Tuesday, November 18
Late Defensive Stand Powers A-State Past UT Martin
MARTIN, Tenn. (11/18/15) – Arkansas State’s defense bent, but it did not break as the women’s basketball team defeated UT Martin 76-74 Wednesday at the Elam Center.
Ahead by two points, with 37 seconds to play, A-State was called for a charge when Aundrea Gamble drove into lane and ran into a defender, giving the ball to the Skyhawks with seven seconds to go.
Coming out of the timeout, Brittney Gill anticipated a crossover move by DaiJa Ruffin and came away with the steal and a timeout with 0.9 seconds left. The Red Wolves were then able to cleanly inbound the ball and avoid the foul to come away with its first victory in the city of Martin in school history.
“They are a really good team and you knew to come in here and win it would have to be a game like this,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “I’m just really proud of my team and how hard they competed.”
The game was close throughout the night, with neither side able to shake the other. A-State went up by seven with 3:26 to go when Lauren Bradshaw followed a Jessica Flanery miss, but UT Martin answered on the opposite end with a 3-pointer by Jessy Ward to get the deficit to 69-65.
The Red Wolves went back up by seven when Flanery connected on a ‘3 on the next trip down the floor for A-State, but UT Martin continued to stay close and refused to let A-State pull away.
UT Martin got within 76-72 after Ruffin hit a layup with 51 seconds to go and an A-State turnover put the ball back in the Skyhawks’ hands. Ruffin went to the line and hit two free throws to get within two to setup the charge by Gamble and game winning steal by Gill.
Gill finished the contest with 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. Eight of her points and five of her rebounds came in the second half as she helped the Red Wolves keep pace with the Skyhawks’ hot shooting.
Aundrea Gamble led all scores with 22 points on the night. She helped keep the Red Wolves afloat when the Skyhawks jumped out to a 16-4 advantage in the first quarter thanks to 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, A-State struggled with UT Martin’s press and started the game just 2-of-7 from the field.
Gamble was able to get A-State back in the game with an 8-0 run than included a 3-pointer, dribble-drive, layup and a free throw to get the Red Wolves with 17-14 at the end of the first quarter. UTM pushed the lead to lead to 22-14 with a quick spurt to start the second quarter, but the Red Wolves continued to claw away the Skyhawk lead.
UT Martin held Gamble to just four points in the quarter, but A-State’s inside game picked up the slack. Lauren Bradshaw established an inside presence and got to the basket and the free throw line, while Khadija Brown-Haywood battled on the boards and had six rebounds at the half.
Dominique Oliver got hot near the end of the half and knocked down a mid-range jumper with 1:43 to go to give A-State it’s first lead since early in the first quarter. Amanda Lawson made it a 34-30 advantage with under a minute left, but the Skyhawks got a putback just before the halftime horn sounded to make a 34-32 Red Wolves’ lead at the break.
Brown-Haywood missed out on her second career double-double with 14 points, eight of which came in the second half, and eight rebounds.
The Red Wolves return home to face Wichita State in the home opener at the Convocation Center Saturday, Nov. 21. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.
ULM Pulls Away in Second Half, 57-40
MONROE, La. – Alayshia Hunter scored 18 points to lead ULM to a 57-40 win over LSU Shreveport on Wednesday night in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. It was the first meeting between the two North Louisiana schools.
“I’m obviously happy for the win," head coach Jeff Dow said. "A ton of credit goes to LSU Shreveport, they never stopped competing for 40 minutes and did a lot of things on both ends of the floor that disrupted us. We had a hard time staying in front of them."
The big push for the Warhawks came in the third quarter. Ashley Aune hit her first three-pointer of the season right before the media timeout and Jamie Gibson, who got her first earlier in the game, did the same coming out to increase the lead to 37-21 with 3:25 to go in the quarter.
Ashley Aune also added a pair of three-pointers in the fourth quarter as part of a career-high three on the day. The senior has started every game this season, and her 34 minutes against LSUS blew away her previous career-high set on Sunday at LSU (22).
ULM got its largest lead of an otherwise even first half early in the second quarter. Consecutive jumpers by Alayshia Hunter and Daja Chase upped the Warhawk lead to 14-6 with 7:27 to go.
LSUS trailed the whole way before taking a 19-18 lead late in the second quarter on a bucket by Kourtney Pennywell. It would not last long, as ULM scored the half’s final five points to enter the locker room leading 23-19.
The Warhawks were forced to deal with LSUS taking away arguably ULM’s biggest strength going back to the previous season, getting to the free-throw line. ULM had just two attempts until the fourth quarter. The dozen for the game marked ULM’s fewest attempts in seven games (4-for-5 at Arkansas State, Feb. 21, 2015).
“They got more free-throw attempts than we did and made fewer turnovers," Dow said. "I was a little disappointed with our effort in the first half and we did get better in the second, but a ton of credit goes to Shreveport for how hard they played. They made us work for everything. I hope there’s a lesson to be learned from that.”
The Pilots missed their first eight shots from the field and were 2-for-15 in the first quarter, yet trailed just 10-6. They were led by Quiana Tucker, who had 15 of the team’s 31 rebounds and also added seven points.
ULM gets its next challenge on Sunday at 2 p.m. when Dillard travels from New Orleans to face the Warhawks.
LSU Surges Late to Defeat Little Rock
LITTLE ROCK – A double-digit lead with six minutes to play evaporated for the Little Rock women's basketball team on Wednesday night, and visiting LSU came back for a victory at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Tigers used a 20-6 run in the fourth quarter to erase the Trojans' 10-point advantage, and LSU eventually claimed a 57-51 win over Little Rock.
Little Rock (0-2) got a game-high 13 points from Shanity James, and Monique Townson had a new career high with 12 points. Sharde' Collins also scored 11, going 3 of 3 from downtown. But LSU (2-1) was led by Jenna Deemer's 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range as her Tigers outscored the Trojans 23-11 in the fourth quarter.
James also topped the team with six rebounds while Kaitlyn Pratt and Townson had four each. Townson was the team's top passer, picking up four assists.
Little Rock was six minutes away from its third consecutive win against Southeastern Conference opponents while LSU picked up the pace and started forcing Little Rock turnovers and fouls.
With the Trojans leading 44-34 with 6:36 left in the game, LSU scored five straight points on two free throws and a Deemer 3-pointer. A Townson jumper stopped the small run and brought Little Rock's lead back up to 7 points at 46-39 with 5:27 to play. Those would be the Trojans' last points for nearly three full minutes. In that span, LSU scored seven straight points to tie the contest at 46-46 and forced four Trojan turnovers.
Little Rock briefly regained the lead at 48-46 on a James layup with 2:50 to play, But LSU then rattled off 8 consecutive points to take the lead for good. The Trojans had a chance to tie the game with 19 seconds on the clock, but a wide open 3-pointer by fresh-off-the-bench Raeyana DeGray went wide. LSU hit a free throw on its next possession to ice the game.
In the fourth quarter, the Trojans coughed up the ball nine times and LSU scored 13 points off those turnovers.
Things looked much brighter earlier in the night as the teams stayed very close throughout.
The Trojans came out on fire, earning a 10-2 lead over the Tigers with 3:30 remaining in the quarter. But the Tigers recovered quickly, putting together a 9-0 run in a span of 85 seconds that forced a timeout by Little Rock and gave the Tigers an 11-10 lead. They went into the break leading 14-10 as Jenna Deemer hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter, the last one from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer.
The second quarter began favorably for the Trojans as James made two layups and Pratt hit a jumper in the first two minutes to tie the game at 16-16. Neither team scored again until after the media timeout three minutes later when LSU took a small lead on a free throw.
Collins got the lead right back for Little Rock with back-to-back 3-pointers, causing the Tigers to take a timeout with the home crowd getting on its feet. The defense held strong for the rest of the quarter, and the Trojans went into halftime ahead 24-20. Collins had 11 points at halftime to lead all players.
The third quarter was fairly even, with the Trojans scoring early, LSU controlling the middle and Little Rock scoring some at the end. Little Rock extended its lead by 2 points during the quarter and heading into the final frame ahead 40-34. James scored 7 consecutive points for the Trojans during the quarter, and she and Townson reached double-figure scoring on the night in the third.
Little Rock would score the first four points of the fourth quarter before the Tigers shifted the momentum and won by six.
The final score of 57-51 was just one point away from the score of the teams' 2013 game at the Jack Stephens Center. LSU won that contest 58-51 before Little Rock defeated the Tigers by 16 in Baton Rouge last year.
During Wednesday's game, Keanna Keys scored her 250th career point, and Alexius Dawn brought down her 100th career rebound.
Newcomer Kira Shepard played 16 minutes and scored four points and added three rebounds. Ronjanae DeGray saw five minutes of action, pulling down one rebound and blocking one shot. Freshman Deja McKinney played her first career minute in the final minute of the game, picking up one block.
The Trojans have this weekend off before traveling to Tulsa early next week. Little Rock is set to play Oral Roberts on Tuesday at 7 p.m.