Saturday, January 24, 2015
Six Score in Double Figures to Lead Arkansas State to Win
Troy, Ala. (1/24/15) – Arkansas State scored the final six points of the game and held Troy scoreless for the final 2:48 to pick up an 82-76 victory over the Trojans Saturday afternoon in Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball.
Brittney Gill’s jumper with 1:00 left put A-State up 78-76 and Khadija Brown-Haywood hit Aundrea Gamble on an outlet pass from underneath the basket to give the Red Wolves a four-point cushion with 36 seconds remaining. Hanna Qedan sealed the game with a pair of free throw with seconds to go as A-State avoided losing back-to-back league for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
The Red Wolves had six players score in double-figures, including a season-high 21 points from Qedan. Jasmine Hunt recorded her second career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while Gamble also record a double-double with 13 points and a career best 11 assists. Amanda Lawson added 12 points, while Gill and Brown-Haywood finished with 10 points each.
“This was a great team effort,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “You could have named players of the game just throughout the flow of the game with different players stepping up big and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stat line quite like this. We had six in double-figures and was one rebound away from having three with double-doubles and in a game of the pace there is going to be a lot of stats.”
After trailing by 11 in the first half, A-State fought back in the second half and took its first lead since the 18:10 mark of the first half on a 3-pointer by Qedan to go up 44-43. The lead was short lived however as the Trojans got a quick basket on the other end of the floor to start span in which the lead changed hands four times over two-plus minutes.
Aissata Maiga put Troy up 51-50 on a putback with 14:18 to go and the Trojans held the lead for nearly seven minutes until Gill got a layup at the 7:43 mark to go up 66-65. Troy took the lead back briefly at 67-66, but Qedan drained her fourth ‘3’ of the game to put Arkansas State up 69-67 and the Red Wolves would never trail again.
The game was tied at 71-71 with 5:47 to go and again at 76-76 when Caitlyn Ramirez got a layup, but Troy would not score again over the final 2:48 to suffer its third loss of the conference season.
“Sometimes in sports you just can’t explain things,” Boyer said. “Early on they had some shots that were falling and then at the end of the game they had a few roll out and those are things in the game that can’t be explained.”
A-State got off to the start it needed and scored four points off two Trojans turnovers and forced a timeout just 1:17 in the game, but the Trojans responded in a big way coming out of the timeout.
Troy went on 16-2 run over the next 3:32 to build a 16-6 advantage. The Red Wolves were 1-of-7 from the field during the span, while Troy forward Ronita Garrett scored 10 point in less than five minutes to start the game. Garrett finished with 18 points and 18 rebounds to pace the Trojans.
A-State responded with 8-0 run to get within 18-16 after Gamble converted on and-1 play at the half’s second media timeout. Troy bounced back and pushed its lead to 35-24 with 3:17 to go in the half, but A-State responded again got within 37-35 after a 3-pointer by Qedan with just under a minute to go. The Trojans score four of the half’s final six points, however, to take a 41-37 lead into the break.
The Red Wolves did not allow Garrett to score again in the half and forced the 6-foot-0 post into foul trouble midway through the half. Qedan led the way for A-State with 12 points, while Hunt tallied nine rebounds.
“There style of play honestly takes the opposing coach out of the game,” Boyer said. “It puts a lot of pressure on your players to make plays and right decisions. It takes away a lot of your set plays and your players just have to get out there and play and our players really trusted themselves and their instincts and it really paid off.”
Arkansas State shot 44.9 percent (35-of-78) from the field and held a 48-45 edge on the boards. As a team the Red Wolves had 23 assists and finished with six steals and five blocks on the afternoon.
The squad will return to action Thursday, Jan. 29 at the Convocation Center against UALR. The game is set for a 5 p.m. tip-off and can be heard live on 95.3FM The Ticket/970AM KNEA or online at AStateRedWolves.com.
Tickets for the 2014-15 campaign are on sale and be purchases online at tickets.astate.edu or by calling the A-State Ticket Office at 1-888-ASUFANS.
For the latest on the A-State women’s basketball follow the team log onto the team’s Facebook page atFacebook.com/RedWolvesWBB, follow them on Twitter @AStateWB and on Instagram at “AStateWBB.”
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UALR Women's Hoops Drops UT Arlington for 10th Straight Win
LITTLE ROCK – The UALR women’s basketball team had a fight on its hands through 10 minutes. But in the final 10 minutes of the first half, the Trojans delivered a series of knockout punches.
UALR went on a 19-4 run to close the first half against UT Arlington and rode that lead to a 66-38 victory over the Mavericks at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday afternoon. The win was the Trojans’ 10th straight and kept the team perfect in Sun Belt Conference play
UALR (16-2, 9-0 Sun Belt) continued its impressive streak of 20-point conference victories while holding UT Arlington (9-9, 3-6) to their lowest point total of the season.
Shanity James led UALR in scoring for the second straight game with 17 points, and her eight rebounds was a team high for the third consecutive outing. James just missed her third straight double-double. Also reaching double-digit points for UALR was Taylor Gault with 13 and Keanna Keys with a season-high 12.
The Trojan victory continues the team’s best-ever beginning to a year, as the team had never before won 16 games in its first 18 tries. The team has also won 19 straight conference wins at home 12 straight regular-season conference wins overall and three straight against UT Arlington.
The win was also the 350th in program history.
The Mavericks entered Saturday’s game with the second-best defense in the conference, giving up only 58.6 points per league game. UTA showed its defensive skills early on, as UALR trailed for most of the first nine minutes before taking over for good.
But the Trojans came back on a sequence of nice plays by Keys, taking a lead for the first time in the game when she made two free throws, got a defensive and offensive rebound and then converted a layup. Keys’ 4 quick points made it a 12-9 game midway through the half.
At the third media timeout, the Trojans led 15-12 on an Alexius Dawn 3-pointer, and two free throws from Kiera Clark right after the break made it a 17-12 game. James stole the ball on the Mavericks’ next possession, and she raced down the court for a fast-break layup to make it a 7-0 UALR run.
The Mavericks ended the run with four straight points after that, cutting the Trojans’ lead to 19-16 with 4:31 minutes to play in the period. But UALR would end the half in style, doubling its score in the last four minutes while allowing just 4 Mavericks points in that span.
Shanity James had 6 straight points to give the Trojans a 25-18 lead, and Clark got two free throws in before James added another layup. The Mavericks got frustrated after that, as Alyson Te’o was charged with an offensive foul and then earned a technical foul for arguing the call. Gault drained both technical free throws, and James added a layup to make it 33-18 with 90 seconds left in the half.
Two Keys free throws were nearly the end of UALR’s scoring in the half and capped a 14-0 run, but Ka'Nesheia Cobbins – a senior –ended things on a high note by sinking a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, the first 3-pointer of her career.
UALR led 38-20 at the break behind 14 points from James and 8 by Keys. Also impressively, the Trojans had no turnovers in the first half and shot 12 of 13 from the free-throw line. UTA also became the seventh straight opponent that UALR held to 20 points or fewer in the first half.
Cobbins would finish the game leading UALR with five assists while James added three to break 100 for her career. She also had a game-high two blocks. Clark had 8 points in the contest to reach 800 in her career, and four different Trojans added five rebounds apiece (Cobbins, Clark, Gault, Keys).
Overall, UALR shot 41.5 percent from the field but held UT Arlington to just 32.6 percent shooting. The Mavericks committed 17 turnovers, and UALR got 17 points off of them.
After ending the first half on that exciting run, UALR continued to roll in the second half. The Trojans outscored the Mavericks by 10 points in the half, emptying the bench with four minutes to play as a victory was in hand. UALR led by as many as 32 points in the second half.
The Trojans were also impressive at the free-throw line, knocking down 19 of 22 shots while taking advantage of an aggressive UT Arlington defense. Gault moved up to second all-time at UALR in attempted free throws with five chances from the line.
The Trojans have a big game in store next, as they will travel to Jonesboro to take on Arkansas State on Thursday. UALR and Arkansas State, the top two teams in the Sun Belt, are on schedule for a 5:05 p.m. tipoff.
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Warhawks Top Eagles in Overtime to Extend Winning Streak
MONROE, La. – For the second time in three games, it took five extra minutes for the Warhawks to get a victory, but the ULM women’s basketball team captured their third win in a row as they topped Georgia Southern 72-66 on Saturday in Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
“It’s been a tremendous week for our program to pick up two overtime wins in the span of six days, one at home and one at the road,” said head coach Jeff Dow. “We’ve had three down to the minutes wins. It speaks a lot to the resiliency and toughness, mentally and psychically, of our players.”
ULM (8-10, 4-5 SBC) was able to score six points in overtime, while Christina Gray, Sharnice Brooks and Daja Chase each had a huge steal during the five minutes help the Warhawks snatch the win.
The Warhawk defense limited Georgia Southern (4-13, 1-7 SBC) to just 35.6 percent from the field over the three periods, including holding them scoreless in overtime.
Brooks led the charge for the Warhawks as she tied a career-high 28 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had four blocks.
Chelsea Tieuel contributed 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal, while Gray chipped in 11 rebounds and eight points.
Patrice Butler led the Eagles with 23 points.
The Warhawks took an early lead as Brooks hit back-to-back buckets to start the game.
The Eagles then used a series of three-pointers to jump out to a 31-17 lead with 8:20 left before the half.
ULM went on 16-4 run to end the half, cutting the lead down to two, 35-33, as the teams headed into the locker room. The stretch was highlighted by Brooks, who garnered nine of her 20 first half points over the last 7:12 of the half.
The Warhawks extended the run to 23-4 as they scored the first nine points of the second half. Six of these points came from Gray as ULM took a 42-35 advantage with 17:56 left in regulation.
Georgia Southern then used an 11-2 run of their own to regain the lead, 50-47, with 9:26 remaining in regulation.
The lead switched three more times over the last 4:46 of regulation. With 29 seconds left, Brooks sank a layup to give the Warhawks a two-point lead, but Georgia Southern’s Angel McGowen matched the bucket to send the game into overtime.
This was the last bucket Georgia Southern would get as the ULM defense held the Eagles scoreless in overtime to capture a 72-66 victory.
The Warhawks hit the road Thursday to take on Troy at 5:15 p.m. in Trojan Arena.
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First-Half Run Carries Ragin' Cajuns Past GSU, 63-5
ATLANTA – Jaylyn Gordon scored eight of her game-high 18 points during a 21-4 run in the first half and the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns earned its fifth win in the past six games with a 63-56 Sun Belt Conference victory over Georgia State on Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.
Keke Veal and Robbie Brown scored 14 points each as Louisiana (13-5, 5-4 Sun Belt) forced 20 turnovers and outscored GSU (8-10, 3-5 SBC), 23-6, over the final nine minutes of the first half.
"I always believe in women's basketball, if you can defend and create offense with your defense, you're going to win games and that's what we're doing right now," head coach Garry Brodhead said. "We're creating a lot of offense with our defense and that is what we're doing."
Georgia State controlled the pace early in the first half, holding the Ragin' Cajuns scoreless for nearly six minutes and using a 10-0 run to take a 14-6 lead after a bucket by Haley Gerrin with 9:21 remaining.
But less than a minute later, the Ragin' Cajuns took the lead and never trailed again.
Gordon, who finished 3-for-10 from the floor, opened a 15-0 run for Louisiana as she answered Gerrin's bucket with a 3-pointer from the right wing before adding steal which led to a three-point play by Brown that cut the lead to 14-12 with 8:32 remaining.
After Kia Wilridge forced a GSU turnover on the following possession, Gordon drilled her second 3-pointer of the game to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 15-14 lead. Buckets by Jasmin Mills and Veal, along with a pair of free throws by Gordon gave Louisiana a 21-14 lead before extending its cushion to 29-20 at the break.
Veal gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 33-23 lead after scoring on a nifty reverse layup with 16:01 remaining before the Panthers cut into the lead.
Georgia State scored nine straight points to cut the lead to 33-32 on a jumper by Alisha Andrews with 13:37 left, but Brown responded with a jumper and Adrienne Prejean followed a pair of free throws by GSU's Kayla Nolan with a bucket in the lane for a 37-34 advantage.
The Ragin' Cajuns kept the run going as Gordon sank a pair of free throws while Brown buried a 3-pointer and added a free throw for a 43-34 lead with 10:52 left. Georgia State got as close as 51-47 on a Ashley Walton layup with 3:00 remaining, but Louisiana made 10 free throws down the stretch to seal its third straight win over the Panthers dating back to last season.
"We knocked down some free throws early in the second half and we talked about (playing) on the road that you had to knock them down," Brodhead said. "Towards the end, we lost a little a focus and got a little tired, but it was a good way to finish off the game."
Louisiana recorded its 13th game of the season where it forced 20 or more turnovers in a game. Wilridge, Gordon and Veal combined for nine of the Ragin' Cajuns 11 steals in the contest while holding Georgia State to 22-for-60 (36.7 percent) from the floor, 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) from the free throw line and 0-for-15 from behind the 3-point line.
Wilridge grabbed eight rebounds to lead Louisiana while Veal dished out four assists.
The Ragin' Cajuns, which was held to 17-for-52 from the floor for the game, went 25-for-35 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line including 18-for-25 in the second half.
Nolan led GSU with 13 points with leading scorer Brittany Logan coming off the bench to add 10.
Louisiana will return to action on Thursday when it travels to Mobile, Ala., to face South Alabama in an 11 a.m. contest at the Mitchell Center.
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Texas State Women's Basketball Win Third Straight Saturday
SAN MARCOS, Texas – A career-high 23 points off the bench for freshman Taeler Deer put the spark in the Texas State women's basketball team and led it to a 67-58 victory over the visiting Appalachian State Mountaineers Saturday afternoon at Strahan Coliseum
Deer finished the contest going 8-for-12 from the floor including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. In addition to Deer's efforts, junior center Kileah Mays recorded her second straight double-double with a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The teams exchanged baskets for the first few moments of the contest in a high-pace fashion.
With a tie game at 10-10, the Mountaineers rattled off a 9-0 run to take a 19-10 lead over Texas State. The Bobcats fought back and cut the deficit to two, 21-19, after Mays and Deer made a pair of baskets a piece.
After two minutes and 49 seconds of scoreless basketball, the Bobcats produced a 12-5 run to take over the lead with 3:14 left in the first. The run was capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Deer and Ayriel Anderson.
At the half, both Deer and Mays recorded double-digit points for the Bobcats, led by Mays with 12.
Down two to begin the second half, the Bobcats put together a 10-4 run to regain the lead over Appalachian State. That takeover would prove to be the final lead change of the contest, as the closest the Mountaineers would come was within two with 7:22 remaining on the clock.
Along with Deer and Mays' efforts from the floor, freshman Ericka May snagged a career-high 10 rebounds for the Bobcats. Texas State finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the floor and won the turnover battle by six turnovers, committing just 15 compared to 21 by Appalachian State. Anderson finished the contest with six assists.
The Bobcats will remain at home next Saturday as they host UL Lafayette for the first meeting between the two schools this season. Tip-off against the Ragin' Cajuns is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Strahan Coliseum. Live stats, live video, and live audio will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com. A live broadcast of the game will be aired on 89.9 FM KTSW.