Thursday, March 5
UALR Caps Regular Season with Win at UL Lafayette
LAFAYETTE, La. – The Trojans ended the Sun Belt regular season the way they began it.
After opening conference play with a victory over Louisiana way back on December 30, UALR ended Sun Belt action with a 68-66 win at the Cajundome on Thursday night.
Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson presented UALR with the championship trophy in the locker room after the game, and it was a victory the Trojans held onto for dear life in the final minutes.
Leading by as many as 22 points with 12:53 remaining in the contest, UALR (25-4, 18-2 Sun Belt) saw its lead slip away gradually as time wound down. UALR was ahead 58-42 with 7:31 left to play, and that’s when Louisiana (18-10, 10-9) went on a 6-0 run to come back within 10 points. The Trojans got a jumper from Kiera Clark to extend the lead back to 12 points at 60-48, but the Cajuns earned another 6-0 run to make it a 60-54 game with 4:12 left.
An Alexius Dawn 3-pointer – her fifth of the night – got UALR back ahead by 9 points with 2:23 to play, but a succession of turnovers by the Trojans and made baskets by the Cajuns got the home team back within one score and got the home crowd energized.
Louisiana’s press forced UALR to make bad passes, and a Jodi Quinn jumper with 10 seconds remaining had the Trojans’ lead down to just 65-63. But over the last 10 seconds, sophomore Kaitlyn Pratt hit three free throws to give UALR a 5-point lead, and a Louisiana 3-pointer at the buzzer only made the final margin look closer.
With the victory, UALR sets new program records for conference wins in a season (18) and breaks the school record for regular-season victories in a year (25). The win also ties the Sun Belt all-time record for conference wins in a year. UALR also sweeps the regular-season series against Louisiana and has now won five consecutive games against the Cajuns.
UALR now has a full six days to recover before its next game, the Sun Belt Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. The Trojans will face the league’s No. 8 seed, a yet-to-be-determined foe that could be either Georgia State or Appalachian State.
In Thursday’s contest, three different players tied for the team lead with 17 points. Pratt, Dawn and Taylor Gault all reached 17 points. Those 17 were Pratt’s highest total since Nov. 29 at Memphis, and she also finished the game with six rebounds. Gault was a terrific 6 of 7 from the field, and Pratt was 6 of 8.
Shanity James led the Trojans with eight boards, and Ka'Nesheia Cobbins topped the Trojans with eight assists. Dawn also grabbed three steals.
The Trojans had their best shooting night of the season, draining 62.2 percent of their field goal attempts (23-37). The team was also very impressive from long range, nailing 7 of 10 3-pointers. But a season-high 24 turnovers hampered the offense, and UALR had 13 in the second half as its 22-point lead dwindled to just 2.
UALR stretched its lead in the first half to as large as 15 points thanks mostly to a strong defensive run midway through the period. The Cajuns went nearly 10 full minutes without a field goal from the 15-minute mark to just before the clock hit five minutes. In that span, the Trojans scored 14 consecutive points to go from a 9-7 deficit to a 21-7 lead.
Dawn had three 3-pointers in the first half and went 3 for 4 from behind the arc overall to lead the team with 11 points at the break. Monique Townson also hit a 3-pointer, her first since Nov. 18 at Rice in her first game of the season.
UALR gave up two points on free throws to begin the second half, but after that the Trojans went on a lightning-fast 8-point run that put them back ahead by 14 points. Gault began it with a 3-pointer, and she then got a fast-break jumper after blocking a Cajuns shot on the other end. Dawn stole the ball on Louisiana’s next possession, and she ended it with a pass to Pratt for an easy and-1 layup. That jumped UALR’s advantage from 31-25 to 39-25.
The Trojans kept pushing, though, and scored 7 of the next 9 points in the game on a Dawn 3-pointer, a Pratt layup and two Gault free throws. That made it a 15-4 edge for the Trojans in the first 4:16 of the second half, and the team took a 19-point lead into the first media timeout that was seemingly out of Louisiana’s reach.
But the Cajuns fought back as the crowd rallied behind them, just falling short of the comeback win.
Clark recorded her 100th career steal during the game, and Gault picked up her 700th career field goal.
UALR has this Saturday off, getting a bye date on the final regular-season day for league play. But the Trojans will return to Louisiana next week, traveling to New Orleans as the league’s top seed in the conference tournament. UALR will face the No. 8 seed on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in the tournament’s first game.
Georgia State Knocks Off UL Monroe; Earns Tournament Berth
MONROE, LA. – Georgia State claimed a berth in the eight-team Sun Belt Conference tournament with a 66-61 over the University of Louisiana at Monroe Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
GSU (13-15, 8-11) got 13 assists, eight points and three steals from point guard Alisha Andrews, along with 15 points on 5 of 7 treys from freshman Makeba Ponder. But, junior guard Gaby Moss was the one who really stepped up at the right time, scoring all seven of her points in the last two minutes of the game.
The see-saw game saw 11 lead changes and nine ties, the last coming at 59 with 2:00 to play. Moss then drained a 3-pointer on a pass from Andrews at 1:40 to put GSU up 62-59. When Alayshia Hunter scored a lay-up at 1:10, Moss came right back with a mid-range jump shot to make it 64-61 with 45 seconds left. Chelsea Tieuel missed with 16 seconds left, Haley Gerrin got the rebound and Andrews raced around the court as ULM tried to foul her and couldn’t before she found Gerrin on the other end for the final basket with four seconds.
Host ULM (11-17, 7-12) had been tied with Georgia State in eighth place going into the game, but GSU had won in Atlanta and now owns the season series and tie-break advantage. GSU could finish in seventh with a win in Saturday’s finale with Georgia Southern and an Appalachian State loss to UT Arlington on Saturday.
ULM got off to a fast start and led the first 10 minutes before GSU pulled ahead 14-13. But, ULM came back to take its largest lead of the game at 26-19 with 5:34. Georgia State went on a 10-2 run to take a 29-28 lead into halftime.
The chess match by the coaches saw them juggle all the players in foul trouble as post players Logan, Gerrin and Nichols all sat with two or more in the first half. Five GSU players had three fouls. ULM saw its star, Sharnice Brooks pick up two fouls in the first half and play just two minutes. ULM had three players with three fouls.
Georgia State shot 53.6 percent in the second half (15 of 28) and 45.8 for the game, getting to the free throw line to make just 3 of 4 shots. ULM shot 39 percent for the game (23 of 59) and made 10 of 14 free throws. The Panthers made 9 of 20 3-point shots, its sixth game with nine or more treys this season.
GSU tied its season high of 22 assists, led by the 13 from Andrews. It was her seventh game with 10 or more assists. The 13 tie for the third-most made in a game in school history (16 by Denise Lloyd in 1981).
Ponder produced her sixth game with five or more 3-point baskets made. She leads the Sun Belt and has 68 on the season (one shy of the school season record).
“We knew we had to win and I am proud of the team for coming through when they needed to,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “A lot of people did a lot of good things and we made the second-half shots and the big shots down the stretch. The speed of a game always changes with Alisha Andrews in it and she made a huge difference. We got in foul trouble early, but fought our way through it and played pretty good defense in holding them to 61 points.”
The Panthers have won five of their last eight games and picked up four road wins in the Sun Belt this year.
Georgia State plays its final regular season game at noon Saturday in Atlanta against last-place Georgia Southern on Senior Day. The Sun Belt Tournament starts Wednesday, March 11 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.
Hunt Carries A-State Past Jaguars
JONESBORO, Ark. (3/5/15) – The Arkansas State women’s basketball team secured the No. 2 overall seed heading into next week’s Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament with a 70-60 victory over South Alabama Thursday evening at the Convocation Center.
Jasmine Hunt finished just three points off a career-high with 20 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. Aundrea Gamble chipped in with 18 points and seven assists, while Khadija Brown-Haywood and Hanna Qedan finished with 13 points each.
With the victory A-State improved to 20-9 overall and 15-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. It is just the third 20-win regular season in school history and the first time that the Red Wolves have won 20 games in the regular season in back-to-back years. The school record for most victories in a single season is 21, which was set during the 1992-93 season.
“We still have a lot of things at stake to play for,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “I told the team in the locker room that a lot of teams would love to have that and to have a chance to tie a school record with 21 regular season wins is a big deal and we still have some discussions of getting an NCAA at-large if it comes to that. We weathered the loss at Texas State from an RPI standpoint but we just can’t let it slip anymore.
An 11-0 run midway through the first half helped the Red Wolves build a 20-13 lead behind a strong start by Gamble. The redshirt junior knocked down her first four shots from the field and led all scorers with nine points in the half. Qedan added eight points on 3-of-6 shooting and finished the opening frame with an 18-8 edge in points in the paint.
A-State held South Alabama to just 21 points in the first half with 3:47 left to go in the half, but the Jaguars finished with a 10-3 run to get within 34-31 at halftime. The Red Wolves quickly pushed the advantage to 10 points with a 7-0 spurt to open the second half and held their largest lead of the half at 54-42 after Hunt followed her own miss to put A-State up 12 with 14:03 left.
South Alabama bounced back with 11-2 run to cut the deficit 56-53 after Breanna Hall knocked down and open jump shot from the top of the key with 5:24 left to go. A-State scored on a layup by Brown-Haywood on the ensuing possession, but Hall answered right back with a pair of free throws to keep the Jaguars within striking distance until Gamble took over.
With her team leading 60-57 with 3:20 remaining, the All-America candidate native hit a pair of free throws and then knocked down a 3-point field goal from the left elbow to push the A-State lead to 65-57 with 1:31 to go and all but end any comeback attempt by South Alabama.
The squad will return to the court Saturday, March 7 at home against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Lady Mavs Clinch Tournament Berth with Win over Georgia Southern
STATESBORO, Georgia - UT Arlington clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the first time after Thursday's dominating 66-41 win over Georgia Southern.
The Lady Mavericks also secured the program's first winning season since 2008-09 after improving to 16-12 overall and 10-9 in league play. UT Arlington is guaranteed a spot in next week's Sun Belt Championship after missing out last year in UTA's first season in the conference.
"It is exciting and it is exciting for those girls, they have really earned it," UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich said. "They are playing really well right now and they have a lot of confidence. I am glad they got to do it themselves and not have to rely on someone else getting beat or winning in order to clinch."
Freshman center Rebekah Van Dijk earned her 15th double-double of the season with a game-high 16 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman guard Cierra Johnson scored 15 points and picked up six steals to move her into a tie for seventh for steals in a season in UTA single-season history.
"I think we were playing great," Van Dijk. "We needed another win to get into the tournament so we just said that we needed to go out and do it and have fun. It is exciting for us to make the tournament."
The Lady Mavs seized control right from the opening tip and raced out to commanding lead at Hanner Fieldhouse. UTA pummeled the Eagles (4-24, 1-18) inside in opening up leads of 10 less than eight minutes into the game, 16 after less than 13 minutes and 20 going into halftime.
"We talked about it all week," Gerlich said. "We needed to come out from the tip and be sure we didn't let them in the ball game early to give them confidence. Our kids came out with great energy."
UTA's 32-12 advantage at the break featured 10 points from Van Dijk and seven from Williams. Van Dijk also had 13 boards at the half, securing her double-double.
The Lady Mavs scored 22 points in the paint in the first half and enjoyed an 11-1 edge in second-chance points. UT Arlington also outrebounded Georgia Southern 31-14.
The Eagles' 12 points were the second lowest for an opponent this season in a first half this season, and the lowest in Sun Belt action. Georgia Southern made just 5 of 15 shots (20 percent) through the opening 20 minutes.
UTA swept the two-game season series with the Eagles. The Lady Mavericks conclude the regular season Saturday at Appalachian State.
Mountaineers Top Bobcats; Headed to NOLA
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women's basketball got a win over fourth-place Texas State on Thursday at the Holmes Center, 61-55.
The Mountaineers (14-14, 9-10 Sun Belt) won their third-straight game, splitting the season-series with the Bobcats (16-12, 11-8).
Appalachian began the game with a jumper from Maryah Sydnor and three-pointer from Farrahn Wood to take a 5-2 lead. With the Mountaineers leading 11-10 at the 14:08 minute mark the Bobcats went on a 6-0 run as App trailed 16-11 with 12:20 in the first half.
From there the Apps struggled to score, falling behind 28-19 at the 6:56 minute mark. The Mountaineers slowly began to chip away at Texas State's lead, getting four-straight points from Sydnor, but the Bobcats responded with three points of their own.
A basket from behind the arc from Katelyn Doub suddenly sparked an 11-0 run for the Apps as they forced three-straight Texas State turnovers to lead 34-31 with 22 seconds left in the half. The Bobcats converted on a last-second three-pointer as the teams went to the locker rooms with a tied score of 34-34.
Sydnor led the team with 12 points, while Jones followed with 10 in the first half. The Apps shot 43.8 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
The Bobcats were led by Meghan Braeuer's eight points as the team recorded a 44.8 field goal percentage.
Texas State started the second half with a 5-3 run, but App began to make shots, scoring eight-straight points with help from Jones, Bria Carter, Ashley Bassett-Smith and Bria Huffman to lead 41-39 at the 16:54 minute mark.
The Bobcats fought back, hitting two-straight three-pointers, but Madi Story responded with a three of her own with ten minutes to play. Texas State tied up the game at the 5:36 minute mark, but Bassett-Smith struck again and Huffman hit a free throw to give the Apps at 56-53 lead.
Defense would be the decider for the Apps in the last four minutes of the game as they stopped the Bobcats on their next five possessions. The Mountaineers struggled to find baskets as well, but Huffman would convert on a jumper off a pass from Story to give App a 58-53 lead with 1:38 to play.
The Apps stopped the Bobcats on their next three possessions, but Texas State would finally get two points, cutting App's lead to just three points and 20 seconds left in the game.
Jones and Carter combined for three crucial free throws to close out the game for the Mountaineers as they won with a score of 61-55.
Sydnor led the team, posting a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Jones followed with 14 points and six boards.
Appalachian shot 38.7 percent from the floor in the game, recording 46 rebounds and 15 turnovers.
Texas State was led by Erin Peoples' 11 points while the team recorded a 35.5 field goal percentage, 39 rebounds and 14 turnovers.
The Mountaineers return for a game on Saturday, March 7 against UT Arlington when they honor seniors Maryah Sydnor and Katie Mallow.