Stetson women's basketball upset by Austin Peay, falls out of ASUN bracket; Lynn Bria tabbed COY
DELAND — In the opening moments of the fourth quarter, Stetson’s Jamiya Turner drove into the lane and stopped.
The redshirt senior guard had to. One Austin Peay defender stood in front of her. Another ambushed her from the side. Turner wiggled up for a shot, but the Govenors’ La’Nya Foster blocked it.
That’s how much of Saturday’s ASUN quarterfinals matchup went for the second-seeded Hatters. No. 7 Austin Peay upset them 49-45 at the Edmunds Center.
The Governors (17-15) clamped down on defense, denying Stetson’s offense much room to work. When the Hatters (17-14) did break free for open looks, they didn’t knock many down.
They converted only 28.6% of their shots — their lowest against an ASUN opponent this year — and for the first time this season, they didn’t sink a 3-pointer. They missed all 11 attempts.
“Austin Peay, to give them credit, their defense was very good, especially to start the game,” Stetson coach Lynn Bria said. “I thought, in the first quarter, we really dug ourselves a hole, and we’re not a team that can score points in bunches.”
The Hatters rank last in the conference in points per game (58.1) and 3-point percentage (22.5%). They slot 11th out of 12 teams in field-goal percentage (37.9%).
But their defense and timely buckets are what got them here — the regular-season conference runner-up spot. Should top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast win the ASUN tournament, Stetson would receive an automatic bid into the Women's NIT. That would still be the case even if the Eagles don't win the league, provided FGCU would earn an at-large selection.
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Outside of Friday’s first quarter, when Stetson allowed the Governors to shoot 50% and fell behind 19-8, its defense again gave it a chance.
It held Austin Peay to 35.7% shooting from the field and 30% from the arc, both numbers less than its season averages. The Hatters surrender 58.8 points per game, good for third-best in the ASUN.
The Govenors tallied the first two points of the contest on a Foster layup and never trailed. After a 6-6 tie, they finished the first period on a 13-2 run. That created separation for the rest of the game.
Stetson outpaced Austin Peay during the last three quarters. Both squads scored 11 points in the second and seven in the third. The Hatters claimed the fourth quarter 19-12.
But the closest they got was four points.
Stetson endured a 1-of-18 stretch from the floor in the second half. It didn’t make a field goal during the third quarter, and the drought extended into the fourth. At the beginning of the final 10 minutes, the Governors were ahead 37-26.
The Hatters did assemble a run, though.
They picked up the first five points of the quarter, trimming their deficit to 37-32 with six and a half minutes left.
“We started to spread them out a little bit more,” Bria said. “That I felt like helped us get to the basket, get to the free-throw line a little bit more. I thought that was really good, and I thought it helped us just kind of open up the lane. But you have to put them in. If we hit a couple of those shots from the perimeter, I think it’s a different ballgame.”
Austin Peay kept them at bay, though. Stetson stayed down by five or more until a layup by redshirt junior guard Khamya McNeal cut the score to 45-41 with 22 seconds remaining.
Two ticks later, former Hatter Alyssa Hargrove drew an intentional foul and dashed Stetson’s hopes. She drained two free throws to make it a six-point game.
“At the end of the day, it’s whoever scores, and we couldn’t stick it in today,” sophomore forward Jaelyn Talley said.
Talley and senior guard Jordan Peete led all scorers with 15 points. Talley also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Turner — the Hatters’ usual leading scorer at 10.9 points a night — ended with six.
No Governor reached double figures, but eight players scored. Three contributed eight points. Abby Cater had a team-best nine.
Lynn Bria wins ASUN Coach of the Year award
Earlier last week, Bria claimed the ASUN Coach of the Year award, the conference announced Thursday. It marked Bria's second third such award winning with the Hatters in 2017 and with UCF under the league's former moniker, the Trans America Athletic Conference, back in 1999.
After going 13-20 overall and 6-12 in conference last season, the Hatters opened this campaign 5-9. Then, they rode a 12-4 mark against ASUN foes to a 17-13 regular-season total and the second seed in the conference tournament. They posted a 7-1 record on the road during ASUN play.
“I was surprised,” Bria said. “I was grateful. It’s voted on by your peers, by the coaches. And I think we have outstanding coaches in this league. So for me, it was an honor and a privilege that I got it because of how much I think of the coaches in our league.”
Bria has piloted the Hatters since 2008 and sits as the program’s all-time wins leader with a 282-224 record.
“We have an amazing coach,” Talley said.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Women's basketball: Austin Peay stuns Stetson in ASUN Tournament
