Troy Routs Armstrong State
TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball team never trailed in its final tune-up before opening Sun Belt Conference play as the Trojans (7-4) rolled to a 118-72 win over Armstrong State on Thursday in Trojan Arena.
The team's 118 points tied the most by Troy in Trojan Arena history and the 46-point margin of victory as tied the venues' high.
Leading 28-21 in the second quarter, La'Tia Fils-Aime' scored five points, including her first career 3-pointer, to spark a 14-0 run and open a 42-21 advantage. The Trojans never looked back shooting 47.9 percent and knocking down 12 shots from outside the arc in the rout.
Jayla Chills led the way for Troy with 19 points with 13 coming in the first half. As a team, the Trojans scored 55 points in the first two quarters, the most in the first half of play this season and four shy of the Trojan Arena record set against Georgia State in 2014.
Amanda Mendoza (13), Amber River (13), Claresa Banks (10) and Harriet Winchester (10) all finished in double digits while freshman Kayla Robinson posted seven assists.
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"Every player scored and every player got at least one rebound, so everyone was involved in this win," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "We saw some things that we really have to improve on before we pay South Alabama, but overall we were really pleased."
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Troy opens Sun Belt Conference play in Mobile against in-state rival South Alabama. The Jaguars won both regular season meetings last season, but the Trojans took the matchup in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
Trojans Rally For Sun Belt-Opening Win Over Cajuns
LITTLE ROCK – For the second time this season, the Little Rock women's basketball came back from a 15-point deficit to win.
Just like Little Rock (7-6, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) did at Tulsa on December 18, the Trojans rallied from behind for a 64-60 victory over Louisiana (6-4, 0-1) to open Sun Belt play at the Jack Stephens Center on Thursday night.
After the Ragin' Cajuns jumped out to a 22-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Trojans chipped away at the lead slowly throughout the rest of the game. Little Rock took its first lead at the 8:16 mark of the fourth quarter on a Kaitlyn Pratt layup and free throw, capping a 7-0 run to begin the fourth quarter.
Sharde' Collins was one point off her career high with 22, and Kyra Collier was three assists away from a triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. The 16 points and seven assists were both career highs. Pratt also scored in double figures with 15 points.
The 15-point comeback ties the Trojans' road win against Tulsa less than two weeks ago for the team's largest overcome deficit in a win in Joe Foley's 14 years as head coach.
The Cajuns started the game in rhythm offensively, making 10 of their 14 field-goal attempts in the first quarter. Combining that shooting proficiency with Little Rock shooting just 1 of 9 from the field and committing five turnovers, and the Cajuns had a 22-7 lead after the first quarter.
But the second quarter flipped that early script. Louisiana went just 3 of 12 from the floor in the period and Little Rock made eight field goals to outscore the Cajuns 17-7 and trail just 29-24 at halftime. Collins had 9 points in the quarter on 4 of 7 shooting.
The Cajuns expanded the lead to 9 points at 35-26 early in the second half, but Little Rock managed to stay close as the teams traded baskets for the rest of the third quarter. The Trojans were down just 46-42 after the period.
Monique Townson had a strong passing night with five assists and also had a team-high two steals in 40 minutes. Ronjanae DeGray had 2 points and four rebounds in 39 minutes of action, and Collins and Collier played 39 and 38 minutes, respectively. Townson added 7 points, and Carolee Dillard scored 2 points off the bench.
As a team, Little Rock was excellent from the free throw line, making 24 of 29 attempts. Louisiana, meanwhile, attempted just seven total free throws and made only three. Little Rock also scored 16 points off 13 Cajun turnovers and won the second-chance point battle 10-4.
The Trojans continue their opening weekend of Sun Belt play on Saturday when they face ULM at the Jack Stephens Center at 1 p.m. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the Trojan men also playing ULM at 3:30 p.m.
A-State Takes SBC Opener against ULM
JONESBORO, Ark. (12/29/16) – Freshman guard Jada Ford scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth period, leading the Arkansas State women’s basketball team to a second-half surge that resulted in a 71-56 win over Louisiana-Monroe in both team’s Sun Belt Conference opener Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
A-State won its sixth consecutive Sun Belt opener while improving to 16-11 all-time in such games. The Red Wolves (3-10, 1-0) also collected their 11th straight win over the Warhawks (3-9, 0-1) and brought their home record this year to an even 2-2.
“I liked our effort from start to finish and we know played hard from start and all the way through and I think a lot of had to do with how we wore them down and got them into foul trouble, which was significant,” Boyer said. “Another key area was the turnover battle where we only turned it over 10 times and they are a team that turns it over a lot and they only had six at the half, but we really stepped it up in the second half and got them to make 12 turnovers and we were able to take advantage of that.”
Including Ford, the Red Wolves had two players score in double figures as senior guard Brittany Fowler added 13 points. Fowler also pulled down a career-high seven rebounds, matching junior forward Lauren Bradshaw for the most by an A-State player on the night.
The first half featured 11 lead changes and ended in a 33-33 tie, but the Red Wolves outscored the Warhawks 18-11 and 20-12 in the third and fourth periods, respectively. A-State slightly improved its shooting percentage in the second half while ULM’s slightly dropped, but the Red Wolves scored 16 of their 18 points off turnovers in the second half.
Arkansas State opened the third period by scoring nine of the first 11 points as it claimed a 42-35 lead with 6:02 remaining. It built its lead to as many as eight before closing with a seven-point advantage, 51-44.
The fourth also began with an Arkansas State run as it outscored ULM 12-4 over the period’s first five minutes to open up a 63-48 lead. ULM was able to cut A-State’s lead to 11 points with 3:46 left, but couldn’t get any closer.
Ogo Obinabo played a pivotal role throughout the night and finished with a career-high seven points and nine rebounds and also was successful in drawing foul from the ULM defense which played a key factor with foul trouble late in the game.
“I’ll take seven points and nine rebounds from Ogo any day of the week,” Boyer said. “She really played well and the key with her is that she has also been aggressive but now she is starting to score off offensive rebounds and even though she struggled at the foul line she got their post players into foul trouble and that was huge.”
A-State finished the game with a .410 shooting percentage to ULM’s .359. Although the Warhawks held a 43-41 advantage on the boards, the Red Wolves committed eight fewer turnovers while dishing out three more assists.
Walla Leads Four In Double-Figures As Bobcats Clip Chanticleers
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Fueled by Kaitlin Walla's season-high 17 points along with three additional double-figure scorers Texas State defeated Coastal Carolina 83-62 in women's basketball action Thursday evening inside Strahan Coliseum. The game was the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
Joining Walla, who shot 60 percent overall with three 3-pointers, in double-figures were Toshua Leavitt, McKinley Bostad and Ti'Aira Pitts with 14, 14 and 10 points respectively. Leavitt and Bostad also counted four threes each, aiding the Bobcats to a season-high 13 made triples. In all the Bobcats (6-6, 1-0 Sun Belt) shot 54.5 percent (30 of 55) from the field, marking the second straight game of better than 50 percent shooting. Moreover, Texas State produced the statistic of the game by outscoring the Chanticleers 50-3 off the bench.
The Chanticleers (5-6, 0-1 Sun Belt) were paced by Ced Gibson's 22 points, while DJ Williams poured in a career-high 17. Coastal shot 36.5 percent (23 of 63) for the game, but did hold a 40-36 edge in rebounding.
Coastal took a quick lead 5-4 lead in the opening moments of the first, but Texas State responded with a 13-2 run, which including six at the free-throw line, to establish a double-digit lead at 17-7. The Bobcats scored five more on a Leavitt triple and Erin Peoples layup to close the quarter with a 22-15 lead.
The Bobcats led 27-21 in the second quarter before creating separation on the scoreboard with an 11-0 run. Pitts started the run with a basket inside at the 5:10 mark, Walla followed with a floater, Deer connected from long range and Amber Jones closed the run with back-to-back jumpers to give the Bobcats a 37-21 advantage. CCU outscored TXST 7-5 over the final 1:59, sending the teams into the locker rooms with the Bobcats holding a 43-28 lead.
Texas State shot 57.7 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, while also turning nine Chanticleer turnovers into 13 points.
The Chanticleers chipped away at Texas State's 15-point halftime lead throughout the third quarter. Coastal thrice cut the lead to less than 10 points, but each time the Bobcats answered back with a bucket on the other end. Leading 55-47 after two Chanticleer free throws, Walla made her second three of the game to push Texas State back to an 11-point lead.
After CCU again brought the Texas State lead under double-figure with the final shot of the third quarter, Leavitt restored the 11-point advantage with a triple 21 seconds into the fourth period. After a quick 4-0 burst by the visitors, Leavitt connected on back-to-back 3-pointers and Bostad added another three to push TXST in front 70-53 with 6:41 to go. Coastal got no closer than 16 the rest of the way as the Bobcats improved to 4-0 in Sun Belt openers.
Lady Mavs Dig Deep In Sun Belt Victory
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The UTA women's basketball team dug deep late in the fourth quarter to break open a close game and claimed a 74-63 victory over Appalachian State in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams at College Park Center.
Junior center Rebekah VanDijk equaled her second-highest scoring total of the season with a game-high 20 points, while junior guard Cierra Johnson went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line en route to 15 points.
UTA improved to 8-3 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. Appalachian State, which was coming off an impressive 30-point win over UNC Asheville, dropped to 5-7 overall and opened league play at 0-1.
Despite allowing Appalachian State to shoot 45 percent from the floor, the Lady Mavs put together a solid defensive effort. UTA forced 22 turnovers and all five Mountaineer starters finished the game with four personal fouls.
UTA shot 37 percent from the field and went 7-for-20 from beyond the 3-point arc. Appalachian State attempted just four 3-point field goals.
Key Stretches
First Half: UTA made five of their first eight shots, while limiting the Mountaineers to just a single basket over the first three minutes of the game. Shelby Richards registered a steal, raced down court, split two defenders and was fouled while making a scooping layup. She made the resulting free throw. A minute later Rebekah VanDijk made a layup to put UTA ahead 16-2, forcing Appalachian State coach Angel Elderkin to call a timeout. App cut into the lead when UTA went 1-of-10 for the final 5 minutes, pulling to within 20-14 at the end of the period.
After the two teams traded baskets to open the second quarter, Appalachian State went on a 10-2 run and claimed its first lead of the game at 26-24 on a layup by Cyndi Cole. Crystal Allen ended the run with a 3-pointer that opened an 8-2 run to hand the lead back to UTA. VanDijk's layup with :32 seconds left provided the 35-33 halftime score.
Second Half: The duo of Christina Devers and Aysia Evans led UTA in the third period with 10 of the team's 18 points on a combined 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from behind the 3-point arc. Tied 45-apiece with 3:15 left in the quarter, Devers hit a 3-pointer then connected on a layup in transition to put UTA ahead 50-45. After Appalachian State scored, Devers banked in a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give the Lady Mavs their biggest lead of the quarter at 53-47.
Appalachian State claimed the lead with a Jones jumper to open the fourth quarter and neither team led by more than one point for eight minutes. VanDijk reclaimed the lead for UTA with a pair of free throws with 2:09 left. The Lady Mavs stretched the lead to three points on another VanDijk jumper from the top of the key with 1:47 left. Cierra Johnson drew an offensive foul on App's Q Murray with 1:00 left. VanDijk scored again to put UTA ahead 70-63 to cap a 6-0 run.
Key Statistics
Appalachian State won two of the key statistical battles, outshooting and outrebounding the Lady Mavs. The Mountaineers shot 44.8 percent from the field and claimed a slight 40-36 edge on the boards. However, Appalachian State committed 26 personal fouls that resulted in UTA's 21-of-31 performance at the free throw line.
Next Game
The Lady Mavericks remain at College Park Center Saturday at 2 p.m. for the first game of a Sun Belt Conference doubleheader against league newcomer Coastal Carolina. The women's game is followed by a 4:30 p.m. men's game featuring UTA and the Chanticleers. Tickets are available online at UTATickets.com or by calling the UTA Box Office at (817) 272-9595 during weekday business hours.