Tuesday, November 24
Little Rock Overpowers Oral Roberts in Win
TULSA, Okla. – With its offense sputtering and foul trouble already causing one player to foul out early in the third quarter, things looked bleak for the Little Rock women's basketball team at Oral Roberts on Tuesday night.
But an offensive explosion combined with suddenly stifling defense led to a 17-0 run in just under five minutes midway through the quarter, and the Trojans never looked back.
Senior forward Shanity James led the way with a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double, and Little Rock (1-2) used that 17-0 run to earn a 66-52 victory over Oral Roberts (2-2) at the Mabee Center. The win was the Trojans' first of the year.
Besides James' career night, freshman Kira Shepard set a new career high with 14 points while earning her first college start, and Alexius Dawn broke double digits in scoring with 11. Keanna Keys also picked up a season high with 9 points.
Sophomore Monique Townson, Shepard and Dawn had five assists apiece, and Kaitlyn Pratt added seven rebounds to finish second on the team behind James' 10.
Just 25 minutes into the night, the outcome looked like it was going to be anything but a dominant Trojan.
Already leading 28-20 at halftime, ORU extended its lead back up to 11 points at 32-21 to begin the third quarter, and things looked bleak for the Trojans. A Bria Pitts 3-pointer gave the home team a 37-28 lead with 6:21 left in the quarter.
Those would be the last points Oral Roberts scored for a long time.
Over the next three minutes, Little Rock got 5 points from Keys, a 3-pointer from Townson and 4 points from James. At the media timeout, the Trojans were down just 37-35, and a Keys layup right after the break tied the game at 37-37. A James layup followed, giving Little Rock a 2-point lead, tied for its largest of the game to that point.
The lead continued to balloon as Shepard drained a 3-pointer and Dawn followed with one of her own. Those two 3-point baskets capped the 17-0 run and saw the Trojans go from trailing by 9 to leading by 8 in a span of less than five minutes.
By the end of the quarter, the Trojans were ahead 51-41. They outscored the Golden Eagles 31-13 in the third quarter, and Little Rock had more 11 points in the third quarter than they did in the entire first half.
The fourth quarter saw the Trojans extend their lead throughout as the Golden Eagles continued to fade. James eclipsed the 20-point mark with a layup with six minutes remaining while Dawn and Shepard broke into double-digit scoring for the first time this season.
James capped her career night with a 3-pointer with just under a minute remaining to bring her point total to 24. It was her first made 3-pointer of the season and just the fourth of her career.
The win was Little Rock's third straight against Oral Roberts and second straight at the Mabee Center. The victory is also the 701st of Joe Foley's career and the team's fourth consecutive win in the state of Oklahoma.
During the game, James earned one block and moved into a tie for sixth place all-time in Trojan history in that statistic with 72.
Things started out rough for the Trojans in the first quarter as the Golden Eagles got the first 5 points of the night in just over 90 seconds. But the Trojans regroup, going on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to force an Oral Roberts timeout. James had two layups while Shepard added a free throw and a fast-break layup to give Little Rock a 7-5 lead at the first media timeout.
The rest of the first quarter was fairly even as well, though play was muddled by plenty of fouling. The Trojans shot just 2 of 8 at the free-throw line in the quarter, and the team went into the second quarter tied at 13-13.
In the early part of the second quarter, the Golden Eagles matched their largest lead of the game when they pulled ahead 20-15 and forced Little Rock coach Joe Foley to take a timeout. ORU got a fast-break layup to take that 5-point lead, and they earned points earlier in the quarter on free throws. Pratt and Sharde' Collins each picked up their third foul at that point of the quarter.
Collins earned her fourth foul moments later, and the Trojans would fall behind even further as Oral Roberts went on to take an 11-point lead at 26-15. The Golden Eagles went into halftime ahead 28-20, and Little Rock was only that close thanks to three free throws from Dawn at the end of the half.
But the second half was completely owned by Little Rock. When the dust settled, the Trojans outscored the Golden Eagles 46-24 in the final two quarters.
The Trojans return home next for a Black Friday special, taking on Memphis this Friday at 5:15 p.m.
Bulldogs Stifle Eagles' Offense to Claim Victory
ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia Southern women’s basketball team entered Tuesday’s road game at the University of Georgia expecting a tough opponent and the Bulldogs certainly proved that to be true as they stifled the Eagles’ offense for much of the night, handing the Eagles a 75-28 loss.
The Bulldogs (3-1) registered their 50th-straight home win over non-conference opponent while the Eagles fell to 0-3 on the season behind a 22.2% (12-54) shooting performance.
Sisters Patrice Butler and Sierra Butler led the way in scoring for Georgia Southern with six points each. Sierra went 2-for-3 from the field, hitting her lone three-point attempt of the night, and also finished the game with three rebounds while Patrice went 3-for-7 in shooting.
Junior point guard Alexis Sams led the team with seven rebounds to go along with two points. The Eagles’ pair of freshmen, Rhein Beamon and Ashley Burke, both logged valuable minutes in the contest and each registered their first career collegiate points. Beamon, who played 17 minutes, finished with five points, including one trey, and Burke had a layup to end the night with two points.
The Bulldogs, which shot 46.9% (30-64) from the field for the game, were led by two double-double performers in Merritt Hempe and Shacobia Barbee. Hempe had a game-high 20 points coupled with 11 rebounds while Barbee finished the night with 12 points and a game-high 12 boards. Mackenzie Engram was the final Bulldog in double-digit scoring with 15 points which included a 4-for-5 outing from the free throw line.
The Story
The Bulldogs wasted little time establishing their lead as they got off to a quick start that saw the team race out to a 14-5 lead by the first media timeout, just over five minutes into the game. The Eagles did lead briefly, 5-4 when Sierra Butler hit her three-pointer less than two minutes into the contest off a feed from sophomore guard Trellanie English-Lurry.
From there, the Bulldogs never backed down and never allowed the Eagles to get into any form of rhythm or desired tempo. It appeared much of the Georgia defensive strategy keyed in on limiting junior Angel McGowan’s touches and keep the Eagles on the perimeter. McGowan was able to reach the 600 point mark for her career despite being one of the focuses of Georgia’s defensive scheme.
Crimson Tide Comes from Behind to Defeat Panthers
TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – Alabama came from behind to defeat Georgia State 72-56 Tuesday night at Foster Auditorium in a game much closer than the final score might indicate.
Visiting Georgia State surprised Alabama early and grew its lead over the final four minutes of the opening period to lead 20-14 after the first quarter. But, when Georgia State missed eight straight shots in the second quarter, host Alabama took full advantage by going on a 14-0 run to make it 28-20. Georgia State rallied and Alabama went into the locker room clinging to its narrow 32-28 lead.
In the third quarter, Alabama got its first double-figure lead, but pesky Georgia State battled back to make it 53-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
With 4 and a half minutes to play it was still 58-48 before Alabama continued to pour in lay-ups and pulled away as GSU made Alabama play its starters to the finish.
Georgia State (1-3) held a rebound advantage over Alabama, 48-47, and kept the Crimson Tide (4-0) well under its season average of 96.7 points per game. Georgia State committed 23 turnovers and made just 9 of 18 free throws to hurt its chances for a major upset.
GSU got 14 points from Alaysia Mitchell, 10 from Tatianna Jackson and 10 more points and a team-best seven rebounds from Ashlee Cole. Madison Newby added nine points and five rebounds.
Alabama had four starters in double figures with Nikki Hegstetter netting 14 points, one more than Meoshonti Knight. Quanetria Bolton and Karyla Middlebrook each scored 12 points. Alabama came in averaging 12 blocks per game, but swatted down just four against GSU, the same number GSU had against the Crimson Tide.
“We turned the ball over way too much and obviously, we have got to put the ball in the basket more often, but we can be proud of how hard we played and some good things we are doing,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “We are coming together and getting better each game we’re playing and I feel bad for them that we have a 1-3 record to show for it. Next, we need to start getting some wins to add to our confidence.”
Georgia State works through Thanksgiving Week to get ready to host its annual Thanksgiving Classic Saturday and Sunday afternoons against Howard and Charlotte, while Mercer rounds out that field.
Jaguars Fall to Central Florida
MOBILE, Ala. – Central Florida shot 50 percent and held the University of South Alabama women's basketball team to just 26.3 percent shooting from the field Tuesday night as the Jaguars fell 77-36 at the Mitchell Center.
USA (1-2) will now break for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to action a week from now when the Jaguars host Florida on Dec. 1. Tip-off versus the Gators is set for 7 p.m. at the Mitchell Center. Live stats and web streaming for the contest can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com. Fans can also keep up with in-match updates by following action on the program's twitter account @SouthALWBB.
Erin Autio came off the bench and posted career highs in both points (12) and rebounds (9) to lead the South Alabama in the loss. All 12 of Autio's points came in the second half. The redshirt freshman forward was 5-of-13 from the field in 18 minutes of action. LaNeetra Guillory and Colby Davis also chipped in with seven points apiece.
Central Florida improved to 3-1 on the season and was led by Kayla Thigpen's 18 points. Thigpen was 8-of-10 from the floor and also dished out three assists to go along with her four steals in 21 minutes of play.
Joing Thigpen in double figures for the Knights was Zykira Lewis and Ashley Polacek, who ended the night with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
UCF pulled down 43 rebounds, 33 on the defensive end, and was led I that category by Joslyn Massey's 11 points. Nyala Shuler just missed a double-double as she had nine points and nine rebounds.
South Alabama was just 15-of-57 from the floor, while Central Florida was 30-for-60 from the field, including 8-of-18 from the three-point line. USA was 2-of-20 from beyond the arc in the loss.
USA scored on its first offensive possession of the game, but over the next seven minutes, the Jaguars would go scoreless. South Alabama would miss its next nine attempts from the floor and turn the ball over three times.
Central Florida took advantage of the offensive struggles by USA and took the lead with a 12-0 run during that time. Lewis ignited the run for the Knights with a three-pointer from the left corner and later capped off the scoring with a layup at the 2:54 mark.
Davis ended the offensive drought for the Jaguars with a bucket with just over two minutes remaining.
South Alabama was held to just 2-of-17 shooting (11.8 percent) in the opening period and missed all six of its three-point attempts.
Central Florida extended its lead to 19-4 three minutes into the second quarter as the Knights scored on three of its first four possessions. Makenzi Reasor gave UCF the 15-point lead with a bucker at the 7:16 mark of the quarter.
After missing 20 of its previous 21 shot attempts, South Alabama finally got a little offense going, scoring on three-straight possessions. Guillory, making her first collegiate start, knocked down a turnaround jumper in the lane with just under six minutes showing on the clock. India Hall then connected along the right baseline and Davis cut through the defense as she drove the lane for a layup at the 4:45 mark to cut the deficit to 11 (19-8).
From that point on, Central Florida quickly regained the momentum as it ended the half on a 10-0 run. Thigpen recorded five points during the run and UCF also had a pair of and-one plays.
The Knights headed into the locker room with a 31-10 halftime advantage. Central Florida had four players record five points each during the first 20 minutes of action and all but one of the nine players who saw time on the court got into the scoring column.
UCF was 11-of-26 from the floor for 42.3 percent, while South Alabama hit just five of its 30 shot attempts for 16.7 percent and was 0-for-11 from beyond the arc.
"In the first half, I thought we really got shots we wanted. They just did not go in," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "When it was 19-10, if we could have just gotten two stops, which I think we did, and get two scores, then it's 19-14. When we didn't get those scores and they did, our confidence went down from there and theirs just went up. They are a team that came into the game not shooting great from the three, and tonight they went 8-for-18. For us, it's about learning and being able to stay together. We need to work through these storms and let them prepare us for Sun Belt Conference play."
The Knights opened up the third period of play on an 8-0 run and extended their lead out to 39-10 after back-to-back buckets from Thigpen a little over three minutes into the quarter.
Marquita Daniels finally knocked down USA's first trey of the night at the 5:39 mark. The Jaguars had missed their first 13 long-range attempts in the contest.
UCF's Lewis didn't let South Alabama gain any momentum though as she answered with a trey of her own on the ensuing possession and then intercepted a USA pass and raced down the floor for a layup to put Central Florida up 44-13 with less than five to go in the period.
From there, South Alabama was never able to draw any closer as the Knights went on to take the 41-point victory. The 41-point defeat is the worst home loss since Feb. 6, 2010 when the Jaguars fell 100-52 to Middle Tennessee at the Mitchell Center.
Mavericks Fall to No. 25 Seton Hall
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington made a valiant comeback, however, it was not enough as UTA fell to No. 25 Seton Hall 61-54 on Tuesday at College Park Center.
The Lady Mavericks (1-3) outscored the Pirates (5-0) 16-7 in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to as close as four points with two minutes to play. UTA shot just 30.2 percent in the contest, while Seton Hall was 47.9 from the field. However, an 18-8 advantage for the Lady Mavs from the charity stripe kept UTA alive.
Trailing by double-digits entering the fourth, LaShanda Green gave UTA's defense as spark. The senior drew four of her six charges in the final quarter, helping ignite the run. Junior Kamy Cole knocked down a key 3-pointer to trim the game to just four points.
The Lady Mavs had their changes to cut the lead do just a field goal, but were unable to convert on three separate chances down the floor.
It is the first time UTA has dropped back-to-back games since a midseason skid in January of last season when the Lady Mavs lost three consecutive.