2016 Sun Belt Women's Basketball Championships presented by First Bank and Trust
Below are links to various items from Day 2 of the women's championship.
Update Women's Championship Bracket
Women's Basketball Championship Central
Highlights:
Women's Game 1 - Arkansas State vs. Appalachian State
Women's Game 2 - Troy vs. South Alabama
Women's Game 3 - Little Rock vs. Texas State
Women's Game 4 - UL Lafayette vs. UT Arlington
Women's Game 5 - Arkansas State vs. Troy
Women's Game 6 - Little Rock vs. UL Lafayette
Press Conferences:
Women's Game 1 - Arkansas State vs. Appalachian State
Women's Game 2 - Troy vs. South Alabama
Women's Game 3 - Little Rock vs. Texas State
Women's Game 4 - UL Lafayette vs. UT Arlington
Women's Game 5 - Arkansas State vs. Troy
Women's Game 6 - Little Rock vs. UL Lafayette
Troy Will Play for Title After Upset of Arkansas State
View Story Online
NEW ORLEANS – The offense came to life and the Troy women's basketball team needed every bit of it in a 96-89 win over top-seeded Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Championships semifinals on Friday at Lakefront Arena.
Troy's moves on to Saturday's championship game where it will play defending tournament champion Little Rock with a spot in the NCAA Championships on the line.
In Friday's semifinal, Troy (19-12) was hot out of the gates, hit a lull in the second quarter, but turned the scoring back on in the second half as every Trojan stepped up big in the clutch. Caitlyn Ramirez led the way in scoring with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-3 from long range. Amanda Mendoza added 22 points, including 6-of-11 from long range.
The complete team effort allowed Ashley Beverly Kelley to play facilitator, and the first team All-Sun Belt selection did so perfectly. Beverly Kelley scored 17 points, but also set a Sun Belt Championships record with 14 assists while not committing a turnover.
"I thought this was a great women's basketball game today," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "When I got the opportunity to come to Troy, one of the things I wanted to do was carry on my style of being sold out to try and make women's basketball more exciting."
Exciting it was for all Trojans involved, and it was that way from the very start. Troy hit 13-of-23 shots in the first quarter and took a 32-28 lead after the first 10 minutes. Arkansas State (26-5), however, scored the final five points of that quarter, then the first six of second quarter and took a lead, 34-32.
The Trojans went on to score just eight points in the second quarter, but held Arkansas State scoreless over the last four minutes, and trailed by just four points, 44-40, at the break.
Then, just like in Wednesday's quarterfinal win over South Alabama, Troy locked down defensively in the third quarter and held the Red Wolves to 6-of-21 shooting. The Troy offense also came back to life as the Trojans hit five, third-quarter 3-pointers, including four from Mendoza.
Midway through the third, Mendoza and Ramirez hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 17-4 run that put Troy up by 13 points, 63-50, facing Arkansas State with its biggest deficit of the season.
Two minutes later, Ramirez got back-to-back 3-point plays, both on assists from Beverly Kelley, to put Troy up 17, 68-52, with 3:15 to go in the third quarter. The Red Wolves cut the lead to 13 on free throws to end the third.
Aundrea Gamble then took over and scored or assisted on 10 straight points for Arkansas State to open the fourth quarter. Troy, however, had answers the down the stretch to counter Gamble's 14 points in the final 10 minutes. The three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year pulled the Red Wolves within six, 85-79, with 4:16 to go, but Ramirez answered with a clutch corner 3-pointer on the next possession to put the Trojans back up by nine points.
Arkansas State cut the deficit to four with just 31 seconds to go, but Troy sealed things at the free throw line where the Trojans went 10-of-11 on the day.
For the ninth straight game Troy outrebounded its opponent, led by 11 boards from Kristen Emerson, who added four blocks and eight points on 4-of-4 shooting. Claresa Banks led Troy's bench with 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting, and helped the Trojans outscore the Red Wolves' bench, 23-2.
Khadija Brown-Haywood had a double-double for the Red Wolves with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Gamble added eight assists to her 26 points, and Brittney Gill scored 22 points, but at one point missed 12 straight shots after starting 6-of-7.
Troy, who played in its first semifinal in 11 years in the Sun Belt on Friday, will play in its second ever conference championship game on Saturday. Troy last played in a title game in 1997 when it won the Mid-Continent Tournament (now Summit League) and made the only NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.
The Trojans split their regular season meetings with Little Rock, who beat UL Lafayette, 63-52, in Friday's second semifinal for its 15th consecitove win.
Second Half Surge Puts Trojans in Sun Belt Title Game
View Story Online
NEW ORLEANS – For the seventh time in the last eight years, the Little Rock women's basketball team is back in the conference championship game.
Little Rock's offense kicked into high gear in the second half and its defense kept Louisiana off the scoreboard, leading to a 63-52 victory at Lakefront Arena in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Women's Basketball Championship presented by First Bank and Trust on Friday afternoon.
After struggling with 14 turnovers in the first half and getting into foul trouble as well, No. 2 seed Little Rock (20-11) had just three turnovers in the second half and shot 59.1 percent from the field to clinch the win over No. 3 seed Louisiana (21-10).
Senior forward Shanity James – who had three fouls in the first half but played 18 minutes in the second – led the Trojans with 18 points and also grabbed six rebounds. Kaitlyn Pratt just missed a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Alexius Dawn also reached double-figure scoring with 11 points and added seven assists.
The Trojans, who are the defending tournament champions, are one game away from a repeat appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Little Rock will take on No. 4 seed Troy in Saturday's championship game after Troy upset No. 1 seed Arkansas State in Friday's other semifinal.
The win was Little Rock's 15th straight overall and fifth straight win in the Sun Belt Tournament.
Trailing by 2 points at halftime, Little Rock quickly tied the game at 29-29 early in the third. With the game still tied at 33-33, Sharde' Collins hit a 3-pointer to put the Trojans ahead for the first time since 30 seconds into the second quarter. The game stayed close for the rest of the contest, but the Trojans would hold that lead for the final 15 minutes.
A James layup toward the end of the quarter made it a 7-point Little Rock lead, but the Cajuns answered back and went into the fourth quarter trailing 42-37.
Dawn and James had a tremendous second half, though, and the seniors combined for 15 of the Trojans' 21 points in the final period. Little Rock's lead in the fourth quarter briefly dipped to 5 points at 48-43 on a Keke Veal jumper, but Little Rock scored the next 4 poitns on a Dawn jumper and a Keanna Keys layup to take their largest lead of the night at 52-43 with 4:44 remaining.
The Cajuns struggled to hit shots in the final minutes and had to start fouling to try to catch up. Instead, the Trojans' lead only ballooned to its final tally of 11 as James, Dawn, Collins and Monique Townson sank free throws to keep Louisiana at bay.
The Trojans made 13 of their 22 attempts from the field in the second half while holding the Cajuns to 10 makes on 27 shots. Louisiana was also 0 of 8 from behind the 3-point line in the second half and just 1 of 10 from downtown in the game.
Besides the Trojans' three double-digit scorers, Townson and Collins finished with 9 points apiece and Keys had 3.
Turnovers and fouls caused lots of problems for the Trojans in the first half. Little Rock had six turnovers at the first media timeout, but the team still led 5-4 at that point thanks to a James and-1 layup and a Pratt jumper. The turnovers kept piling up, and Little Rock got into foul trouble when James and Dawn each committed two fouls before the second quarter began.
Still, Little Rock carried a 12-11 lead into the second quarter thanks to 6 points from Pratt. That's when the Cajuns got its offense going, making a 3-pointer and then forcing consecutive Trojan turnovers on the full-court press. That resulted in a 7-0 run and an 18-14 Louisiana lead.
James and Dawn came back off the bench midway through the quarter, and James picked up her third foul shortly before halftime as Little Rock could not catch back up to Louisiana's score. Despite the issues with 14 turnovers, the Trojans only trailed 26-24 at halftime thanks to a Pratt layup with three seconds left. The junior had 11 points and six rebounds at the break.
Friday's victory advances the Trojans to the conference championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m. against either No. 4 Troy. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.