Thursday, February 12
Gamble, Arkansas State Down Eagles
STATESBORO, Ga. (2/12/15) – Aundrea Gamble scored a game-high 31 points and Khadija Brown-Haywood added 17 to lead Arkansas State to a 81-73 victory over Georgia Southern in Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball at Hanner Fieldhouse Thursday evening.
Gamble scored 17 points in the second half to help A-State withstand a late charge from the Eagles and improve to 17-7 overall and 12-2 in league play. Georgia Southern fell to 4-18 and 1-12 in the conference.
The Red Wolves held a 10-point lead at halftime and led by as many as 15 with 10:25 to go in the game, but Georgia Southern rallied and got within 75-69 with 1:09 to go. Gamble made it an eight point game with a pair of free throws with under a minute left. Anna Claire Knight cut the lead to 78-71, Gamble again made a pair of free throws to push the advantage to 79-71 with 21 seconds left to help close out the game.
The All-America candidate went 11-of-12 from the free throw line and added seven rebounds, seven assists and four assists to close out another solid performance. Brown-Haywood added eight rebounds to go along with her 17 points, which included a 6-of-7 night from the free throw line. Jessica Flanery also finished in double-figures with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to round out the double-figure scoring for A-State.
“We are fortunate to get out of here with a win because there is enough talent on this Georgia Southern team to get a win,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer. “We just felt like out we were out of sync all night but we managed and were able to get out of here with a win.”
The Red Wolves got off to a fast start and knocked down 3-pointers on three of its first four shots of the game to jump out to a quick 11-4 lead. Gamble drained two of the ‘3s’ while Jessica Flanery hit a wide open shot from the corner that prompted a 30-second timeout by Georgia Southern.
The Eagles battled and went on a 10-2 run following the timeout to tie the game at 14-14. Georgia Southern had success getting the ball inside and finished the first half with 18 points in the paint and outscored the Red Wolves 19-9 over a seven minute stretch to go up 23-20.
Arkansas State responded, however, and finished the first half on a 21-10 run to take a 41-31 lead into the break. A-State scored eight of the final 10 points of the half, including back-to-back jumpers by Flanery who finished with seven points in the opening 20 minutes.
Gamble also took over after the Red Wolves got down and finished the opening frame with 14 points and six rebounds. Her 31 points marked the sixth time in her career that she has crossed the 30-point plateau and the third time this season it has happened. Brown-Haywood added 11 points that included a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
“We only turned the ball over nine times and that was huge,” Boyer said. “A number like that really gives you a chance to score on almost every possession and we needed just about every one of them tonight.”
Arkansas State shot 44.1 percent (28-of-69) from the field on the night, but the Eagles finished at 51.6 percent (32-of-62) including going 19-for-30 in the second half. The Red Wolves held a 42-36 edge on the boards and got 15 second chance points.
The squad will return to the court Thursday, Feb. 19 at UALR. The game is set for a 5:30s p.m. tip-off and can be heard live on 95.3FM The Ticket/970AM KNEA or online at AStateRedWolves.com.
Trojans Pull Away Early in Win over Rival South Alabama
TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball team took an early lead and held on in a 78-67 win over rival South Alabama at Trojan Arena on Thursday night. The Trojans led by as many as 23 points, but the Jaguars closed on a 14-2 run to cut the deficit.
Troy (14-9, 9-5) got another near triple-double from Ashley Beverly-Kelley who scored 19 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists. Beverly-Kelley shot 7-of-13 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Caitlyn Ramirez and Ronita Garrett each shot 5-of-9 from the floor as the pair went for 14 and 12 points, respectively. Kristen Emerson pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds off the Troy bench and also had two blocks down the stretch.
Troy forced South Alabama into 31 turnovers, the fourth Trojan opponent to cough it up 30-plus times this season. Troy picked up 20 steals, with five different Trojans grabbing a game-high three.
"We forced 31 turnovers in the game, and that sounds like an up-tempo game, but it didn't feel like it," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "It felt a little bit slower and we only got 70 shots off, so it was an odd game in that way. We are proud to get the win and to keep marching through in a quest to get a conference championship."
Ten of the South Alabama (4-19, 1-13) turnovers came during a deciding run in the first half. With the score tied 12-12 with 14:12 to go in the half, Troy went on a 25-4 run over nearly 10 minutes, sparked by the 10 Jaguar miscues. The run put Troy up 37-16 with 5:37 to go before the break.
The Jaguars cut the lead to 11 with 9:40 to go in the game, but Troy went on a quick 12-0 run to pull back ahead 75-52 with 6:16 to go. However, from there, Troy managed to sink just three free throws as South Alabama closed on a 15-2 run.
South Alabama hit 10 3-pointers in the loss, including 5-of-9 from Breanna Hall who scored 18 points to lead the Jagars. Hall scored 13 of her points in the second half when South Alabama made 7-of-11 long-range shots.
Troy managed just 4-of-18 from long range, but dominated the paint where they outscored South Alabama, 42-22. Troy also won the points off turnovers battle, 37-13, and outscored South Alabama on the fast break, 22-4.
The win earned the Trojans a steak dinner from Troy director of athletics John Hartwell, who announced on Thursday via Twitter that he would provide steak dinners to any Troy teams that defeated in-state rival South Alabama.
Troy finished the game at 44 percent (31-of-70) while South Alabama finished at 40 percent (24-of-60), including 10-of-28 from deep. South Alabama outrebounded Troy, 45-35, and held the Trojans to just seven offensive rebounds. Troy entered the game averaging 17.5 offensive boards per game, the eighth best mark in the NCAA.
The Trojans return to the court on Saturday when they host UL Lafayette at Trojan Arena at 2 p.m. The game will mark the first of two Play 4Kay games for the Trojans who will wear pink uniforms.
Second-Half Surge Leads Trojans to 20th Win
BOONE, N.C. – The UALR women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to four games on Thursday evening, but it wasn’t easy.
After nearly blowing a 17-point lead, the Trojans eventually pulled away from Appalachian State for a 63-49 victory at the Holmes Convocation Center.
The Trojans (20-3, 13-1 Sun Belt Conference) completely controlled the game in the early going, taking a 17-point lead in the first half. But the Mountaineers (10-12, 5-7) fought back, getting the contest within 8 points at halftime and eventually getting as close as 2 points early in the second half.
With UALR’s lead down to just 33-31 with only 15 minutes to play, the Trojans finally returned to their solid transition offense and built the lead back up to double digits at 44-34 in just four minutes of play. UALR got 5 straight points from Shanity James to start that stretch and also got two baskets from Kiera Clark off the bench as well as a jumper by Alexius Dawn.
James hit another layup with 10:37 to play, and the Trojans’ lead rose back up to 12 points. Appalachian State was never closer than 9 points after that.
James would go on to lead the Trojans with a season-high 17 points in the game while Clark had 9 off the bench. Dawn and Keanna Keys also contributed 9 points, and Keys led the team with 9 rebounds. Ka'Nesheia Cobbins had a team-high five assists, and James notched two blocks.
UALR picked up its 20th win of the season with the victory and reached 20 victories for the eighth time in the last nine years. The team is also now 2-0 all-time against the Mountaineers, and it remained in first place in the Sun Belt with the win.
The Trojans shot out to a 17-4 lead in the first seven minutes as the Mountaineers committed eight turnovers in that span. By the end of the first half, Appalachian State had committed 15 turnovers. But despite UALR leading by as large of a margin as 17 points at 23-6, there was still far too much time left and far too much fight left in the Mountaineers.
For the rest of the half after taking that 23-6 lead, Appalachian State outscored UALR 17-8 to go into halftime trailing just 31-23. The Trojans continued to struggle as the second half began, making just one field goal in the first six minutes before finally going on that run to pull away from the Mountaineers.
During the first half, Taylor Gault sank two free throws to become the Trojans’ all-time leader in that category. She surpassed Chastity Reed with her 308th made free throw. Keys, meanwhile, broke the 200-point mark for her career in the first half.
UALR did not make a 3-pointer in the contest for just the second time this year, but the Trojans controlled other aspects of the game to make up for it. The Trojans had only 14 turnovers compared to the Mountaineers’ 26, and UALR got 28 points off those App State turnovers. UALR also shot 40.4 percent from the field compared to Appalachian State’s 35.1 percent, and the team had eight steals compared to the Mountaineers’ seven.
The Trojans return home for their next game in just two days, taking on Georgia Southern on Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will be the team’s annual Pink Game sponsored by Northwestern Mutual. Fans will have the chance to win raffle items and earn giveaways with their attendance. Proceeds from the raffles will go to breast cancer charities.
Bobcats Rally to Defeat Mavericks in OT
SAN MARCOS, Texas – With 10 seconds remaining in regulation, freshman guard Taeler Deer banked a three-pointer from the right wing to force the UT Arlington Mavericks into overtime. The Texas State women's basketball team then proceeded to outscore the Mavericks 10-3 in overtime to come away with a 65-58 victory Thursday evening.
Down nine with 2:15 left in regulation, the Bobcats finished the second half on a 12-3 run to force UT Arlington into the overtime period. Erin Peoples hit a lay-up to spark the Bobcat's run that entailed Texas State shooting 4-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-3 from long range including Deer's shot in the final seconds.
The Bobcats now improve to 14-9 overall and 9-5 in Sun Belt Conference play. Texas State defeated the Mavericks in both regulation contests this season.
Both teams got off to a slow start as neither team surpassed the 15-point mark until under five minutes remaining in the half. Texas State scored 12 points in the final five minutes of play to take a 26-23 lead into the locker rooms. Ayriel Anderson broke the 23-23 tie with a three-pointer with 15 seconds on the clock.
Out of the locker rooms, UT Arlington produced a 4-0 run to take over the lead once again. The next 10 minutes of action proved to be a true back-and-forth battle as four ties showed on the scoreboard.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, the Mavericks put together a run that would put them up by nine with just over three minutes on the clock. It was at that point that the Bobcats strung together their game-tying run.
After Deer's game-tying three with 10 seconds left in regulation, the Bobcats never looked back. Texas State proceeded to outscore the Mavericks 10-3 in the five minutes overtime period on 3-of-5 shooting and four made free throws.
Peoples led all Bobcats with 17 points while Deer and Meghan Braeuer each had 14. Braeuer was a key offensive spark for the Bobcats as she finished the night shooting 4-of-6 from three-point range.
Texas State committed just 11 turnovers in the contest while forcing 21 by the Mavericks. Nine of the Maverick turnovers resulted in steals for the Bobcats.
In the contest, there were eight lead changes and 13 ties. The Mavericks outrebounded the Bobcats 44-39 as freshman center Rebekah Van Dijk recorded a 16 rebound, 13 point double-double for the Mavericks.
Texas State will remain at home this upcoming Saturday with a 2 p.m. start against Georgia State. Live stats, live video, and live audio will be available at www.txstatebobcats.com. A live broadcast will be streamed on 89.9 FM KTSW.
Gordan, Cajuns Defeat ULM in Double OT Battle
MONROE – Jaylyn Gordon scored a career-high 29 points, including a career-best seven 3-pointers, and the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team survived a second-half scoring drought and defeated ULM in double overtime, 68-65, in a Sun Belt Conference game on Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Keke Veal scored 19 points and Kia Wilridge added 10 as Louisiana (16-7, 8-6 Sun Belt) forced a season-high 31 turnovers while draining a season-high eight 3-pointers against ULM (10-13, 6-8 Sun Belt) for the second time this season.
Louisiana trailed, 61-57, in the second overtime session after a layup by ULM's Daja Chase before Gordon responded with back-to-back 3-pointers for a 63-61 lead with 2:44 remaining. After a Sharnice Brooks layup on the Warhawks' ensuing possession that tied the game, Veal was fouled and sank two free throws with 1:33 remaining that gave the Ragin' Cajuns the lead for good.
Veal, who went 6-for-9 from the free throw line and dished out a game-high five assists, added another free throw with 40 seconds left for a 66-63 lead before Gordon helped seal the win with a pair of free throws with 24 seconds remaining.
"Our press was the key to keeping us in the game, and Jaylyn hit some big shots for us along the way," head coach Garry Brodhead said. "I liked our effort, we never quit and that's kind of exciting to see kids that are going to play through all of the adversity that we had today … and to get a win with it is great."
Gordon, who recorded her seventh 20-point game this season, finished 8-of-19 from the floor and 7-for-13 from behind the 3-point line. The sophomore finished 6-for-6 from the free throw line and added three steals in a career-high tying 45 minutes of action.
Louisiana led, 29-23, at halftime and extended its lead to as many as 14 points in the second half before ULM rallied. The Warhawks held Louisiana to 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) from the floor in final 20 minutes of regulation while Brooks scored 19 of her career-high 29 points after intermission.
But the Cajuns pulled away late, forcing ULM into 19 turnovers after halftime and earning their second straight victory in Monroe while improving to 3-1 in overtime games in 2014-15.
"You should win," Brodhead said of the Cajuns defensive effort. "You've got to knock free throws down. We (the coaching staff) talked about it before … it's getting them (opponents) to turn it over and make sure that we can knock down some free throws, and it's something that we've got to work on. But, I liked our effort and the way we finished. We got in foul trouble and were able to get around it and continue to play."
Alayshia Hunter scored 12 points off the bench for the Warhawks, who made 24 of 29 free throws and held a 37-31 advantage on the glass.
Louisiana will return to action on Saturday when it travels to face Troy in a 2 p.m. matinee at Trojan Arena.