Thursday, January 8
Cajuns Earn First SBC Win with 68-52 Defeat of Georgia State
LAFAYETTE, La. – Jaylyn Gordon tallied 20 points with a career-high six three-pointers and the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team forced 24 turnovers in a 68-52 victory over Georgia State on Thursday night to earn their first Sun Belt victory of the season.
"I couldn't be prouder of these kids," said head coach Garry Brodhead. "They're continuing to want to win and build a program. I hope everybody in the community can stay positive with us. There's no negativity in our program. It's a good time."
Defense carried the Cajuns the entire way as Louisiana (9-4, 1-3 SBC) made the most of 24 Panther miscues with 28 points off turnovers. Meanwhile, the Panthers managed just two points off 11 Louisiana turnovers. It was the eighth time this season that the stifling Cajuns defense has forced an opponent to commit at least 20 turnovers.
"I thought we played really well, especially on the defensive side, in the full and in the half court," Brodhead said. "We did a good job of staying fundamental and playing team defense."
Gordon went 6-of-9 from long range with four three-pointers coming in the first period as she recorded her fourth 20-point game of the season. Kia Wilridge added 18 points and four steals while Robbie Brown finished with 10 points and three steals. Keke Veal posted nine points and a team-high five steals and four assists.
After Georgia State (7-6, 2-2 SBC) jumped out to an early 11-4 advantage in the first five minutes of play, the Cajuns put together an 8-0 spurt to grab a 12-11 lead with 11:19 to play in the first period. Back-to-back layups for the Panthers pushed them ahead at 15-12 before Gordon connected on two treys to help the Cajuns string together a 14-0 run and take a 26-15 lead with 4:51 remaining.
Georgia State came within five after an 8-2 run to make it 28-23 with 2:38 to play. However, a three-point play by Adrienne Prejean and a triple by Gordon helped the Cajuns take a 38-26 lead into halftime.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Gordon extended the Cajuns lead early in the second half to 44-28. Louisiana kept running away from the Panthers as Brown scored six of the next eight points for the Cajuns to make it a 20-point advantage at 52-32 with 13:34 remaining.
A three-pointer by Morgan Jackson cut the Georgia State deficit to 14 with less than nine minutes to play, but the Cajuns were able to answer every Panther basket, maintaining at least a 15-point lead the rest of the game.
Louisiana finished with a 41.4 percentage (24-of-58) from the field, the first time in eight games the Cajuns shot over 40 percent. Louisiana also had one of its best nights from outside the arc, shooting 31.6 percent (6-of-9) from three-point range for its third-best percentage of the season with more than 10 attempts.
Georgia State shot 36.7 percent (18-of-49) for the game with Kennesha Nichols leading the Panthers with nine points and seven boards.
The Cajuns will have a week off before returning to action Thursday, Jan. 15 for a 4 p.m. (CT) contest against Georgia Southern in Statesboro.
Warhawks Earn Road SBC Win over UT Arlington, 63-51
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A-State Rallies Past Georgia Southern, 86-63
JONESBORO, Ark. (1/8/15) – The Arkansas State women’s basketball team ran its Sun Belt Conference record to 4-0 with an 86-63 victory over Georgia Southern Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
The Red Wolves picked up their sixth victory over their last seven games, improving their overall record to 9-5. A-State now stands 5-1 at home this season as well, while Georgia Southern fell to 3-9 overall and 0-3 in league play.
Junior guard Aundrea Gamble scored a game-high 23 points and senior forward Jasmine Hunt collected her first career double-double to lead the Red Wolves. Hunt pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with 17 points, which were just two shy of her career-best total.
Arkansas State improved its field goal percentage from .469 in the first half to .576 in the second, while also holding Georgia Southern to a lower shooting percentage over the game’s final 20 minutes to turn a two-point halftime lead into its fourth straight double-digit victory.
“We had a really good second half after we had some struggles in the first half,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “I think this was another case where a team had a week to prepare and did some things that caught us a little bit off guard, but I think more than that we were a little bit of our own worst enemy at times in the first half, but we got to halftime and regrouped and made a huge push.”
The Red Wolves actually trailed 41-39 almost a full two minutes into the second half, but went on a 15-4 run to take a 13-point advantage with 12:59 left in the game. The Eagles were able to pull back within eight points less than a minute later, but couldn’t get any closer as the Red Wolves answered with a 9-0 run to take control.
Turnovers played a key role in A-State’s victory, especially in the second half. After turning the ball over 10 times in the opening period, the Red Wolves limited their mistakes to just four in the second half and took advantage of 17 Mavericks’ miscues in the game to start league with four straight wins for the second consecutive year.
“The turnovers were big in the first half,” Boyer said. “To turn it over 10 times in a half is not like us, but we were able to get that under control and then to really take care of the ball the way we did in the second half led to us getting some good looks offensively.”
The Red Wolves finished the game with a .523 field goal percentage in comparison to Georgia Southern’s .429, and they also made 7-of-15 three-point attempts while holding the Eagles to a .227 mark from beyond the arc.
A-State was more effective at the free throw line as well, hitting 11-of-16 attempts while Georgia Southern took just seven free throws total. Led by Hunt and three other players with at least five rebounds, A-State finished the game with a plus-9 advantage on the boards.
Joining Gamble and Hunt with a double-figure points total for A-State were junior forward Khadija Brown-Haywood and senior guard Hannah Qedan with 16 and 11 points, respectively. Georgia Southern was led by Anna Claire Knight with 14 points and nine rebounds, both team highs.
A-State jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game, but that was the largest advantage by either team in a tightly-contested first half that featured eight lead changes and seven ties. The seventh tie came with 1:18 left in the opening half, but the Red Wolves scored four of the final six points to take a 37-35 lead into the break.
The squad will return to action Saturday, Jan. 10 at UT Arlington. The game is set for a 5 p.m. tip and can be heard live on 95.3FM The Ticket/970AM KNEA or online at AStateRedWolves.com.
Mountaineers Rally Past Jaguars
MOBILE, Ala. - Appalachian State University women's basketball pulled out the win in a close game against South Alabama on Thursday with a score of 67-63.
The Mountaineers (7-5, 2-1 Sun Belt) struggled to maintain a steady lead, as South Alabama (3-10, 0-4) stayed with the Apps until the last minute of the game.
Joi Jones would score the first two points of the game, putting the Apps on the board at the 19:06 minute mark. Katie Mallow hit a three-pointer, putting the Mountaineers up 7-4 with 16:43 to play in the first half, but South Alabama responded with three free throws from Breanna Hall to tie the game.
Hall continued to score for the Jaguars, hitting a three-pointer to help South Alabama take the lead, 10-7. From there the Appalachian would go on a 8-0 run to take a 15-10 lead with 11:41 to play in the first.
A four minute drought would follow for both teams, until Bria Carter would hit a free throw for the Mountaineers at the 7:54 minute mark. South Alabama went on 12-4 run from there, featuring two three-pointers from Hall to take a 22-20 lead.
Neither team could pull away as the Apps went into the locker room at halftime with the score tied, 30-30.
Maryah Sydnor led the Mountaineers with six points and ten rebounds in the first as the team recorded a 40.0 percent field throw percentage.
South Alabama's Hall had 20 points in the first half, 11 from free throws alone. The team shot 31.6 percent from the floor in the first half.
South Alabama came out in the second half with a 5-0 run, but Jones kept the Apps in the game, hitting two layups and two free throws as the Jaguars led, 39-38 at the 15:42 minute mark.
The Jaguars responded by going on a 7-0 run, taking a 50-43 lead with 12:32 to play. It would not be until the 7:20 minute mark that Appalachian would catch up, as Madi Story hit a jumper and was fouled. Story converted on the free throw to tie the game, 55-55.
With the Mountaineers leading 57-56, South Alabama would score four-straight points, but Mallow hit a shot from behind the arc with two minutes to play, tying the score again.
Sydnor scored four-straight free throws for the Mountaineers, propelling them to a 64-60 lead with 30 seconds in the game, but South Alabama hit a jumper to pull within two.
Jones closed out the game for the Apps by hitting two free throws as Appalchian got the win, 67-63.
Jones led the team with 15 points in the win, while Sydnor tallied 12 points and tied a career-high with 15 rebounds. Mallow added ten points for the Mountaineers and Bria Huffman tied a career-high of seven rebounds.
App State shot 40.0 percent from the floor, recording 40 rebounds and 18 turnovers.
The Jaguars were led by Hall's 28 points, while the team recorded a 39.6 field goal percentage. The team tallied 32 rebounds and 18 turnovers.
The Mountaineers will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 10 for a 3 p.m. game at UALR.
UALR Moves to 4-0 in SBC Play with 20-point Win over Bobcats
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The UALR women’s basketball team remained undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play in convincing fashion on Thursday night, going into Texas State’s building and defeating the Bobcats 65-45.
UALR has won all four of its league games by at least 20 points, and the Trojans are averaging an impressive 25-point margin of victory in Sun Belt play.
The Trojans (11-2, 4-0 Sun Belt Conference) got a season-high 24 points from Taylor Gault and never trailed the Bobcats (7-6, 2-2). UALR took a lead in the first 15 seconds on a Gault 3-pointer and had a lead as large as 23 in the second half before the Bobcats whittled the lead down late.
With the win, UALR remains tied atop the Sun Belt standings. The win was UALR’s seventh consecutive regular-season conference win dating back to last season. UALR is also 4-0 in league play for the first time since the 2010-11 season, and the Trojans now hold the all-time series lead against Texas State with four wins and three losses.
Besides her 24 points, Gault had six rebounds, two blocks and two assists. Alexius Dawn also reached double-figure scoring with 11 points to go with her five assists. Kaitlyn Pratt was the other Trojan in double-figure scoring as she tallied 12 points while leading the Trojans with eight rebounds.
Ka'Nesheia Cobbins led UALR with a career-high 11 rebounds, easily eclipsing her previous best of 11. She also topped the Trojans with seven assists. Shanity James pulled down six rebounds, moving up to 10th place all-time at UALR in the process.
As team, UALR shot 40.9 percent (27 of 66) from the field while holding the Bobcats to only 32.8 percent (19 of 58). The Trojans had 14 total assists and only 10 turnovers while Texas State committed 13 turnovers.
UALR completely controlled the game’s first six minutes, taking a 20-6 lead and forcing Texas State to take a timeout with 13:52 remaining. The Trojans had 10 of the game’s first 12 points before Texas State scored four straight. From there, UALR got 3-pointers from Dawn and Gault to go along with layups from Pratt and James that made it a 10-0 Trojan run over a two-minute stretch.
The Bobcats settled down their defense and broke the run after their timeout, cutting UALR’s lead to 20-8. From there, both teams went at least four minutes without scoring. Gault finally broke that scoreless stretch with nine minutes to play in the half, hitting a driving layup from the left side. She did the exact same thing on UALR’s next possession, giving the Trojans a 24-8 advantage as Texas State took another timeout.
The teams went through another lapse in scoring after that, but the Trojans still continued to grow their lead before the final media timeout. Gault hit a 3-pointer while Pratt nailed a jumper and Dawn got a fast-break layup, extending UALR’s advantage to 31-12 with three minutes left in the half.
At the break, UALR led 36-18. The team scored 35 points total at Strahan Coliseum in last year’s game, and the Trojans also managed just 12 points in the first half last season. In this year’s first half, the Trojans had nine assists and just five turnovers while shooting 41.7 percent from the field and holding the Bobcats to just 25.8 percent shooting.
Gault led all UALR players with 13 points at the break while James, Gault and Cobbins tied for the team lead with four rebounds.
In the second half, UALR got up to a 23-point lead when Dawn knocked down a 3-pointer early, but the Bobcats refused to go down without a fight. They went on a 5-0 run midway through the period to cut the Trojans’ advantage to only 18 until Pratt ended the run with a pair of free throws.
The Bobcats would continue to push, but the Trojans’ lead never fell below 15 points in the half and they coasted through the final eight minutes while slowing down the offensive pace to take time off the clock.
UALR has now allowed under 60 points in five consecutive games and has not allowed a conference foe to score more than 55. Sun Belt teams are averaging just 44.5 points per game against the UALR defense.
The Trojans' five starters played 178 of the game's 200 combined minutes with Cobbins and Dawn each playing 39 minutes while Gault saw 38.
The Trojans will play their fifth game in 12 days on Saturday afternoon, taking on Appalachian State at the Jack Stephens Center at 3 p.m. Saturday will bring the two teams’ first-ever meeting.