Saturday, February 14
Second-Chance Points Lift Appalachian State Past ULM
MONROE, La. - Appalachian State University women's basketball got a steal and jumper from Katie Mallow with five seconds to play, lifting them over UL Monroe, 55-54.
The Mountaineers (11-12, 6-8 Sun Belt) scored 16 second-chance points and did not allow a Warhawk (10-14, 6-9) field goal in the last 12 minutes of the game to end their three-game losing streak.
The Mountaineers struck first in the game as Joi Jones hit a jumper, but UL Monroe would quickly tie the score, 4-4 at the 17:39 minute mark. Bria Carter would score two points for the Apps to put them up 6-9 with 15:14 to play in the first, but then the Mountaineers would begin to struggle offensively.
The Apps would not score for the next five minutes until Mia Marshall ended the drought with an offensive rebound and two points to tie the game 11-11 at the 10:03 minute mark.
The Warhawks continued to score, but Appalachian's Ashley Bassett-Smith would get hot, hitting three-straight jumpers in a two-minute span as the score remained tied, 17-17 with 6:25 to play in the first.
From there the Apps would go on a 9-2 run, featuring four-straight points from Maryah Sydnor to take a 26-22 lead. The Mountaineers would lead at halftime, 30-28.
Bassett-Smith and Sydnor led the Mountaineers in the first half with six points each, as the team shot 34.4 percent from the floor.
Sharnice Brooks led the Warhawks in the first with eight points while the team recorded a 33.3 field goal percentage.
The Mountaineers remained in control at the start of the second half, going on a 9-4 run for a 38-32 lead at the 13:54 minute mark. The Warhawks responded with three-straight layups in a 1:30 minute span as Brooks' layup with 12:02 to play would be the Warhawks' last field goal of the game.
From there UL Monroe would hit two free throws to a take a 40-39 lead, but Bassett-Smith got her first jumper of the second half at the 10:15 minute mark to give App another one-point lead.
The Mountaineers would not score again until Jones converted on a jumper three minutes later to tie the game, 43-43. UL Monroe scored two more free throws but Bassett-Smith would hit her fifth jumper of the game for a 47-45 lead with four minutes to play.
The Warhawks went on a 7-2 run, featuring seven-made free throws from ULM to give them a 52-49 lead with 26 seconds left in the game, but Jones came up big for the Apps by hitting a pull-up jumper.
With the Apps trailing, 54-53 and five seconds to play, Mallow stole the ball and hit a jumper to give help the Mountaineers the lead by one point. Carter would seal the win for the Apps with a steal as Appalachian got the victory, 55-54.
Bassett-Smith led the Mountaineers with 12 points, going 6-9 from the field, while Jones followed with ten points. Marshall led the team on the boards with season-high of eight and Carter added seven.
The team shot 31.8 percent from the floor, grabbing 45 rebounds and turning the ball over 13 times.
UL Monroe was led by Brooks' 18 points, while the team shot 30.6 percent from the field. The Warhawks recorded 38 rebounds and 15 turnovers.
The Mountaineers will return to action on Feb.19 when they travel to UT Arlington.
Lady Mavs Run Past Jaguars, 63-46
MOBILE, Alabama – A dominating effort at both ends of the court lifted UT Arlington to an impressive 63-46 victory Saturday afternoon over South Alabama at Mitchell Center.
The Lady Mavericks improved to 13-10 overall and evened their Sun Belt Conference record at 7-7 with their third win the last four games. UTA also swept the season series over the Jaguars (4-20, 1-14) and improved to 3-2 all-time.
The victory proved a nice rebound from 65-58 overtime loss at Texas State. The Lady Mavericks lost a nine-point lead in the last two minutes of regulation.
"The girls really responded from Thursday night," UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich said. "I think they were really upset with themselves and how they didn't finish that game. We had a great practice yesterday after a day of travel and great shootaround early this morning.
"I just thought they came out and executed what we asked them to do. It wasn't pretty. There are still some things that we really didn't do very well, but at the same time South Alabama did a nice job."
Cierra Johnson led UT Arlington with 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Rebekah Van Dijk also scored 12 and grabbed six boards. Six additional Lady Mavs scored at least six points.
"You've got to love that those kids are freshmen," Gerlich said. "They've been really consistent. Our upperclassmen do a nice job of helping them and being unselfish, as well. This team right now just wants to win and I'm excited about the future for sure."
The Lady Mavs didn't waste any time taking control of the game by jumping out to a 5-0 lead. UTA's full-court press gave the Jaguars, and the lead continued to grow throughout the first half.
UT Arlington forced 18 turnovers and finished with 10 steaks, including three from Amara Wainwright. The Jaguars shot 34.1 percent for the game.
"Last time we played them we forced a lot of turnovers and it helped our offense score," Gerlich said. "I thought our kids recognized that from our scouting report and really bought into just getting deflections."
Van Dijk's layup put the Lady Mavericks up double digits (19-8) for the first time with less than eight minutes left in the half. Wainwright steal and three-point play made it 26-10 and Krioni Bruce's 3-pointer allowed UTA to going into the half up 32-14.
Bruce paced the team with seven points at the break, while Van Dijk and Wainwright each scored six. Johnson had five rebounds and two assists.
The advantage reached 20 (36-16) on Johnson's steal and layup early in the second half. South Alabama wouldn't get any closer than 14 the rest of the way.
UTA returns to College Park Center for Thursday's Sun Belt matchup against Appalachian State.
Three-Point Shooting Lifts Bobcats Past Panthers
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Strong three-point shooting paced the Texas State women's basketball team to a 71-61 victory over Georgia State, Saturday afternoon at Strahan Coliseum. With the win, the Bobcats have earned 10 conference wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
Erin Peoples got the team off to a dominant start, outscoring Georgia State 7-0 by herself through the first two minutes of the game, including a three-pointer. All three of her field goals occurred on the team's first three possessions of the game.
The rest of the Bobcats picked up where Peoples left off, combining for five three-pointers, including back-to-back triples from Taeler Deer, in the first half. Deer was coming off a Thursday game in which she hit a three-pointer to force overtime against UT Arlington.
Georgia State went on a 16-4 run to cut Texas State's advantage to tie the game at 33-33 with 1:10 to go before half. Jacqueline Jeffcoat gave the Bobcats a lead at the break as she made a layup and then blocked the ensuing Panther shot as the Bobcats went to the intermission with a 37-35 lead.
Ayriel Anderson had one of the most impressive shots on the day, draining a three-pointer as the shot clock expired to give Texas State a 51-45 lead with 12 minutes to go. Earlier in the half Anderson earned the first blocked shot of her career, skying to knock a shot away as it caromed out of bounds.
Raven Burns extended the Bobcats' lead hitting back-to-back three-pointers of her own as Texas State took a 59-47 lead. Burns finished the night tying her season-high with three made three-pointers and also had 10 points overall.
Peoples finished with a career-high 24 points to lead all scorers. She was 8-of-16 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free throw line to go with four assists, two blocks and two steals.
Texas State finished 11-of-24 from three-point range overall, its second most makes in a game this season. The team was also efficient from the free throw line, going 14-of-15. That is the Bobcats' best performance from the line this year.
The Bobcats will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 19, at UL Lafayette. The radio broadcast is available on 89.9 FM KTSW and txstatebobcats.com/radio.
Trojans win Third Consecutive; Smother Cajuns
TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball team played a slower game than normal, but proved it didn't matter as the Trojans beat UL Lafayette, 68-63, at Trojan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The game marked the first of two Play 4Kay games for the Trojans, who will again wear their pink uniforms next Saturday when UALR visits Trojan Arena.
Troy (15-9, 10-5) tied the program record for Sun Belt wins in a season, and did so by pulling away early and holding on late against a pesky UL Lafayette (16-8, 8-7) team. Ronita Garrett tied her own Troy Division I era (1993-present) record with 19 rebounds. She also posted 14 points for her Sun Belt leading 16th double-double of the season.
Ashley Beverly-Kelley scored a game-high 20 points, including three of Troy's four 3-pointers, giving her 20-plus points in five of Troy's last six games. Caitlyn Ramirez also scored in double figures with 11 points, including seven in the first half as Troy dominated the paint early.
"UL Lafayette is a very good, very well coached team," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "They are undersized but quick and forceful on defense. We wanted to slow the game down when they had the ball, and we did. But the challenge was to not let it lull us to sleep."
Troy held the Cajuns to 19 percent (6-of-32) shooting in the first half and built a 13-point lead at the break, 34-21. UL Lafayette scored just two points in the paint in the first half as Ramirez and Garrett took control early.
The Trojans built the lead up to as many as 19 points early in the second half, but the Cajuns began to make a run from there. UL Lafayette used a 9-0 run over nearly four minutes to cut the lead to nine, 53-44, with 5:10 to go.
The game would go back-and-forth until the final minute when the Cajuns followed a 3-pointer with a steal and a layup to cut the lead down to four points, 64-60, with 41 seconds to go. UL Lafayette would get within four again with nine seconds remaining, but Troy hit enough free throws down the stretch to pick up the win.
Troy outrebounded the Ragin' Cajuns, 50-41, but committed 22 turnovers while forcing just 18. The Cajuns outscored the Trojans in points off turnovers, 27-17.
The Trojans shot 43 percent (24-of-56) overall in the game while the Cajuns hit 30 percent (21-of-70) after the cold first half. UL Lafayette hit 10-of-27 from long range while Troy hit 4-of-15.
Keke Veal made five of the Cajuns 3-pointers, all in the second half, as she went to score 20 points, tying with Beverly-Kelley for game highs. Jaylyn Gordon, the Cajuns leading scorer, had 11 points in the first half, but Troy held her scoreless in the second half on 0-of-4 shooting.
The Trojans return to the court on Thursday when they travel to take on Georgia Southern at Hanner Fieldhouse at 4 p.m. CT.
UALR Knocks Off Georgia Southern for 21st Win
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