Saturday, November 28
UT Arlington Blows by Missouri Valley College
ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington approached all-time records in its 96-30 win over Missouri Valley College on Saturday at College Park Center.
The Lady Mavericks (2-3) ended a two-game skid by having its best scoring effort since the 2008 season when it scored 97 against Sam Houston State - the breakout was just seven shy of their all-time record. Not to be outdone, the defensive side helped turn MVC over 27 times. The Vikings were able to avoid becoming the fewest points UTA had allowed in a game, scoring nine in the final two minutes to avoid the all-time low of 22.
UTA jumped out to an early lead and left little doubt heading into the break. UTA shot 50.0 percent overall, including a 43.8 percent performance in the first half. The Lady Mavs ended their four-game homestand 2-2.
UTA turned the Vikings over 17 times in the first half to build up a 28-point advantage. Cierra Johnson and Kamy Cole each reached double figures early, knocking down three of UTA's five 3-pointers in the half. The Lady Mavs played a near perfect second quarter on defense, helping UTA to a 20-3 advantage in the second.
The run continued into the third as the offense came alive. The Lady Mavs outscored the Vikings 33-9 in the quarter as UTA shot 70.6 percent. The 33 points were UTA's best for a quarter this season.
Cajuns Hold off Sacred Heart
GUAYNABO, PR – Facing a second half deficit for the second straight game, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns persevered to a 60-58 win in overtime against the Sacred Heart Pioneers from Mario Morales Coliseum at the San Juan Shootout Saturday afternoon.
The Cajuns (4-1) were held to just 16 points in the second and third quarters, but outscored Sacred Heart 28-20 in the fourth quarter and overtime to pick up their fourth win in the first five games of the 2015-16 season.
I think the second half we started to pressure them defensively," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. "We created turnovers which led to some of our offense late in the game. We got other people involved with every player scoring in the game. Brooklyn [Arceneaux] took a number of charges on the defensive side and pulled down rebounds. Also, for us to go 4-of-4 from the free throw line in overtime was big."
The first quarter was a back-and-forth contest that saw four ties. After Sacred Heart splashed a three to even the game at 13-13 with 2:59 to play in the stanza, senior guard Keke Veal answered with a trey of her own with 1:08 left to give the Cajuns a three-point lead going into the second quarter.
Sacred Heart opened the second quarter with four straight points to gain a 17-16 edge, but again the Cajuns responded quickly with a three-pointer, this time from senior Kia Wilridge.
Louisiana maintained its lead until 3:19 left in the first half when Alissa Tarsi finished a three-point play after drawing a foul from Wilridge to tie the contest at 21 apiece.
The Pioneers took a 25-23 lead into halftime courtesy of Adaysha Williams, who scored on a layup with five seconds remaining.
The Cajuns struggled to generate offense in the third quarter, scoring just nine points to find themselves in a 38-32 hole.
Trailing 40-36 with 9:02 left in the fourth, Veal (four points) and Wilridge (two points) hit three straight jump shots to put the Cajuns ahead, 42-40 with 7:56 to go.
Leading 45-44, senior Brooklyn Arceneaux knocked down a jumper with 2:46 on the clock to give Louisiana a three-point lead. The Pioneers came back with a three of their own with 1:08 left to tie the game at 47-47 and force overtime.
In the extra session, the Cajuns allowed the first bucket, but took a 52-49 lead with a jumper from senior Adrienne Prejean and a trey from junior Jaylyn Gordon.
The Pioneers went ahead, 53-52 with a pair of free throws at the 3:16 mark, but the Cajuns came back with four straight points (Jordan Alexander free throws, Arceneaux jumper) to take a 56-53 advantage.
Back-to-back layups by Sacred Heart pulled the Pioneers in front, 57-56 with 1:30 to go.
Arceneaux came back to score the game-winning layup on the ensuing possession, while sophomore Jodi Quinn hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to preserve the victory.
"I think this win was a complete team effort," Brodhead said. "I thought we played a lot better as a team in the second half.
"We came over here to build on our team effort and team unity and I think we did a lot to accomplish that," he added. "We got a lot of rebounds from the low post today as well. It is still a work in progress but our kids are continuing to work, grow and buy into our system."
The Cajuns netted 20 points off 28 Sacred Heart turnovers. The second unit added 19 points towards the winning effort. All nine Cajuns that played scored in the game.
Arceneaux missed a double-double by one rebound, finishing with 11 points and nine boards. Veal added a team-high 13 points to extend her double-digt points streak to 19 games. Wilridge added four assists to go with nine points.
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns will travel to ULM next Thursday, December 3 for the season's first conference game. Tip-off is set for a 5 p.m.
Season tickets for the 2015-16 campaign are available by calling the Cajundome ticket office at (337) 265-2100, or by emailing Director of Tickets, Matt Casbon at mcasbon@cajundome.com.
GSU Wins Thanksgiving Classic Opener
ATLANTA – Georgia State relied on its defense to post a 65-58 win over Howard in the opening game of the GSU Thanksgiving Classic at the Sports Arena. Charlotte defeated Mercer 72-62 in the second game.
GSU (2-3) forced 24 Howard turnovers and made 14 steals in converting those in 22 points. The Panthers limited the Lady Bison (0-6) to 28.6 percent shooting for the game. Georgia State also had a 46-44 rebound advantage.
Sophomore guard Makeba Ponder led the Panthers in the win with 17 points, while junior forward Alaysia Mitchell crashed the board for 12 rebounds (six on each end of the court). Freshman Astaja Tyghter came away with four steals and senior guard Ashlee Cole had three more thefts. Freshman point guard Madison Newby added six assists and seven rebounds.
Howard’s stellar leader Victoria Gonzalez returned after missing the last game with an injury to produce 24 points and 15 rebounds in her return to her hometown (Columbia High School). Sydni Johnson added 10 more points and seven rebounds.
Host Georgia State threatened to blow the game open several times, but each time Howard responded to keep it close. The Panthers built a 32-24 halftime lead into a 15-point lead at 39-24 with 6:30 to go in the third quarter. But, the Lady Bison promptly went on a 10-0 run to close it back to 39-34 at 4:26. After the three quarters, GSU led 48-39.
Once again, GSU pulled away at 55-41 with 7:15 to go, but once again Howard responded to close it right back to those five points at 58-53 with 1:42 to play.
“We’re always glad to win and I am proud we did some things we needed to do in tight games, like making the free throws and getting key stops and rebounds,” coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “I know we need to take better care of the basketball than we did today. We also need to learn to play with the lead and take better shots and do smarter things when we are in command.”
Georgia State will play Charlotte from Conference USA in the Sunday Thanksgiving Classic final game at 3:30 p.m. in the GSU Sports Arena.
Stellar Defense Leads A-State to Win over FGCU
FORT MYERS, Fla. (11/28/15) – The Arkansas State women’s basketball team handed Florida Gulf Coast its 10th home loss since joining the Division I ranks in 2006-07 in a 62-48 victory at Alico Arena Saturday night.
A-State trailed by one at halftime, but the Red Wolves outscored the Eagles 34-19 in the second half to improve its overall record to 4-1 on the year. FGCU, who is now 116-10 on its floor since 2006-07, drops to 3-3.
Gamble led A-State with 19 points and three steals, while Khadija Brown-Haywood recorded her second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Amanda Lawson also tied a career-high with 15 points.
“This is just a really good win against a really good team in a really great atmosphere,” A-State Brian Boyer said. “Just great efforts by Khadija, Aundrea and Amanda Lawson tonight and I could go on and on with players like Dominique Oliver coming off the bench and giving us great effort. This was just a really good win in a tough environment for us. I couldn’t be more proud of my team, especially the way they played in the second half.”
Florida Gulf Coast led 39-38 midway through the third quarter, but Brown-Haywood sparked a 10-0 run for the Red Wolves by knocking down a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Red Wolves a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
A layup and a free throw by Gamble pushed the advantage to five points, while Brown-Haywood got layup with 1:27 left in the period. The run was capped by steal and layup by Jessica Flanery to give Arkansas State a 48-39 lead. FGCU got a bucket just before the end of the period to cut the lead to seven points heading into the final quarter.
Brown-Haywood scored 11 of her 12 points in the second half and also grabbed five rebounds.
A-State used a quick 5-0 spurt to start the fourth quarter to push it’s to double-digits for the first time during the game when the Eagles Kaneshia Atwater fouled out of the game with 7:45 to go. She led FGCU in scoring with 11 points, but played just 25 minutes on the night.
After a technical foul was assessed to the Eagles for taking to long to sub out Atwater, Gamble knocked down a free throw to push the A-State advantage to 53-41, but the Eagles used the energy from the crowd and went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to seven with 7:08 to go.
Brittney Gill helped A-State end the run with a putback off a miss, and Brown-Haywood got a steal and layup to push the lead back to double-digits at 57-46 with 4:46 to go.
The Eagles would not score again until the 1:46 mark when Katie Meador got a layup to cut the deficit to 14, but A-State was able to run out the clock, including the final 18.8 seconds to pick up the victory.
A-State had a rough start to the game and missed it first six shots, allowing the Eagles to build 7-1 advantage. FGCU added a 6-0 run later in the quarter and held its largest lead at 16-7 with a minute to go in the opening period, but the Red Wolves finished with a flurry when Flanery knocked down a 3-pointer and Gamble got a steal and layup as time expired to get the Red Wolves within 16-12.
Gamble, who had 11 points in the first half, gave the Red Wolves their first lead since early in the first quarter with a turnaround jumper in the post after backing down her defender to put her team up 22-20.
The Red Wolves played a strong defensive opening 20 minutes and forced FGCU into five turnovers over a four minute stretch in the second quarter. However, foul trouble plagued the Red Wolves as Brittney Gill sat most of the first and second quarters with three fouls. FGCU took the lead after 3-pointer with under two minutes to go until half, but a layup by Gamble and free throw from Lawson pulled the Red Wolves within 29-28 at the break.
A-State shot 41.7 percent (25-of-60) from the field and held the Eagles to just 36.7 percent (18-of-49) on the night. The biggest difference in the second half came by the Red Wolves ability to keep the Eagles from knocking down 3-pointers. FGCU went 0-for-11 in the final 20 minutes and made just three, 3-pointers on the night.
A-State returns to the court, Monday Dec. 7 when it travels to SEC opponent Florida. The game will air on the SEC+ Network and is set to begin at 6 p.m. (CT).
Bobcats Fall to No. 12/15 Duke in Final Game of Cancun Challenge
CANCUN, Mexico – The Texas State women's basketball team fell in the final game of the Cancun Challenge to No. 12 Duke by a score of 85-34 Saturday afternoon. Duke, a team who made it to the NCAA Sweet 16 just a year ago, is 5-1 this season.
At the conclusion of the tournament, redshirt sophomore guard Kaitlin Walla was named to the Cancun Challenge All-Tournament Team. Walla finished the tournament with 28 points as well as 10 rebounds and four steals. Against Idaho, she scored a team-high 14 points, marking a season-high for her.
The Bobcats will return home to Strahan Coliseum for the next two games, beginning with UTSA on Dec. 3. Last season, eight straight points in the final 44 seconds by guard Ayriel Anderson lifted the Bobcats to a 57-53 victory over the Roadrunners. In the final moments of the game, the Bobcats found themselves down as many as seven before producing an 11-0 run to defeat UTSA.
App State Suffers Setback to Delaware State
BOCA RATON, Fla. - A fourth-quarter drought doomed Appalachian State women’s basketball Saturday afternoon, falling to Delaware State, 76-69, in the third-place game at FAU Arena in the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament.
Delaware State Starters: #11 N’Kayah Kersey, #15 Mikah Aldridge, #21 Aliah Stinnett, #22 NaJai Pollard, #23 Nikkei Blackburn,
Appalachian State Starters: #2 Farrahn Wood, #10 Joi Jones, #23 KeKe Cooper, #34 Madi Story,#42 Mia Marshall
Wood led the team with a career-high 15 points on a career-high five 3-pointers. The senior came in the game shooting 3-for-23 from outside the arc, but shot out of her slump going 5-of-8 (62.5) from 3-point land. Story also stepped up with 13 points, just one shy of tying her career high. The guard scored on five buckets and three free throws while dishing out three assists.
Cooper was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field en route to tying a season high with 10 points and grabbed a season-best 11 boards for her ninth double-double of her career.
It was a game of runs as Delaware State finished and ended the contest with runs that played an intricate part in the win. The Hornets came out of the game on a 15-0 barrage while finishing the affair outscoring App State,12-4, over the final 5:16 of the game.
Delaware State’s Amber Bogard (29 points) and Mikah Aldridge (17 points) combined for 46 of the team’s scoring output and took advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line going a combined 21-of-25. Overall, the Hornets were 29-for-38 from the charity stripe while App State was just 9-for-21.
The Hornets started the contest 5-for-10 from the field that contributed to the hot start, as the Apps came out in a funk missing on their first seven shots and committed six turnovers in the first 5:46 of the first quarter. However, Appalachian came alive to outscore its opponent, 34-18, over the final 14:04 of the first half.
Appalachian started the comeback late in the first quarter with a 11-4 in the final 4:09 of the frame. Story finally got the Black and Gold on the board with a jumper before Wood connected on a trifecta and Katelyn Doub hit a free throw to trim the deficit to single digits, 15-6. Just before the horn sounded, Bria Carter threw a slick pass to Cooper down low to put the score at 19-11.
Coming out of the second quarter, the Apps kept clawing their way back until they tied the contest, 30-all, following a Marshall layup. Trailing, 33-31, just before the break, Kaila Craven scored three of her six points on a step-back 3-pointer that gave Appalachian its first lead of the game, 34-33.
After the early dry spell, App State shot 13-of-22 (59 percent) from the field while holding DSU to 33 percent shooting during the comeback.
App State held the lead for majority of the third quarter despite the contest being tied twice on two occasions in the third frame. While tied, 42-42, with 5:32 left in the third quarter, Appalachian outscored its counterpart, 17-7, over the next 3:27 to take a 59-49 advantage. Wood spearheaded the run with three treys en route to the Apps taking their largest advantage of the game.
Delaware State was able to cut the lead to four after a quick six points before the end of the third quarter that eventually turned into a 12-2 run en route to tying the game, 61-apiece.App State regained the lead by one point on a pair of occasions, the last being a jumper from Story that put the score to 65-64.
From that point on, App State went on a 4:49 scoring drought and converted on two of its final 10 shots, while the Hornets scored the next 10 points to take a commanding 75-65 lead. Cooper’s jumper and layup from Jones cut the lead in half to five, 74-69, with 24 seconds left, but it was too late as DSU held on for the victory.
App State will continue the road trip with a 6:30 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday at College of Charleston.