Women's Hoop Report 66

Shakira Austin tears through Tulane

Above: Shakira Austin

Tulane came up against the basketball monster known as Shakira Austin and fell short in round two of the Women's National Invitational Tournament.

Austin led Ole Miss to another win after her second dominant performance in the tournament. The six-foot-five forward dropped 14-of-17 free-throws to score 24 points, while snagging 13 rebounds with three blocked shots and two steals. Austin posted 23 points and 12 rebounds in Ole Miss' first round win over Samford. The junior has scored at least 20 points in five of her last six contests.

On the defensive side, Ole Miss received contributions from guard Mimi Reid and forward Madison Scott. Reid recorded a game high four steals, while Scott shared the team lead with three blocks.

Reid also pitched in with eight points, five assists and four rebounds. Ole Miss had one other scorer in double digits. Junior Donetta Johnson scored 15 points to go with her five rebounds.

Tulane was led in scoring by Jerkaila Jordan's 21 points. It was the freshman guard's 10th game with at least 20 points this season.

Siegrist lifts Villanova past Florida

Above: Maddie Siegrist (20)

Villanova proved to be the better team when it took on Florida in round two of the WNIT, March 20. We previously said that Maddy Siegrist is the best player in the WNIT, but Ole Miss' Shakira Austin is giving her a run for the title. All that being said, Siegrist dropped 26 points and 11 rebounds against Florida. The six-foot-one forward also tallied five assists and three blocks. Siegrist has scored at least 26 points in six of her last seven games. She's also recorded 13 double-doubles this season.

Freshman reserve Bella Runyon came off of the bench and scored a season high 16 points. Runyon hit four-of-five shots from the field and six-of-seven free-throws. Runyon averages four points per game.

Florida's top guard Kiara Smith struggled going four-for-16 from the field, scoring just 10 points. The Gators received more free-throws making 22-of-26, compared to Villanova's scoring on 13-of-17 attempts. Outside of that Florida was outmatched by Villanova. The Wildcats made 29-of-65 shots from the field and made six-of-20 shots from three-point territory. Florida struggled making 17-of-50 shots and only one-of-eight threes. Villanova had just four turnovers and 19 assists. Florida had two assists and 22 turnovers.

Florida got its best performance from guard guard Kristina Moore. She had a team high 13 points, nine rebounds and two steals. She had season highs in both categories as she averaged five points and two rebounds per game prior to the contest.

California Baptist outshoots San Francisco

Above: Britney Thomas

California Baptist improved to 26-0 and scored 90 points for the second straight game in the WNIT. The Lancers were led by a perfect 10-for-10 shooting performance as forward Britney Thomas scored 26 points.

California Baptist hit a WNIT record 63 percent of their shots in the 90-82 win over San Francisco. Thomas shot over 70 percent individually for the 11th time this season. She has scored at least 20 points six times this season and in all of those games she has never shot less than 73.3 percent.

California Baptist has scored 90 points or more seven times this season. Forward Caitlyn Harper led California Baptist with eight rebounds but she also poured in 23 points. Harper hit eight-of-13 shots including two-of-four from three.

Below: Ioanna Krimili

San Francisco's Ioanna Krimili led all players with 30 points on 10-of-25 shooting. Lucie Hoskova scored 22 points for the Dons. San Francisco hung in the game with 14 offensive rebounds opposed to California Baptist's two. The Dons also took care of the ball with 19 assists and 11 turnovers. California Baptist had 23 assists and 22 turnovers. What put California Baptist over besides great shooting from the field was free-throw shooting. San Francisco made nine-of-13 free-throw attempts. California Baptist hit 18-of-23 of its free-throws.