Thursday, January 21
Anderson Scores 1,000th-Career Point in Win over Little Rock
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women's basketball team remains undefeated at home this season after a 67-57 victory over the reigning Sun Belt Conference champions Little Rock Thursday evening. In the victory, senior guard Ayriel Anderson scored her 1,000th point, becoming the fourth player under head coach Zenarae Antoine and 16th player in school history to eclipse the milestone.
The victory marked the seventh-straight victory on the floor of Strahan Coliseum and first win over Little Rock at home since Jan. 2, 2014.
How It Happened:
Out of the gates, Texas State combined hot shooting with stiff defense to take a 16-8 lead over Little Rock. The Bobcats forced four turnovers in the first five minutes of the first quarter while shooting over 55 percent from the floor in that span.
The Trojans would come within six at the 2:55 mark, but a 5-2 run to close out the first quarter by the Bobcats gave them a comfortable nine-point, 21-12, lead over Little Rock.
Little Rock stormed back in the second by putting together a 10-1 run to come within one of the Bobcats. After the run, Texas State called a timeout with 5:58 to play before half that ultimately resulted in a Taeler Deer lay-up to snap the Trojan run on the next possession.
Texas State's lead in the second quarter never grew to more than four and with eight seconds before intermission, Little Rock regained the lead for the first time since 6:26 in the first. Anderson, however, quickly changed that lead back in favor of the Bobcats with a thrilling half-court shot as time expired. The 'Cats went into the locker room with the momentum and a 33-31 lead.
The game would be tied one more time with 7:01 to play in the third. At that point, a 3-pointer by Kaitlin Walla sparked a 10-3 Bobcat run to go up seven with 3:44 left in the third.
Texas State, with a six-point lead going into the final quarter of play, continued to pressure the Trojans defensively while connecting on crucial baskets on offense.
With 8:19 left in the game, Anderson connected on her 1,000th point as a Bobcat after snagging the offensive rebound and putting it back up for a lay-up.
A 3-pointer by Walla and a lay-up by Taeler Deer put the Bobcats up 12 with 2:40 to play. Another lay-up by Deer with 57 seconds on the clock granted the Bobcats its largest lead of the evening (13) while solidifying the Bobcat victory.
Texas State shot 50 percent from the floor for the evening while holding Little Rock to just a clip of 39.3 percent. The 'Cats were outrebounded 38-26, but committed just 14 turnovers compared to Little Rock's 17. The teams were tied with points in the paint and the Bobcats outscored Little Rock 16-7 in points off turnovers.
Who Stood Out:
Ayriel Anderson scored her 1,000th point in the fourth quarter … she finished the game with seven points and now has 1,000 points, 304 assists, and 151 3-pointers in her Texas State her career … Kaitlin Walla led the Bobcats with 16 points, marking the 11th time this season she has scored in double-figures … Raven Burns and Taeler Deer also scored in double-digits for the 'Cats … Burns made three 3-pointers while Walla hit two … Ericka May finished with a team-high seven rebounds.
Balanced Scoring, Defense Lift Cajuns Past South Alabama
LAFAYETTE – Home for the first time since Jan. 2, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team ran their win streak to three games, coasting to a 69-50 victory against South Alabama in the Cajundome Thursday night.
"In the first three quarters I thought we did a good job making sure they had to work a little bit harder to get the ball inside the post," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. "Our guards did a good job of making some steals so it was impressive to see us keeping their team off balance."
Louisiana (13-3, 6-1 SBC) had 10 players enter the scoring column, led by a team-high 14 points from junior Jaylyn Gordon. The Cajuns received 20 points from their bench (six apiece from Simone Fields and Adrienne Prejean).
The Cajuns trailed by five with 8:14 in the first quarter, but came storming back and led by as many as 30 with 1:57 left in the game.
South Alabama's 6-1 lead in the opening quarter quickly faded as the foursome of Gordon, and seniors Brooklyn Arceneaux, Kia Wilridge and Keke Veal all scored over the next 3:06 to put the Cajuns ahead, 9-8. The Cajuns never trailed for the remainder of the contest and built a 33-17 lead going into halftime. Fourteen of their 21 first quarter points came in paint, and they scored eight points off South Alabama turnovers.
Wilridge and Gordon both scored six points apiece in the opening stanza.
Louisiana led by as many as 16 points at three different moments in the second quarter. Gordon scored the first four points of the quarter. South Alabama closed to as many as 10 points (25-15) with 4:35 left in the quarter, but the Cajuns continued to gain separation.
After leading 25-15, Arceneaux, sophomore Jodi Quinn and freshman Breionne Cooper all deposited buckets to make it a 31-15 contest at the 2:36 mark of the second quarter.
Louisiana took a 33-17 lead into halftime with seven of eight players entering the scoring column.
In the third quarter, the Cajuns kept up their offensive production, outscoring South Alabama, 16-13. Wilridge led the offense with six points in the quarter on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor.
The lead reached 21 to start the fourth quarter when Gordon splashed a jumper with 9:21 left on the clock. Fields scored her second bucket of the quarter at the 6:15 mark to make it 57-34 in favor of Louisiana.
The Cajuns bench made its impact felt on the game as Prejean, freshman Jordan Alexander and junior Sylvana Okde scored seven straight points inside 2 ½ minutes, putting the Cajuns ahead by 28 points.
The UL offense finished the game shooting 50.8% (30-of-59) from the floor and knocked down 8-of-10 free throws.
With the win, the Cajuns improved to 6-0 at home.
The Cajuns go for their fourth straight win this Saturday, Jan. 23 against Troy. Tip-off is at 4 p.m. from the Cajundome.
A-State Wins Seventh-Straight Sun Belt Game
ARLINGTON, Texas (1/21/16) – The Arkansas State women’s basketball team ran it winning streak to seven straight with a 78-71 victory over UT Arlington Thursday evening at the College Park Center.
A-State has now matched its best start to Sun Belt Conference play in school history with a 7-0 record. The team also improved its overall record to 13-3 for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
“This is a good win for us,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “Every win this time of year is good, but there are some of these that when you go into someone place’s and beat a team you’ve done something and this is a good team that we beat in a really tough environment.”
Khadija Brown-Haywood led the way for A-State with a career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Aundrea Gamble added 17 points and seven assists, while Brittney Gill finished in double-figures with 12 points. Jessica Flanery rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points.
The Red Wolves held a nine point lead at the end of the third quarter, and Gill made a 65-55 lead with 6:13 to go, but the Mavericks cut the deficit to five after a 3-pointer and A-State turnovers that led to a layup.
UTA cut the lead to 74-69 with 32 seconds remaining, but Brown-Haywood nailed a pair of free throws to push the lead back to seven. Following a quick layup by the Mavericks, Gamble went to the free throw line with six seconds to go and hit both free throws to put the game away.
Arkansas State held its largest lead of the night early in the third quarter when Flanery hit the second of her two 3-pointers on the night to put the Red Wolves up 54-42, but the Mavericks refused to go away. UTA drained 10, 3-pointers on the night and matched A-State in field goal percentage at 48.3.
A-State held a 16-20 advantage at the free throw line, however, while UT Arlington was just 3-of-7 from the charity stripe on the night.
A-State shot a blistering 50 percent from the field in the opening quarter and used a 13-0 run to build an 18-10 advantage with just over two minutes to go. The Mavericks went scoreless for over four-plus minutes as Gamble and Brown-Haywood took over. The pair combined to score all but four points during the run, but UTA refused to go away and hit a 3-pointer before the end of the quarter to get within 21-15.
A-State continued to knock down shots in the second quarter and built a 30-19 lead after 3-pointer by Gamble with 6:27 to go until the half, but UTA got back into the game by hitting three, 3-pointers over four possessesions to get within 32-30.
Gamble and Brown-Haywood helped push the advantage back to six points as the pair combined for 27 points. Brown-Haywood finished the half with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Gamble added 13 points to help Arkansas State knock down 49 percent of its shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Arkansas State returns to action Saturday, Jan. 23, with a 2 p.m. road game at Texas State.
UL Monroe Knocks Off Troy with Huge Fourth Quarter Rally
MONROE, La. – It would have been hard for ULM to top its buzzer-beating win on Saturday, but Thursday night's win could have done so. The Warhawks rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to defeat second-place Troy 77-73 in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Alayshia Hunter played just eight minutes and had two points as the teams headed into halftime. The senior then went off, scoring 14 in the fourth quarter alone. That number also included a 4-for-4 free-throw mark in the final 26 seconds.
“I was cold and rusty [going into halftime],” Hunter said. “These past few games I’ve been missing a quarter because I’ve picked up two fouls too fast. I knew in the second half I had to show up and be there for my teammates.”
The Trojans (10-6, 5-2 SBC) got their largest lead of the game, 61-50, when Rachel Reid hit both her foul shots with 8:55 to play. While Hunter did come back with a layup and two free-throws to get ULM to within seven, Troy kept its advantage until Hunter found the bottom of the net again at the 4:23 point to tie the game for the first time since the first quarter.
“Trailing by 11 in the fourth quarter, it was obviously toughness all-around,” ULM head coach Jeff Dow said. “The biggest category, a stat we have struggled with in games we’ve gotten beat in, is points off turnovers. That’s a big part of Troy’s game plan, whoever the play. Typically they will have a sizeable advantage because of their pressing and up-tempo.
“I just thought if we could keep it close in that particular category, and we ended up dead-even, we would have a chance.”
The Warhawks outscored Troy 27-14 in the game's final stanza.
ULM’s first lead since the first quarter came when Chelsea Tieuel nailed a three-pointer in front of her team’s bench with 2:25 remaining, one of five on the night for the sophomore.
Just 21 seconds later, Troy’s ArJae’ Saunders tied it back up at 70. Hunter was credited with a turnover on the ensuing possession, but ULM’s defense remained intact and it was her show from there. Hunter’s layup with 42 seconds left put ULM back up 72-70, and it preluded her four perfect attempts from the charity stripe.
“She played the entire second half, and a game like this with as up-tempo as it was, it’s not easy for post players,” Dow said of Hunter. “She had a huge second half with a terrific effort from the free-throw line.”
Hunter got a lot of credit for the fourth quarter, but Dow was full of praise for his team’s effort from tip-off until the final buzzer.
“Aundrea Davis played 38 minutes under that kind of pressure and took five charges,” he said. “That’s not on the stat sheet, but we keep track of that. Daja [Chase] had 16 points and nine rebounds in all 40 minutes. Chelsea [Tieuel] had 20 in 21 minutes, and [Stephanie] Ratliff had two blocks in the first half that gave us a life. Emery [Wilson] was 2-for-3 from the field and Journee [Beard] gave us 12 minutes, three assists, no turnovers and a three-pointer.”
The Warhawks (8-8, 2-5 SBC) put forth one of their best sequences of the season as soon as the game started, taking a 13-8 lead with 6:22 to play in that opening period. Troy, which scored 112 in its previous game, took a 28-20 lead at the first intermission after Caitlyn Ramirez knocked down three free-throw attempts in the last second.
ULM will look to get a third consecutive win on Saturday at 2 p.m. when South Alabama comes to town.
Panthers Claw Past Mountaineers
BOONE, N.C. – Georgia State rallied to earn an 80-75 win over Appalachian State in Sun Belt women’s basketball in Holmes Center.
Visiting GSU, without three starters, fell down 12 points in the first quarter (23-11 at 2:50) and still trailed at halftime 42-37. Georgia State took its first lead at 49-48 with 6:04 in the third quarter with a 7-0 run spurred by five points from Morgan Jackson. The Panthers led 63-57 after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, host Appalachian State tied the game at 69 with 4:37 and again at 71 with 3:46. Haley Gerrin scored four straight points to push GSU up 75-71 with 2:10. App State closed to two, but then GSU threw a long out of bounds pass for a lay-up on the other end by Madison Newby and a 77-73 lead with just a minute. GSU closed it out with free throws, including two clutch ones by Morgan Jackson with 33.4 seconds to up it from a one-possession 77-74 game to 79-74.
Georgia State (8-9, 3-5) saw junior Gerrin make her first start of the season and respond with 20 points on 6-of-9 field goals and 8-of-9 free throws. That was three points shy of her career best. Senior Morgan Jackson did have a career-best with her 17 points on 6-of-8 field goals, 3-of-4 3-point baskets and the clutch two free throws. She had 15 points earlier this season in a GSU win. Junior Alyasia Mitchell added 13 points and 8 rebounds, while freshman PG Madison Newby finished with 10 points and seven assists.
"I am proud of the team today, playing hard, playing unselfish, and playing tough," head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. "They were fighting for each other as a team today. We made our free throws today and that is always an important stat. A conference win on the road is always good and now we have to keep getting better and keep fighting hard."
App State was led by 17 points from Bria Carter and 16 points from Madi Story.
GSU’s win was punctuated with good shooting. That shooting included 29-of-58 from the field (50%) with 5-of-15 3-pointers. The Panthers nailed 17-of-21 free throws (81%) in that crucial area.
The Panthers’ teamwork included 13 assists, 10 steals and 40 rebounds (12 offensively).
After four games in eight days, GSU will be off Saturday and return to action on the road next Thursday.