Thursday, February 5
UALR Completes Season Sweep of ULM
LITTLE ROCK – The UALR women’s basketball team got off to a slow start for the second game in a row, but the team’s defense kicked things up a notch late in the first half and rolled to a 68-44 victory over ULM at the Jack Stephens Center on Thursday night.
UALR (18-3, 11-1 Sun Belt Conference) equaled its win total from all of last season with the victory while sweeping the season series from ULM (9-12, 5-7) in the process.
The Trojans were led offensively by 19 points each from Taylor Gault and Alexius Dawn, but it was the UALR defense that really improved after the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Warhawks began the night making seven of their first 10 attempts from the field, and they were leading 12-8 in the early going. UALR’s offense was keeping pace with ULM, though, and the Trojans were getting 3-pointers from Dawn and Gault. When ULM reached 22 points with eight minutes still remaining in the first half, they had already surpassed their first-half total from the teams’ first meeting in mid-January.
After that, though, the UALR defense kicked in. Over the game’s next 15 minutes, ULM scored just 10 points while UALR built a lead 17-point lead. ULM made just 10 of its next 31 baskets after that 7-of-10 start, and the Warhawks would score only 18 points in the second half as the Trojans forced steals and got points off turnovers. At the end of the night, UALR got 32 points off 23 ULM turnovers, and the Trojans had a 10-0 advantage in the fast break.
The win was UALR’s seventh straight win against ULM and the Trojans’ 20th straight at the Jack Stephens Center in Sun Belt play. The Trojans also remain in first place in the league standings.
Dawn scored 15 of her 19 points from the 3-point line, shooting 5 of 8 from distance. Gault had just two 3-pointers, but she made up for it with six other baskets from the field. Besides those two, Kaitlyn Pratt was also in double-digit scoring with 10.
No UALR played finished the night with more than five rebounds, though Dawn and Ka'Nesheia Cobbins reached that total. Cobbins had a game-high nine assists to break 200 for her career, and Dawn had four of those as well. Pratt had the only blocks of the night for UALR, finishing with two. She also led the team with three steals.
The Warhawks got off to a hot shooting start, making six of their first eight baskets to take a 12-8 lead. But UALR was hot from the field as well, and the Trojans would go on a 10-2 run from there thanks to two 3-point baskets from Dawn and two jumpers from Gault. That gave UALR an 18-14 lead with 10:30 to play, its largest of the game to that point.
The offense kept going for both sides, and the Warhawks got the next four points to re-tie the game at 18-18. But that would be the last time ULM had the contest tied. UALR got another 3-pointer by Dawn and followed that with a Gault 3-pointer. The Trojans’ lead increased to a then-high 6 points when Pratt got a layup with six minutes left in the half, and the Warhawks at that points were trailing 28-22.
From there, the Trojans got 9 of the last 13 points of the half, holding ULM down. Gault hit a jumper, Pratt got an and-1 play, and Gault knocked down her third 3-pointer of the contest just before the halftime buzzer, as UALR went into the locker room leading 37-26.
ULM scored 22 points in the first 12 minutes of the half, but the Warhawks only mustered 4 in the final eight as UALR’s defense buckled down. ULM still shot an impressive 52 percent in the half, but the Trojans shot a gaudier 62.5 percent on 15 of 24 from the field. Gault had 14 points at the break while Dawn had 9 all on 3-pointers.
The second half was much more in the Trojans’ favor. ULM went more than six minutes without a field goal at one early stretch of the half, and UALR would outscore the Warhawks 31-18 in the period. UALR held an opponent to 20 points or fewer in a half for the 10th time this year. The Warhawks’ shooting percentage plummeted from 52 percent in the first half to 37.5 percent at the end of the night, while UALR stayed above 50 percent from the field at the end of the game (28 of 52).
UALR is right back to work on Saturday, hosting Texas State at the Jack Stephens Center at 3 p.m. Saturday’s game will feature UALR’s ‘80s Night promotion, and fans who dress in clothing from the 1980s will get into the game for $1.
Epic Comeback Lifts Cajuns Past Mountaineers
LAFAYETTE – Jaylyn Gordon scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the second half and the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns used a 26-9 run over the final 6:58 to rally past Appalachian State, 70-66, in a Sun Belt Conference women's basketball game Thursday at the Cajundome.
Simone Fields and Robbie Brown each scored 12 points for Louisiana (15-6, 7-5 Sun Belt), which overcame a 15-point deficit, surpassed last season's win total (14-16) and posted its most wins in a season since a 25-9 record in 2006-07.
Appalachian State (10-10, 5-6 Sun Belt), led for nearly 36 minutes in the game, including its biggest lead, 40-25, after a Katie Mallow bucket with 16:03 remaining. The Mountaineers led, 57-44, on Joi Jones' three-point play with 6:59 left, but the Ragin' Cajuns defense got into the act forcing eight turnovers down the stretch and limiting App State to 3-for-10 from the floor.
Keke Veal opened an 8-0 run for Louisiana with a layup, before four straight points from Simone Fields and a bucket by Gordon cut the lead to 57-52. A pair of free throws by Mallow with 2:33 remaining gave Appalachian State a 61-54 lead, but the Cajuns would close out the game with a 16-5 run to secure the win.
Brown opened a 13-0 run for Louisiana as her 3-pointer cut the Mountaineer lead to 61-57 with 2:17 remaining. Gordon, a sophomore who notched her sixth 20-point game of the season, added a pair of free throws and sank a jumper with 1:32 left to tie the game at 61-61.
On the ensuing possession, Mallow drove the lane for the Mountaineers, but her 10-foot jumper bounced off the rim. Brown chased down the rebound, threaded a transition pass to Veal, whose three-point play with 51.7 seconds remaining gave Louisiana its first lead since the opening minute of the contest.
Gordon and Veal combined for three free throws to push the Cajuns lead to 67-61 and Brown iced the game with a pair of free throws after App State's Peggy Brown banked in a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 68-66 with 3.2 seconds left.
Kia Wilridge gave Louisiana an early 2-0 lead with a layup in the opening minute before App State scored six straight points to take the lead. The Mountaineers led 18-6 after a jumper by Mallow with 12:29 remaining in the first half and extended it to 26-12 after a layup by KeKe Cooper at the 7:15 mark.
The Ragin' Cajuns used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 26-20 as Gordon scored on a layup, Fields added a pair of buckets and freshman Cienna Rodriguez hit a jumper with 2:30 remaining in the half.
Louisiana finished 25-for-67 (37.3 percent) from the floor, 4-for-23 (17.4 percent) from behind the 3-point line and 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe. The Ragin' Cajuns forced 21 turnovers and held a 40-37 advantage on the glass as Fields, Brown and Gordon pulled down a team-high seven rebounds each.
Bria Carter scored 13 points off the bench to lead Appalachian State with Cooper recording a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Mountaineers finished 25-for-57 (43.9 percent) from the floor and 13-for-16 (81.3 percent) from the free throw line.
Louisiana will return to action on Saturday (Feb. 7) when it hosts UT Arlington in a 3:15 p.m. contest at the Cajundome.
Ponder, Andrews Lead Panthers Three-Point Attack against Eagles
STATESBORO, GA. – Making nine of its first 10 shots, Georgia State jumped out to a 22-4 lead in seven minutes and rolled to an 82-54 Sun Belt Conference win over Georgia Southern Thursday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
GSU (9-12, 4-8) made four 3-point baskets in the opening run and ended 9 of 20 outside the 3-point arc on the evening.
Leading the Georgia State onslaught was freshman Makeba Ponder with 20 points, her fifth game with 20 or more this year, as she returned from a two-game injury in grand style. Point guard Alisha Andrews was the catalyst with the first two 3-pointers of the game en route to 16 points and five steals.
Georgia Southern (4—16, 1-10) made its only run of the evening (10-2) to close to nine at 33-24 with 3:07 in the half. But, Ponder hit two more treys and State went into halftime with a 41-24 lead over Southern.
In the second half, Georgia State opened with a 13-3 burst, including two treys by Andrews, and it was 54-27 at 17:10 and it was never in doubt after that.
Georgia State shot 55.2 percent in the first half (16 of 29) and hit the identical number in the second half to finish 32 of 58 for the game. The Panthers controlled the boards with a 36-25 margin. Georgia State’s defense made nine steals and held Georgia Southern to 38 percent shooting (21 of 55).
"When you win, it usually means a lot of people did a lot of things to make that happen and we got lots of contributors tonight," coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. "A key I emphasized at halftime was to come back out and start the second half at 0-0 and make another early run and we did that. We had given up nine second-chance points in the first half and we talked about correcting that and only gave up three second-chance points in the second half."
Freshman forward Kennesha Nichols added 11 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists in 21 solid minutes. Forward Haley Gerrin started and produced seven points and seven rebounds in her 22 minutes. Gaby Moss started tonight and got seven early points and nine for the game in 17 minutes of action.Brittany Logan returned after a game's absence and had six rebounds and five points in 15 minutes.
"Yes, there is no doubt Makeba Ponder is a great shooter and we need her playing like she did tonight," coach added. "Having her back makes the whole team better.."
Georgia State traveled 13 players and all 13 played, with 10 scoring and two more who didn't score grabbed rebounds. This was GSU's 11th game with 70 or more points this year and fourth game over 80 points.
Georgia State improves to 3-4 on the road and moves on to play at South Alabama on Saturday.
A-State Outpaces Troy, 91-72
JONESBORO, Ark. (2/5/15) – Led by four players scoring in double figures, including senior forward Jasmine Hunt with a career-high 23 points, the Arkansas State women’s basketball team claimed a 91-72 Sun Belt Conference victory over Troy Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
The Red Wolves picked up their fourth consecutive win to improve to 16-7 overall and 11-2 in league action. The Trojans dropped their second straight game, falling to 12-9 overall and 7-5 in Sun Belt play.
Aundrea Gamble scored 22 points, Khadija Brown-Haywood added 18 and Hanna Qedan finished with 16 to join Hunt in double figures for A-State, which put up its most points of the season in a Sun Belt contest. Hunt and Brown-Haywood both grabbed a team-high nine rebounds as well, and Qedan posted a career-high six assists.
Fueled by an 18-0 run midway through the first half, Arkansas State was able to take a commanding 49-27 lead into the break. The Red Wolves trailed 12-6 seven minutes into the contest when Qedan started the run by hitting her first of four three-point buckets. She ended the A-State outburst by hitting another three with 7:11 left in the half, giving the Red Wolves a 24-12 advantage.
Troy went cold during the run and was 0-for-10 from the field and turned the ball over six times. The Trojans went 6:18 without scoring and were just 1-of-15, and 2-of-2 from the free throw line, for almost a full nine minutes in the half.
“We had a great first half and that is important against a team like Troy because they can score a bunch on you in a hurry,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “The big message tonight was to keep our turnovers down and we only had five in the first half and I thought that was huge. We got good shots, didn’t turn it over and then we were able to build a big lead.”
Arkansas State was able to build its lead to as much as 25 in the first half and took a 49-27 lead into the break. The Red Wolves held their largest lead, 26 points, three different times during the second half, the last time coming 62-36 with 15:12 left to play.
Troy was able to cut A-State’s lead down to 14 with 1:52 left in the game, but couldn’t get any closer. The Red Wolves scored seven of the last nine points to set the final score.
Gamble came close to her first career triple-double after finishing with eight rebounds and eight assists while Hunt and Brown-Haywood missed out on double-doubles by one rebound each.
A-State shot 50 percent from the field, while it held Troy to a .356 percentage. The Red Wolves also had 48 rebounds to Troy’s 45 and dished out 20 more assists.
Troy was led by Ashley Beverly-Kelley with a game-high 26 points, while Ronita Garrett and Lacey Buchanon added 18 and 11 points, respectively, for the Trojans.
The squad will return home Thursday, Feb. 12 at Georgia Southern. The game is set for a 4 p.m. tip-off and can be heard live on 95.3FM The Ticket/970AM KNEA or online at AStateRedWolves.com.