CHICAGO – Tori Clark scored a career-high 22 points to lead all scorers and Becky Williford dished out a school-record 11 assists to pace the 11th-ranked Roosevelt women's basketball team to an 83-61 victory over visiting Ashford at the Lillian and Larry Goodman Center on Saturday afternoon.
Casey Davis added 20 points and Erica Jordan scored 13 points off the bench for the Lakers, who improved to 11-4.
Madison Wagner led the Saints (6-10) with 19 points.
Roosevelt shot 65 percent after halftime and finished with a final mark of 57 percent from the field, holding the Saints to just 32 percent shooting for the game in a stout all-around performance.
"I thought it was a very complete game for us overall," said Roosevelt head coach Robyn Scherr-Wells. "Obviously the second half was a really good offensive half for us to score 47 points and shoot 57 percent on the game. We did a good job in the second half of making the extra pass, finding the open player and not settling for that first shot."
The Lakers led for most of the game, nursing a single-digit lead for all of the first half before a 14-0 run midway through the second period propelled the Green and White to a big advantage that went as high as 26 points. Jordan fueled that scoring streak with five points, including a basket-plus-foul three-point play.
"Erica Jordan was awesome off the bench, and that was really a turning point for us as far as really opening a lead," Scherr-Wells said of the sophomore forward's standout effort. "She gave us a lot of momentum, she was really tough inside and that opened everything up for our guards outside based off of that inside-out play from Erica."
Clark was excellent early and often, scoring 11 on 5-for-6 shooting in the first period before repeating the point output after halftime en route to a game high and a new career best. The versatile senior finished 8-for-11 from the floor and added seven rebounds and four blocks to her stat line.
"Tori was great," said Scherr-Wells. "She was awesome from start to finish. I am proud of her for her new career high of 22. They had a tough time stopping her. I thought she was just really consistent, and 8-for-11 is a nice night."
Williford led the Lakers' efficient charge with the new program-best mark for dimes, handing out the 11 assists with only two turnovers and giving Roosevelt 26 helpers on 30 made baskets.
"Becky with 11 assists, that's impressive," Scherr-Wells said. "We did a good job distributing the ball today with 26 assists. That's a great night for us."
Scherr-Wells noted the 46-31 rebounding margin in favor of Ashford was not ideal, but the Lakers made up for that with defense.
"I thought the only real downside was just the rebounding on the defensive end and we gave up just too many on the offensive end [24 Ashford offensive rebounds], but overall it was a good game," said Scherr-Wells. "To hold them to 61 points is a really good day for us."
The Lakers host the first Roosevelt Holiday Hoops Tournament at the Goodman Center next Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 28 and 29. Roosevelt opens with 10th-ranked Midland at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
