the dates of Dec. 31–Jan. 4.
Brittingham led the Pilots in a key 99-81 road win over Texas A&M–Texarkana last Saturday, turning in an all-around performance with 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals. He was highly efficient offensively, shooting 9-of-12 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.
Brittingham continues to rank among the RRAC’s top performers. He sits fifth in scoring average at 16.9 points per game, and second in rebounding.
The women’s basketball team swept RRAC weekly awards for Dec. 28-Jan. 4. Senior guard Paula Gonzales Herrero was Offensive Player of the Week and junior Toni Coleman earned Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Gonzalez Herrero led the Pilots to a 90-58 victory over Texas A&M-Texarkana, recording a season-high 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. She also contributed five rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. Herrero is averaging 16.6 points.
Coleman contributed 11 points, seven steals and four defensive rebounds. The junior ranks seventh in the RRAC with 59 defensive rebounds and leads the conference with 56 assists and 66 steals. She is also second on the team with 162 points (11.6 ppg) and 71 rebounds (5.1 rpg). Coleman has now earned five RRAC Player of the Week honors, including three consecutive defensive awards.
BPCC BOWS: Wednesday night at Tyler, Texas, Bossier Parish Community College dropped a 91-71 decision at Tyler JC despite a hot shooting night by Tony Montgomery.
The Cavaliers’ guard sank 8 of 11 shots, including 3 of 5 behind the 3-point arc, and added a team-high 4 assists. Drew Cooper was BPCC’s only other double-digit scorer with 11, hitting 3 of 4 on 3s.
Tyler shot 58 percent overall to overcome a 50 percent night by the Cavaliers.
“We played very well in the first half against a very talented TJC team with a lot of depth,” said first-year BPCC coach Jeff Moore. “TJC came out of halftime with a run that we didn’t recover from. Their size and length affected us on both ends of the floor.
“It was promising to see us shoot the ball like we are capable of from 3, and play harder tonight. We just have to defend and rebound better heading into our next game on the road Saturday at Lamar State College-Port Arthur.”
The Cavs (8-6 overall, 2-4 in Region XIV) are home next Wednesday night at 7 against Lee College.