Thursday, January 14
Texas State Overcomes 18-Point Deficit to Defeat Jaguars
MOBILE, Ala. – The Texas State women's basketball team overcame an 18-point deficit in the third quarter to defeat South Alabama by a score of 73-71 Thursday afternoon. The Bobcats trailed by 18 with 8:00 to play in the third quarter before outscoring the Jaguars 42-24 in the final 18 minutes of action.
How It Happened:
South Alabama jumped out to a 27-15 early lead in the first quarter behind 71.4 percent shooting from the floor and four made 3-pointers. The Bobcats stayed within reach by making 10 trips to the charity stripe and converting on eight of them.
The hot shooting by South Alabama cooled off in the second quarter, but Texas State was unable to cut the deficit as each team scored 11 points for the period.
A 4-0 run by the Jaguars out of intermission granted the home team an 18-point edge over the visiting Bobcats. A 3-point play by Raven Burns with 7:22 to play in the third sparked a 12-3 Texas State run to cut that 18-point deficit into nine with 4:49 left in the period.
The Bobcats continued to chip away at the South Alabama lead in the closing minutes of the third. With just over a minute to play in the third, Ayriel Anderson drained back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Jaguar lead to three for the first time since the 7:22 mark in the first quarter.
Texas State proceeded to make six out of the first seven buckets in the fourth quarter to take a six-point, 64-58 lead over South Alabama. The Jaguars continued to put up a fight against the Bobcats, but the 58-58 tie would prove to be the final tie of the ball game as the end went in favor of Texas State.
The Bobcats went 9-for-15 in the final quarter of play and 4-for-8 from long range in the second half. Texas State continually put the Jaguars in foul trouble as the Bobcats took 26 trips to the line including 10 times in the first and third quarter.
The Jaguars outrebounded the Bobcats, 37-36, and outblocked the 'Cats 4-2 in the contest.
Who Stood Out:
Ayriel Anderson drained three, 3-pointers in the final 11:24 of the game to score a season-high 13 points … Taeler Deer shot 5-for-8 in the second half to lead Texas State with 14 points … Kiani Lurry recorded her second-straight double-digit scoring game with 13 … Kaitlin Walla and Raven Burns also scored in double-digits for the 'Cats with 11 and 10, respectively … De'Jionae Calloway and Anderson led the team with six rebounds … Deer also led the 'Cats with three steals.
Defense Sparks Panthers' 65-52 Win over ULM
ATLANTA – Georgia State relied on its defense to claim a 65-52 Sun Belt Conference win over the University of Louisiana at Monroe Thursday at the GSU Sports Arena.
The Panthers (7-7, 2-3) ended a three-game losing skid by holding ULM to 27.1 percent shooting, including just four points in the second quarter.
GSU went on a 12-2 run to end the second quarter and take a 27-18 halftime lead, then pushed that with an 8-2 run to start the third quarter and make it 35-20 for the largest lead of the game.
But, ULM wasn’t going to give up and closed back to 44-38 at the end of three periods. It was a two-possession game at 50-45 with 3:56 to play when GSU extended an 11-1 run to make it 60-46 with just 1:10 left to play.
“We played with more intensity on defense, used our feet a little more than we had been, and held a team below its season average, so that is usually how you win ball games,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “I am not real pleased and there are still a lot of things we have to do better, but I am pleased to see the defensive effort and get back on the winning side of the scoreboard.”
GSU got 12 points (5 of 8 FG), eight assists and seven rebounds from freshman point guard Madison Newby. Sophomore guard Makeba Ponder added 11 points and seven rebounds, while freshman forward Astaja Tyghter contributed 10 more points and four boards. Erica Norwood came off the bench to add nine points, while D’Arcy Draper added six more rebounds as a reserve.
“We had 11 players compete for 10 or more minutes, so it was a team effort and a lot of people gave us a lot of different things tonight,” coach added.
ULM (6-8, 0-5) got 14 points and nine rebounds from Alayshia Hunter, but she fouled out with 4:50 left to play. The Warhawks shot just 5 of 23 outside the 3-point line (21.7%) and made just 1 of 16 shots in the second quarter when they scored just four points.
GSU ended with a 45-42 rebound edge, had 14 assists, 9 steals and shot 40.9 percent for the game.
The Panthers play host to the University of Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday at noon in the GSU Sports Arena.
Cajuns Overcome Early Deficit, Defeat Eagles
STATESBORO, Ga. – Trailing 12-2 to open the game, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns held the Georgia Southern Eagles to 27 points over the last 35:18 to come away victorious, 56-39 Thursday afternoon at the Hanner Fieldhouse.
Fourth-year head coach Garry Brodhead picked up his 58th career victory at Louisiana, moving into sole possession of second place on the program's all-time wins list. (Ross Cook – 57).
The 39 points was the lowest total for a conference opponent since Feb. 28, 2015 when the Cajuns (11-3, 4-1 SBC) limited the same Georgia Southern team to 35 points at the Cajundome.
"We started really slow and struggled offensively and also on the defensive side as well to start the game," Brodhead said. "In the second half we played with a little more urgency. I thought Bre [Breionne Cooper] did a great job on the boards and Kia [Wilridge] ran the floor well and got us going [offensively]."
Louisiana shot 45.3% (24-of-53) from the floor and outrebounded the Eagles, 38-28.
Senior Kia Wilridge led all scorers with 17 points, while junior Jaylyn Gordon chipped in 15 points to go with three assists and three steals. Freshman Breionne Cooper picked up eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds in 31 minutes.
After falling behind, 12-2 at the 4:42 mark of the first quarter, the Cajuns slowly chipped away at the Georgia Southern lead. Three consecutive made free throws and three pointers by senior Keke Veal and Gordon helped close the gap to 14-10 with 1:11 remaining in the opening quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, the Cajuns closed to within two points after back-to-back jumpers by sophomore Jodi Quinn and Cooper. After trading buckets, senior Brooklyn Arceneaux and Veal both deposited a free throw each to give the Cajuns their first lead of the game at 23-22 with 2:34 on the clock.
Gordon provided a three-point lead before the intermission, splashing a jumper with 36 seconds left.
The second quarter saw Louisiana outscore Georgia Southern, 12-0 in the paint.
The Ragin' Cajuns never relinquished the lead for the remainder of the game. They received points from five different players in the third quarter (Veal, Cooper, Arceneaux, Wilridge, Gordon), and carried a 36-33 lead into the fourth quarter.
Georgia Southern cut the deficit to one point twice in the fourth quarter. Ashley Burke opened the fourth with a layup to make it 36-35. After layup by Veal, Trell English-Lurry buried a jumper to cut the lead to 38-37.
The one-point gap was as close as the Cajuns let the Eagles come to tying to the game. Wilridge hit three of the Cajuns next four shots to build the lead back to eight at 47-39 with 2:50 left in the game.
The final nine points of the game belonged to the Cajuns, who won their fourth road game of the 2015-16 season.
Veal's 27-game streak of double-digit points came to an end, as she finished with nine points to go with four assists and a blocked shot.
Louisiana concludes their four-game road trip with a visit to Georgia State this Saturday, Jan. 16. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. CST.
Troy Wins Fourth Consecutive in Battle of Offense and Defense
TROY, Alabama – The Sun Belt's top offense and top defense met on Thursday night as the Troy women's basketball team pulled away in the third quarter to win its fourth straight game, beating UT Arlington, 88-71, at Trojan Arena.
Troy (9-5, 4-1) scored 30 points in the third quarter to build a 20-point lead against UT Arlington (7-7, 2-2) who came in giving up a Sun Belt-low 53 points per game. Troy, with the nation's sixth best offense at 85 points per game, surpassed the 53-point mark with 4:04 to go in the third and never looked back.
Ashley Beverly Kelley, the Sun Belt's leading scorer, topped her season average with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting. The senior also grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds to notch a double-double while also adding a team-high five assists.
ArJae' Saunders chipped in a career-high 19 points in just 23 minutes to become the second Trojan in double figures. Amanda Mendoza added 11 points and Caitlyn Ramirez added 10 and seven rebounds for Troy.
Troy also got nine rebounds from Kristen Emerson and outrebounded UT Arlington, 47-34, to post its biggest rebounding margin of the season for the second straight game.
"UT Arlington is a fine team. We thought they were going to be the toughest team in our conference to outrebound," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "But we did come away with the rebound advantage. We didn't create as many turnovers as we thought we needed to, but we still found a way to win."
UT Arlington had just 13 turnovers, the fewest forced by Troy this season, but the Trojans shot 51 percent (30-of-59) and held the Mavericks to 34 percent (25-of-73). Troy shot over 50 percent in each but the second quarter, but held UTA to 22 percent (4-of-18) in that second quarter to take a 35-31 lead at the break.
Troy then opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to jump ahead, 43-31. The lead was up to 21 by late in the third quarter as Troy committed just one of its 20 turnovers and UTA committed five in the decisive frame. When all was said and done, Troy outscored UT Arlington, 30-14, in the third quarter.
Troy's lead grew to as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter, but when UT Arlington began to pressure full court Troy got a bit sloppy and the Mavericks cut the lead to as little as 12 points.
The Trojans had a big night from long range, hitting 10-of-19 to shoot over 50 percent for the third time this season. It was also Troy's fifth game with at least 10 triples as Beverly Kelley (3-of-6), Mendoza (2-of-3) and Saunders (2-of-2) all hit multiple from deep.
UT Arlington got a career night from Cierra Johnson who scored 26 points on 9-of-16 overall and 5-of-8 from deep. Rebekah VanDijk posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but 6-foot-5 sophomore struggled from the field, hitting just 5-of-14.
Troy remains in second place in the Sun Belt at 4-1 in league play, but will have a tough one on Saturday when Texas state comes to Trojan Arena at 3-1 in Sun Belt play after a win over South Alabama on Thursday. The Trojans and Bobcats will tip off at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Dominant Second Quarter Lifts Little Rock Past Mountaineers
LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock had a dominating second quarter against Appalachian State on Thursday evening, riding that to a 67-50 over the Mountaineers at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Trojans (5-9, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference) outscored their opponent 23-8 in the second quarter, getting points on the fast break and keeping Appalachian State (5-9, 2-3) out of a comfortable offensive rhythm. Other than the second quarter, Little Rock held just a 44-42 edge on the scoreboard.
The 17-point margin of victory was Little Rock's largest of the season.
Kaitlyn Pratt led the Trojans in scoring with 16 points, and she nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds. Senior Shanity James also just missed a double-double, putting up 10 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Monique Townson was the other Trojan in double-figure scoring, coming through for 12 points.
Little Rock is now on a two-game winning streak in league play and is above .500 in the conference standings after slipping to 1-2 earlier in the year. The Trojans have a rare Saturday off this week before heading to Jonesboro for their rivalry game at Arkansas State on Monday.
The Trojans prepared for Monday's game well on Thursday on defense, holding the Mountaineers to just 34 percent shooting all night and forcing them into 23 turnovers. Those turnovers became 21 Trojan points.
Little Rock also noticeably improved on its passing and post play, picking up 15 assists. Alexius Dawn, who scored 9 points, added a season-best seven assists. Two other Trojans – James and Sharde' Collins added three assists each. Little Rock used multiple fast breaks in the second quarter to gain the edge for good, and the Trojans finished the night with 14 fast-break points to Appalachian State's 2.
The win was Little Rock's third straight win against the Mountaineers and the 705th of Joe Foley's career.
The Mountaineers started with the first basket of the night, but Little Rock immediately went on a 5-0 run thanks to a banked-in 3-pointer by Dawn and a steal-and-score layup by James to make it a 5-2 lead. Freshman Kira Shepard added a 3-pointer after that, and a Pratt transition layup gave Little Rock a 10-6 edge at the first media timeout.
The Little Rock offense got ice cold after that, finishing the quarter hitting just one of its final 13 field goal attempts. But 4 points from the free-throw line and a stout defense helped the Trojans to a 16-10 lead after the first 10 minutes.
The Trojans took over completely in the second quarter, ballooning their lead to 21 points at the halftime break thanks to inside scoring, fast-break layups and terrific passing. Little Rock went on a 12-0 run at one point during the middle of the quarter and forced two Appalachian State timeouts. Dawn, James and Collins al l had at least three assists in the first half, and Pratt ended the half with a team-high 12 points.
The Mountaineers, meanwhile, could not find their shooting touch and made just seven of 30 field-goal attempts in the first half. Little Rock had five steals, and 11 App State turnovers led to 9 Trojan points. Little Rock's lead at halftime at 39-18, and the Trojans led by as many as 24 at one point.
The third quarter saw the Mountaineers outscore the Trojans by a 17-13 margin, but Little Rock still maintained a 17-point lead heading into the final quarter. Little Rock shot just 25 percent in the quarter while the Mountaineers shot 38.5 percent.
In the fourth, the Mountaineers made things briefly interesting when they got the Trojan lead down to just 14 points with 5:40 to go. But back-to-back 3-pointers from Deja McKinney and Collins ended that hope for the visiting team. That 3-pointer brought Collins over 500 points in her Trojan career.
Pratt picked up two blocks in the game while Townson and McKinney had one apiece. James, Shepard and Collins all had two steals.
The Trojans' big rivalry game takes place early next week, as the team takes on Arkansas State at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro. Little Rock and the Red Wolves are set for a 5:05 p.m. tipoff.