Monday, December 21
Panthers Knock off Stetson on the Road in Hatter Classic
DeLAND, FLA. - Georgia State put up 19 points in overtime to hand Stetson a rare non-conference home defeat 80-72 Monday at Edmunds Center.
GSU (5-4) ended a Stetson streak of 27 consecutive non-conference wins at home where they had a 61-6 overall home record in its last 67 games. Stetson had won its last five games overall this season and had won 11 straight games in its long-running Hatter Classic.
The see-saw game had 12 ties and nine lead changes. GSU led much of the second half before host Stetson regained the lead at 60-55 with 2:44 left. GSU responded and Ponder hit a trey to give GSU a 61-60 lead with 54 seconds. Stetson's Brianti Saunders made 1 of 2 free throws at 30 seconds to tie at 61. Neither team scored in the final 30 seconds and it headed to OT.
In OT, Stetson edged ahead 67-65 when Ponder lit up the nets again with a trey to make it 68-67 and give GSU a lead it would never lose. Alaysia Mitchell converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and then another lay-up as GSU began to pull away. GSU had it up to 11 points before Stetson swished a trey at the game's final buzzer.
Sophomore Makeba Ponder's 7th career 20-point game was a career-best 26 point day. She hit 6-of-12 3-pointers, one shy of her freshman best game of seven. Ponder was named the 28th annual Stetson Hatter Classic Most Valuable Player with 40 points in two games.
Alaysia Mitchell was All-Classic with 15 points today on 6-of-9 shooting after 17 points in Sunday's win. Orlando native Astaja Tyghter had 15 points, seven rebounds and five steals as her family and friends cheered her on loudly. Freshman Madison Newby stepped up with 12 assists today as GSU had 21 total in sharing the ball with one another. Haley Gerrin came off the bench to add eight more rebounds.
Georgia State's switching defenses caused Stetson problems as the visiting Panthers forced 20 turnovers and made 10 steals today.
Stetson had four players in double figures, led by Brianti Saunders with 17 to go with Breana Bey's 17 rebounds. Today's game included 17 3-point baskets (nine by GSU and eight by Stetson).
Georgia State has won four of its last five games to take into Sun Belt Conference play next week.
Troy Forces 40 Turnovers in Win over Southeastern LA
HAMMOND, Louisiana – Ashley Beverly Kelley set Troy's career steals record and the Troy women's basketball team won an up-tempo game, 100-90, over Southeastern Louisiana at the University Center on Monday night.
Troy (5-4) forced Southeastern Louisiana into 40 turnovers and Beverly Kelley grabbed seven steals, bringing her career total to 213, the most in Troy history. The senior guard led Troy offensively as well with 24 points, including 22 in the second half, and eight assists. She hit shot 10-of-16 overall and also grabbed five rebounds.
The Trojans scored 38 points off of Southeastern's turnovers and had 23 fast break points. Troy led by as many as 15 points, 73-58, late in the third quarter, but the Lady Lions cut the lead down to four, 85-81, midway through the fourth. Troy was able to seal the game, thanks in large part to a 22-of-24 effort at the free throw line.
Caitlyn Ramirez was 8-of-9 from the line and scored a season-high 19 points for Troy to go along with nine rebounds. Rachel Reid matched Ramirez with a season-high 19 points of her own, thanks in large part to three 3-pointers.
Claresa Banks, who made her first career start, also had three 3-pointers and scored a career-high 15 points. ArJae' Saunders was the firth Trojan to reach double figures with a career-high 11 points, including four late free throws, to go along with four steals.
The win was Chanda Rigby's second in as many years over Southeastern Louisiana (1-9), her alma mater, in what was a homecoming for most of Troy's coaching staff, which hails from different areas of south Louisiana.
Troy was outrebounded substantially (47-35) and saw Southeastern shoot 50 percent (30-of-60), but the Trojans pressured full court for 40 minutes, forcing the 40 turnovers, which led to Troy taking 22 more shots than the Lions. Troy hit 42 percent (34-of-82) overall and also connected on 10 3-pointers (10-of-35), compared to just four (4-of-17) from the Lady Lions.
The 40 turnovers were the most forced by Troy since at least 1999-2000 when opponent turnovers statistics are first available. The 100-point game was the fourth of the season for Troy and 10th in Chanda Rigby's 101 games as Troy's head coach.
With the win, Troy finishes non-conference play with a 5-4 record for the second straight season. The Trojans open Sun Belt play on Wednesday, Dec. 30 when Arkansas State visits Trojan Arena.
Tipoff between the Trojans and Red Wolves is set for 5:15 p.m. on $1 Night at Trojan Arena. Admission, hot dogs and soft drinks will all be $1 for the doubleheader at Trojan Arena.
Mavericks Top UTSA in Final Non-Conference Game
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – UT Arlington survived UTSA's furious comeback attempt to defeat the Roadrunners 51-47 on Monday night at the Convocation Center.
The Lady Mavericks (5-5) held a 15-point advantage midway through the third quarter as the defense seemed too much for the home team. However, the Roadrunners (4-5) chipped away at UTA's lead to trail by just one point with a minute remaining. Rebekah VanDijk converted an easy bucket in the lane, and after UTSA missed a 3-point attempt to take the lead, Amara Wainwright iced the victory with a pair of free throws with 2.7 to go.
The win ended a four-game streak for UTSA between the I-35 rivals as UTA improved to 31-28 all-time against the Roadrunners. UTA also clinched a .500 record through nonconference play, their second consecutive run without a losing record.
For the second consecutive game UTA won the turnover margin and held a 22-14 advantage in points off of turnovers. UTSA turned the ball over 10 times in the first quarter and 24 times overall.
Cierra Johnson led with a game-high 17 points. Johnson was just 5-17 from the field, but knocked down two 3-pointers and was 5-6 at the free-throw line.
Turning point
UTA was able to take advantage of UTSA's mishaps to start the third as the Roadrunners turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions. The run helped UTA build its 15-point advantage, one that would prove to be just enough to pull out the win.
Key Stats
Johnson's 17 points were one shy over her season high and three short of the career mark. Johnson has six steals, two short of tying her career best. LaShanda Green joined Johnson in double figures with 10 points. She was 5-of-8 from the free-throw line and 2-6 from the field.
Up next
UT Arlington opens up Sun Belt play at College Park Center on Dec. 30. The Lady Mavs have won their last four against Georgia State and continue the homestand against Georgia Southern on Jan. 2.
Bobcats Fall to No. 25 Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. – In a resilient fight to close out the non-conference schedule, the Texas State women's basketball team fell to No. 25 Missouri by a score of 82-56 Monday evening. The 'Cats were tied with the top-25 team with 12:27 to play in the game before the Tigers closed out on its game-clinching run.
How It Happened:
After an open lay-up in the first five seconds of the ball game by Missouri, Texas State answered with a 3-pointer by Raven Burns. The 'Cats proceeded to knock down three 3's in the first quarter as well as forcing seven Mizzou turnovers to result in four lead changes in the period. Just as Mizzou would take a lead over the visiting Bobcats, Texas State would respond.
With Mizzou starting with the ball in the second quarter, Texas State held the Tigers from scoring on its first possession before a steal by Ti'Aira Pitts on its next possession led to a Whitney Apari basket for the 'Cats third lead of the game at 17-16.
Apari's jumper sparked an 8-0 run for Texas State capped by a pair of free throws by Ericka May to put the 'Cats up 23-16. The seven-point deficit for the Tigers matched their highest deficit so far this season.
Mizzou quickly had an answer to the 'Cats run with a 3-pointer by Maddie Stock. Burns, who had a quick response in the 'Cats first possession of the game, answered the Tiger three with her second to put the Bobcats back up seven with 6:18 to play in the second.
The Tigers then produced a 10-2 run of its own to take a four-point, 34-30 halftime lead over Texas State.
The resiliency of the Texas State squad came alive once again in the third quarter as back-to-back three's by Kaitlin Walla in just over a minute to start the quarter quickly had the 'Cats back up one over the Tigers. With 2:27 to play in the third, the Bobcats and the Tigers shared their final tie at 47-47, the fifth of the game, before Mizzou would take ownership over the contest.
Mizzou would go on to outscore Texas State 27-8 in the final quarter of the play to improve to a program-best 12-0 record. Their ranking of No. 25 in the AP Poll on Monday was the first time since Jan. '06 that the Tigers landed in the rankings.
Texas State made nine 3-pointers at a clip of 39.1 percent while forcing 16 Mizzou turnovers. The Bobcats also recorded nine steals compared to eight by the Tigers.
A-State Comes Up Short at Nebraska
LINCOLN, Neb. (12/21/15) – Aundrea Gamble scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her seventh career double-double, but Nebraska outscored Arkansas State 20-10 over the final five minutes to hand the Red Wolves a 79-71 setback Monday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
A-State (6-3) led 61-58 with 5:52 to go in the game, but the Huskers mounted a furious comeback and as Arkansas State go into foul trouble down the stretch. Brittney Gill, who scored 13 rebounds and had six rebounds, fouled out with 2:52 to go and Amanda Lawson, followed seconds later with her fifth foul to put the Red Wolves down two starters for the game’s final minutes.
“It is another really good effort on my team’s part,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “I think Nebraska is really good and eventually I think they will get into the top-25 and stay and my team competed hard. One thing we knew we had to do was make perimeter shots and it just didn’t happen for us tonight.”
The Red Wolves shot 36.1 percent (30-of-83) from the field, but finished just 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc, while Nebraska (9-2) made 7-of-17, 3-pointers.
A-State trailed 32-27 at halftime and Nebraska look poised to pull away early in the third quarter when it started to take advantage of its size and began to get the ball inside to freshman Jessica Sheppard who scored on three straight possessions to give the Huskers a 38-31 lead.
Khadija Brown-Haywood sparked a 9-0 run when got the hoop and was fouled, while Gamble followed with back-to-back layups to tie the game at 43. Lawson gave the Red Wolves the lead on a putback on one of A-State’s 20 offensive rebounds.
Brown-Haywood also finished in double-figures with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. She also narrowly missed out on a double-double with eight rebounds.
The two teams continued to trade baskets for the remainder of the quarter, but A-State swung momentum in its favor and led by three points at two different points in the final period.
Gill put Arkansas State up 57-54 with a mid-range jumper with 7:26 to go in the game and the Red Wolves took a three-point lead again when Gamble hit a jumper to go up 61-58 with 5:52 to go.
Nebraska, however, began to get the ball inside again where and took the lead for good on a free throw by Sheppard. The free throw was part of a 9-0 run by the Huskers that gave them a 67-61 with less than five minutes to go.
“You have to pick your poison with Nebraska because they are so talented,” Boyer said. “We only turned it over nine times and only gave up nine offensive rebounds and those are areas we gave ourselves a chance to win the game. We just gave up a few too many open shots at times, but again that’s a credit to how good they are.”
A-State jumped out to a quick five point lead to start the game, but proceeded to go just 3-of-14 from the field as the Huskers used a 14-2 run to build a seven point advantage. A-State fought back in the first second quarter and tied the score at 20 after a bucket by Gamble, but Nebraska responded with five straight point to take a 25-20 lead with 5:26 remaining in the half.
The deficit stayed at five points as both teams traded baskets for the remainders of the half. Despite having a size advantage inside, the Huskers held a slim 27-23 edge on the boards and were limited to just five second chance points.
Gamble was the Red Wolves’ main source of offense in the half. She scored 12 points, the only player for either team to reach double-figures, and also grabbed five rebounds. Brown-Haywood battled inside had seven rebounds at half, despite giving four-to-five inches to her defenders.
Monday’s game featured 13 lead changes and eight ties.
Eagles Fall to Bethune-Cookman in Final Game of Hatter Classic
DELAND, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman hit five-straight three-pointers to open the game and the Georgia Southern women's basketball team was unable to fully overcome the deficit as they ultimately fell 65-49 to the Wildcats, closing out their non-conference schedule 3-6.
Junior Patrice Butler earned all-tournament accolades for the Hatter Classic after leading the Eagles with 16 points off 6-for-11 shooting from the field in the game. She was 2-for-2 from three-point range and brought down five rebounds while Alexis Foulks came off the bench to score 13 points, including three treys, and bring down six boards.
Bethune-Cookman's (6-6) Kendra Cooper led all scorers with 31 points, going 8-for-14 from the field and 6-for-10 from beyond the arc en route to earning all-tournament honors. The speedy guard also hit nine of her 10 free throw attempts.
Georgia Southern shot 36.0% (18-50) from the field and was able to hold the Wildcats to just three made field goals in the fourth quarter, but BCU went to the charity stripe 20 times in the stanza, making 14. The Wildcats ended the game hitting 16 of the 26 attempts (61.5%).
THE STORY
The Wildcats controlled the pace of the game from the opening tip as Cooper converted four of BCU's five opening drives with three-pointers.
It didn't get any easier for the Eagles as the game wore on despite spurts where the Eagles were able to close the gap a little. Bethune-Cookman relied heavily on Cooper's ability to knock down the three as well as drive the lane for much of the game, extending their lead out to as many as 16 in the third quarter.
But the third quarter was also when Georgia Southern managed to find some rhythm and momentum, closing to within single digits several times as the Wildcats began missing shots and turning the ball over.
Despite closing the gap, the Eagles were ultimately unable to finish down the stretch as Cooper and Taylor Houston combined forces to score all 20 of the Wildcats' fourth quarter points, 14 coming from free throws.