Saturday, January 2
Lady Mavs cruise to Win over Eagles
ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington opened up the New Year in a big way with its biggest conference win since 2007. The Lady Mavericks shot 55.6 percent on the way to a 70-31 win over Georgia Southern on Saturday night at College Park Center.
UTA (6-6, 1-1 SBC) had four reach double digits in the 39-point rout, the largest league win since a 51-point victory over Nicholls State in 2007. Cierra Johnson led the way with 17 points. She was near perfect after going 8-of-9 from the field, adding three steals.
Joining in on the fun, Amara Wainwright had 15 points as she would convert on three 3-pointers in the matchup and was 6-10 shooting. Breck Clark poured in a career-high 11 points and Rebekah VanDijk added 10.
UTA opened up the game on fire from the field, knocking down seven of its first eight shots to build a 17-3 lead. The Lady Mavs opened on an 8-0 run before the Eagles would hit a 3-pointer, UTA picked up seven early points off of three turnovers and held southern to just two field goals in the first seven minutes.
After shooting more than 70 percent in the opening quarter, the Lady Mavs followed it up with a 53.3 percent second. VanDijk produced her offense in the first half to help UTA to a 20-4 advantage in points in the paint. She was 4-of-6 in the first half.
The defense stifled any attempt for the Eagles to try to claw into the lead. UTA held Georgia Southern to just 1-11 shooting in the third and 2-8 in the fourth. The Lady Mavs forced 22 GS turnovers, converting it into a 23-6 advantage in points off of turnovers.
The Lady Mavs improved to 3-0 all-time against Georgia Southern and have outscored the Eagles 136-72 in the last two meetings.
Turning point
UTA left little doubt that it would have a hangover from giving up a double-digit lead to Georgia State on Wednesday. The Lady Mavs opened the game with an 8-0 run that was compounded by a 9-0 run following a 3-point shot. After letting GSU outscore UTA 25-2 in the third, UTA outscored the Eagles 23-5 to put the game away.
Key Stats
UTA entered with the 51st-best scoring defense in the nation at 56.5 points per game, besting it by holding its fourth opponent to 54 points or less. … The 31 points were Georgia Southern's lowest since a 28-point performance against Georgia on Nov. 24
Notable
The 55.6 percent shooting was a conference-best through two nights of Sun Belt play. … The 31 points scored for GS was the fourth lowest for the Sun Belt this season.
Up next
UT Arlington begins a three-game road trip in conference play on Thursday at Appalachian State. The trek continues the following week against Troy and South Alabama. UTA was a combined 5-1 against the trio last season.
Bobcats Remain Perfect at Home with Win over Panthers
SAN MARCOS, Texas – A balanced scoring attack as well as a hot shooting first half led the Texas State women's basketball team to an 80-71 victory over Georgia State Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats had three players in double figures led by Ericka May with 19 as the 'Cats improve to 7-5 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
How It Happened:
Texas State built a comfortable lead very early in the contest as it outscored Georgia State 25-11 in the first quarter. The 'Cats made their first three baskets of the day, two of which were 3's from senior Raven Burns, to jump out to an 8-0 lead.
The Panthers clawed back to make it an 8-6 game with 7:06 to play in the first, but another 10-0 run by Texas State pushed the lead to 12 and it took off from there. In the second quarter, Texas State more than doubled its lead by outscoring the Panthers 29-14 on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor.
In the first half alone, the Bobcats went 8-for-13 from long range as they built up a 54-25 halftime lead over Georgia State. Burns matched her previous season-high of 11 in the first half.
The Bobcats continued to build upon their lead to go up as many as 33 with just over a minute to play in the third.
Georgia State, however, would not back down despite the large deficit that Texas State had created. In the fourth quarter, the Panthers rallied to put together 33 points including a 15-0 run that was snapped by a pair of May free throws with 1:26 to play.
After the run, Georgia State cut the Texas State lead to 13 and continued to chip away in the final minute of play. With nine seconds to go, the Panthers hit a 3-pointer to cut the Bobcat lead to single digits for the first time since 4:06 left in the first quarter.
Texas State held the lead for the entirety of the contest and as a team, finished the game shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Brown-Haywood, Lawson Carry A-State to Win at South Alabama
MOBILE, Ala. (1/2/16) – Khadija Brown-Haywood tallied her second double-double of the season with a career-high 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Amanda Lawson added 20 points as Arkansas State cruised to a 66-53 victory over South Alabama Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.
Brown-Haywood topped the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season and her 13 rebounds tied a career-high as A-State’s (8-3, 2-0 Sun Belt) post play led the way for the second straight conference game. Lawson and Brown-Haywood also teamed up for big games in the Red Wolves SBC opener against Troy and the pair continued to ride the momentum during Saturday’s contest.
“The first three quarters we did a lot of good things to put ourselves into a really good position to build the lead,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “We did a good job of really pressuring the high post and did not let them reverse the ball and get into their offense. It started with that and we were able to create some turnovers and get out in the open floor and create a little bit.”
A-State jumped on the Jaguars early with active hands on the defensive end and forced 13 turnovers in the first half. Brittney Gill gave South Alabama (4-7, 0-2) the most trouble with constant ball pressure and collected four steals to lead the way.
Offensively, Lawson continued to stay hot coming off her career-high 23 point performance at Troy. She scored 15 points in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting and took advantage of two great passes from Aundrea Gamble to setup easy layup opportunities.
South Alabama turned the ball over four times before the first quarter media timeout and the Red Wolves used a 7-0 run to go up 16-6 after a layup by Dominique Oliver with 2:39 to go in the opening period, but a scoring drought followed the run that lasted 3:29 that allowed USA to pull within 16-10 at the of the frame.
Arkansas State quickly pushed the advantage to double-digits with a 7-0 run to start the second quarter to go up 23-10. Brown-Haywood knocked a 3-pointer during the stretch, part of her 11 point, six rebound performance in the half.
The Jaguars were held to nine points in the second quarter and had just eight field goals for the first half.
A 7-0 run in the third quarter put A-State up 43-31 as the Jaguars went on a four-plus minute scoring drought. The lead grew to its largest point at 53-28 with 9:11 to go in the game, but South Alabama went on a 15-2 run to cut the deficit to 55-43 with just under five minutes to go.
A-State responded with a 9-0, including four straight field goals, to push the lead to 64-43 and quell the Jaguar comeback.
The Red Wolves return home for their Sun Belt home opener Thursday against Louisiana-Monroe.
Beverly Kelley Leads Troy Women Past Little Rock
TROY, Alabama – Ashley Beverly Kelley stuffed the stat sheet and the Troy women's basketball team picked up a big win over Little Rock, 78-71, at Trojan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Beverly Kelley scored 30 points to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals as Troy (6-5, 1-1) evened its Sun Belt record and beat the reigning Sun Belt champions at home for the third straight season.
Troy trailed by one, 54-53, after three quarters but opened the fourth with five straight points to take a lead that Little Rock (3-8, 1-1) would never recover from.
Little Rock got within two, 71-69, with 2:32 to go, but Beverly Kelley scored or assisted on Troy's final nine points, including converting a 3-point play wither under 30 seconds to go that was the dagger.
"This was a great win," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "We did something we don't normally do which is call a lot of offensive sets. They are so good on defense at getting back and stopping the run that we had to call a set almost every time down the floor.
"Ashley had a tremendous game, but something that isn't on the stat sheet is how well she got us into those sets and running them correctly."
The game wasn't as up-tempo as a typical Troy game, but both teams shot over 50 percent in a good offensive showing while Troy's pressure forced Little Rock into 26 turnovers. Troy scored 29 points off of those turnovers while Little Rock scored just 16 off of Troy's 21 miscues.
Claresa Banks scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting to finish in double figures for the third straight games. Caitlyn Ramirez was also in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Beverly Kelley shot 11-of-20 overall, 2-of-2 from deep and 6-of-6 from the free throw line as Troy shot 53 percent (29-of-55) as a team. Little Rock shot 53 percent (24-of-45) as well.
Troy held Shanity James, Little Rock's top player, to 10 points while Alexius Dawn, Little Rock's starting point guard, only played 13 minutes and did not score with foul trouble. Kaitlyn Pratt and Sharde' Collins, however, posted 17 points each to pace Little Rock.
Next up for Troy is its first Sun Belt road trip of the season, which starts on Thursday at Georgia State at 4 p.m. CT.
Strong Defensive Effort Helps Cajuns Top Appalachian State
LAFAYETTE – For the first time since the 2004-05 campaign, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team began the conference season at 2-0 with a 60-51 victory over visiting Appalachian State at the Cajundome Saturday afternoon.
"When you can hold a Division I opponent to 51 points like we did it's something we can feel good about," Ragin' Cajuns head coach Garry Brodhead said. "I enjoyed how hard we played on defense and controlled the boards. It's a win against a conference opponent and we will take the victory any way we can."
The Cajuns (9-2, 2-0 SBC) and Mountaineers opened the game in an offensive struggle, combining to hit six shots on 27 attempts.
Louisiana senior guard Kia Wilridge and junior guard Jaylyn Gordon deposited six points apiece in the opening stanza. Appalachian State took a 5-4 lead on a three-pointer by Kaila Craven with 5:19 on the first quarter clock, but responded when Gordon hit a pair of free throws and Wilridge dropped in consecutive layups to put the Cajuns ahead, 10-5.
The Mountaineers began the second quarter on a 6-0 run with three straight layups and jumped ahead, 13-12.
After a free throw by senior Brooklyn Arceneaux knotted the game at 13-13 at the 7:11 mark, Appalachian State regained the lead on a jumper by Madi Story, but four straight free throw makes by the Cajuns put the Mountaineers in a 17-15 hole with 3:08 to go in the first half.
The two foes traded buckets over the next three possessions before Appalachian State's Joi Jones hit a free throw with a second remaining, making it a 23-18 contest.
The Mountaineers closed to within a point at 26-25 at the 7:33 mark of the third quarter, but Arceneaux splashed a jumper to bump the lead back to three.
The Cajuns maintained the lead for the remainder of the quarter and took a 42-39 lead into the final quarter of play.
Ashley Bassett-Smith began the fourth quarter with a layup, but Wilridge answered with a layup of her own at the 7:32 mark, making it a 44-41 ballgame.
The two foes went the next 2:33 without scoring until Cajuns senior Keke Veal deposited a free throw, bumping the lead to 45-41.
Veal drew another foul at the 3:52 mark and finished the possession with two free throws to put the Cajuns in front, 47-41.
Appalachian State cut the Cajuns lead to three on two separate occasions in the final 2:35, but were unable to draw any closer as Louisiana picked up their seventh win in the past eight games.
Gordon scored 10 points to go with six assists, one shy of tying her career high. Veal tied her career high with six steals and added 10 points and an assist. The 10 points extended her double-digit point streak to 25 games.
The win was the 56th in Brodhead's collegiate coaching career - all with the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns program. The 56 victories places him two shy from passing Ross Cook to become the second-winningest coach in program history.
The Cajuns will travel to Arkansas to play Little Rock next Thursday, Jan. 7 for a 5:15 p.m. tip-off.