Saturday, February 27

Troy Women Grind Out Win on Ashley Beverly Kelley’s Senior Day
TROY, Alabama – It was Ashley Beverly Kelley's final game at Trojan Arena, and the Troy women's basketball team didn't shoot well, but it found a way to beat ULM, 74-64, on Saturday afternoon.

Beverly Kelley, a Mid-Major All-American and the Sun Belt's leading scorer this season, dropped 27 points in her home finale on 9-of-20 shooting, including 5-of-10 from deep. It was the 40th 20-point game of her career, but the rest of the Trojans struggled from the field as Troy overcame a 32 percent shooting effort to win for the firth time in its last six games.

Troy (15-12, 10-8) applied pressure to ULM most of the day and forced the Warhawks into 23 turnovers while outscoring them in points off turnovers, 18-7. Troy also dominated on the glass, outrebounding ULM, 45-36. Troy grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to take a 21-6 advantage in second-chance points.

"We're thrilled to get this win," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "We didn't shoot as well as we would like, but I think because we caused so many turnovers and rebounded so well, we were able to come away with the win."

ArJae' Saunders and Claresa Banks joined Beverly Kelley in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively, as they each hit a pair of free throws late to ice the win.

Troy led by as many as 13 points down the stretch, but ULM led by 11 early in the first quarter as Troy started out ice cold. The Trojans shot just 3-of-18 in the first quarter, and at one time trailed, 15-4, before closing on a 7-2 run to get within 17-11 after the first 10 minutes.

Beverly Kelley scored 10 of her points in the second quarter to get Troy back in it, but a wild sequence to end the half really gave Troy the momentum.

Caitlyn Ramirez, who had 14 rebounds on the night, got an offensive rebound and a putback at the second-quarter buzzer. The junior was fouled on the play, and the officials added 1.1 seconds to the clock. Ramirez missed the free throw, but Kristen Emerson, who had eight rebounds, corralled the miss and also hit at the buzzer to give Troy a 32-24 lead the break.

ULM (10-17, 4-14) shot 53 percent (17-of-32) in the second half, but a lot of those makes were behind a Troy press that was effective and gave Troy transition opportunities. Troy hit 14-of-16 free throws in the second half to stay ahead the entire way.

The Warhawks got as close as six points, 63-57, with 2:35 to go in the game, but Beverly Kelley responded with a 3-pointer and a layup on back-to-back possession to put Troy up, 68-59, with 1:00 to go. Troy made all six of its free throws in the final minute to grab the win.

Alayshia Hunter scored 30 points for ULM to lead all in the game. She hit 14-of-17 from the field, mostly behind the Troy press, and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Troy did force the senior into seven turnovers. Daja Chase had 17 points for the Warhawks, but also had six turnovers.

Troy took nearly 20 more shots than ULM, hitting 23-of-72 while ULM made 26-of-54. The Trojans were much better beyond the arc where they hit 9-of-30, compared to ULM's 2-of-13 effort. The Trojans were also great the free throw line where they hit 19-of-23 on the night.

The win kept Troy tied with South Alabama for fourth place in the Sun Belt standings. The Jaguars beat UL Lafayette, dropping the Ragin' Cajuns down to with a game of Troy and South Alabama.

The Trojans now close their regular season with a pair of road games in Texas, starting with a Thursday night contest at Texas State and finishing on Saturday at UT Arlington. Troy beat both teams at Trojan Arena earlier this season.

Daniels' Season-high Leads Jags to 10th Sun Belt Win
MOBILE, Ala. – Marquita Daniels recorded a season-high 26 points, leading the University of South Alabama women's basketball team to its 10th Sun Belt Conference victory of the season, as the Jaguars held off a late charge by UL Lafayette Saturday afternoon to pick up a 68-59 win at the Mitchell Center on Senior Day.

"It was just a great team win," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "We take great pride in trying to win on Senior Night and send them out on top, so it was great that our kids fought and battled. We knew that Louisiana-Lafayette was not going to fold their tent and quit, they battled and our kids fought back and were able to withstand the run they had at the end of the game. It came down to making free throws, and we were able to do that."

Prior to tip off, USA recognized its three seniors – Jennifer Towne, Juliann Miller and Taylor Jenkins.

The Jaguars (14-13, 10-8 SBC) will now head out on the road for a pair of games, beginning with UT Arlington on Thursday night. Tip off versus the Mavs is set for 5 p.m. at the College Park Center. Live stats and web streaming for the contest versus the Mavericks can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com. Fans can also keep up with in-game updates by following action on the program's twitter account @SouthALWBB.

The 10 conference wins mark the first 10-conference win season for the Jaguars since the 2012-13 season.

Daniels finished the game 8-of-12 from the field and knocked down eight of her 10 attempts at the free-throw line in 35 minutes of action. The sophomore guard also chipped in with six rebounds, three assists and five of South Alabama's six steals in the contest.

Joining Daniels in double figures were Jenkins – who tied a career high with 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting – and Colby Davis – who had 11 points. Davis was a perfect 6-of-6 at the foul line. As a team, South Alabama shot 72.7 percent from the foul line, connecting on 16 of their 22 attempts at the stripe.

Chyna Ellis just missed a double-double as she had nine points and a season-best 14 boards, 13 coming on the defensive glass. Ellis also added three blocks to increase her season total to 74. With the three blocks, Ellis has now recorded multiple blocks in 22 of her 27 games this season and in her 18 conference games, the 6-2 center is averaging 3.11 per outing.

USA finished with seven blocks in the contest, giving South Alabama 162 for the year, setting a new program record for blocks in a season. The Jags entered the game tied with the '08-09 (155) club in that category.

UL Lafayette fell to 18-9 overall and 11-7 in Sun Belt play with the loss. Keke Veal, coming off a 34-point outing on Thursday night against Troy, dropped in 26 points on 9-of-24 shooting and a 6-for-6 performance at the free-throw line. Simone Fields posted a double-double – her third of the season – with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Kia Wilridge was plagued by foul trouble early on, but managed to finish with nine points.

South Alabama shot 46.9 percent from the field (23-of-49) and hit six of its 11 three-point attempts. ULL was held to just 31.9 percent shooting on the afternoon and didn't record a three-pointer until three minutes into the fourth quarter.

USA also held a 15-5 advantage in assists. The Ragin' Cajuns entered the game averaging 10.6 per game.

UL Lafayette was able to pull down 17 offensive boards, but the Cajuns were only able to turn those into 12 total points. In the first meeting between the two clubs this season, ULL recorded 44 points in the paint – 63.8 percent of its offensive output. In Saturday's matchup, USA cut that holding the Cajuns to just 22 points – 37.9 of their offensive output in the loss.

ULL held a three-point advantage in the opening minutes of the contest, but over next three minutes the Jaguars would battle back and take a seven-point lead. Two seniors would bookend a 12-2 South Alabama run during that time. Miller knocked down a runner in the lane with just over seven minutes to go ignite the scoring. With just over four minutes showing on the clock, Jenkins hit a runner along the left baseline to cap off the run and put USA up 14-7.

Miller and Jenkins got off to a quick start in the first, recording half of South Alabama's points during the period.

Veal ended the Jag run and gave ULL its first points in nearly four minutes as the senior guard drained a jumper just inside the arc as the shot clock expired at the 3:34 mark of the first quarter.

South Alabama would do most of its scoring during the first 10 minutes of action in the paint, recording 10 of its 16 points there.

Brooklyn Arceneaux scored four points – a jumper and a pair of free throws – for the Ragin' Cajuns in during the first two minutes of the second quarter to tie the contest back up at 16-16.

Over the next four-plus minutes of the quarter, the two clubs would exchange the lead seven times. With less than four remaining before the half, Daniels ignited another run for the Jags to send the host into the locker room with the lead. Daniels hit a pair of free throws to begin the scoring for USA and the sophomore later found Davis open on the left wing for a wide-open three. With under a minute to go before the intermission, Miller found Ellis in the paint for a layup to extend South Alabama's lead to 33-27. Miller had four assists during the first two quarters.

Daniels led all scorers during the first 20 minutes of action as she dropped in 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a pair of treys, and hit all four of her free throw attempts. Fields had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Ragin' Cajuns.

As a team, South Alabama knocked down 52.2 percent of its shot attempts, connecting on 12-of-23 from the floor, while holding ULL to 34.4 percent shooting (11-of-32).

South Alabama pushed the lead out to double figures three minutes into the third when Miller drove the right baseline and dished the ball off to Ellis underneath the basket for a bucket to put USA up 39-29.

After the Ragin' Cajuns cut the deficit to seven, the Jaguars later used an 8-2 spurt to extend the lead back out to 48-35. The run was highlighted by a pair of treys by two post players – Ellis and Jenkins. Daniels knocked down a pair of free throws at the 4:44 mark to give USA the 13-point advantage.

"We were able to get the ball inside, we went with some high-low action and some post ups; we told them we had to get the ball into the paint," Fowler said of how the Jags were able to extend the lead out to double figures in the third. "We keep a stat called 'paint touches' and in the first quarter we were at 75 percent and playing fairly well, in the second quarter it was below 50 percent. The emphasis was to get the ball inside into the paint, and that let us get easy baskets and were also able to get them in foul trouble."

ULL would answered back with four quick points over the next minute to bring the deficit back to single digits, but the Jags regained control, rattling off another 8-2 scoring spurt. Davis began the scoring with a jumper and Genesis Perrymond then drained a three-pointer from the right corner to extend the lead back out to 53-39 with just over two to go. After a pair of free throws by the Cajuns, Jenkins knocked down a jumper and then Perrymond hit one of two at the line to cap off the scoring and give USA its largest lead of the afternoon at 56-41 with a minute-and-a-half remaining in the third.

In the fourth quarter, UL Lafayette would charge back and get as close as eight three-and-a-half minutes into the final period of play. Veal scored the first five points and Wilridge then stole the ball and went the length of the court for a layup to cut South Alabama's advantage to eight (58-50) at the 6:39 mark.

On ULL's next possession, Daniels came up big defensively, recording her fourth steal of the afternoon. The 5-7 Jaguar guard then raced down the floor for a layup of her own to put USA back up by double figures.

The Ragin' Cajuns would continue to chip away at the South Alabama lead, pulling within four (63-59) with just over a minute to go after Veal's second trey of the afternoon, but that would be as close as the Jags would let them get the rest of the way, as USA scored the final five points of the contest, picking up the nine-point win. Daniels went 3-of-4 at the charity stripe down the stretch and Ellis had a layup of her own to seal the victory.

Red Wolves Cruise Past Mavericks
JONESBORO, Ark. (2/27/16) – A wire-to-wire 66-44 win over UT Arlington helped Arkansas State women’s basketball to their 18th-straight win and a perfect home record this season.

The win improved A-State to 13-0 on home floor this season and extended the home win streak to 18 games. The Red Wolves move to 24-3 on the season and a perfect 18-0 in Sun Belt play. UT Arlington falls to 13-14 overall and 8-9 in conference play.

A-State recognized five seniors, all starters, before the game and the group contributed heavily in their home finale. Aundrea Gamble led the way with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists while Jessica Flanery was 4-for-7 from 3-point range for 12 points. Khadija Brown-Haywood and Brittney Gill each had 10 points while Amanda Lawson added eight points. Rebekah VanDijk had a team-high 13 points for the Mavericks.

“This effort was interesting was how similar this was to Thursday’s game,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “Earlier on the intensity and effort was perfect and the players did a great job of executing the game plan.”

A-State opened the game on a 13-2 run and never looked back. The Red Wolves 5-of-10 from the field to start the game, while the Mavericks struggled out of the gate went just 1-for-7 from the floor. A 3-pointer by Lawson, just the second of her career, capped the 13-2 start for the Red Wolves.

UT Arlington trimmed the A-State lead to six, 16-10, with 2:31 left in the first quarter, but that would be as close as the Mavericks got the rest of the day. A-State closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run and extended the run to 16-4 in the first 4:37 of the second frame.

After a trey by Gamble gave A-State a 19-10 lead, the Red Wolves scored their next six points by way of old-fashioned three-point plays. Gamble drove to the basket was fouled and hit the bonus to make it 22-10 with 1:16 left. Lauren Bradshaw received an entry pass in the post, laid in the layup and finished the and-1 opportunity to cap the first quarter for A-State.

The Red Wolves had a 42-23 lead at halftime after shooting 7-for-13 (53.9 percent) from 3-point range in the half. A-State was 50 percent (16-32) from the floor while holding the Mavericks to 27 percent (8-28).

A-State picked up where they left off in the first half, outscoring the Mavericks 21-6 in the third quarter. The Red Wolves were 56 percent (9-16) from the floor, building the largest lead of the night, 63-29, with a jumper by Gill before the horn at the end of the third quarter.

“This had every making of a letdown game,” Boyer said. “Once again this group just continues to do what they do. They come focused and ready play and its really fun to watch and to coach.”

A-State finished the game 44 percent (26-59) from the floor and 3-point range (10-23) while holding the Mavericks to 30 percent (15-50) from the floor and 19 percent (3-16) from the 3-point range. The Red Wolves out-rebounded UT Arlington 36-31 and forced 18 turnovers.

With the victory A-State is also know just the third team in Sun Belt Conference history to win 18 games in conference play. Little Rock and Middle Tennessee are the only two other teams to accomplish the feat.

The Red Wolves close the regular season with a two road games next week. A-State plays at Little Rock Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. before closing the season at Appalachian State on Saturday at noon (CT).

Trojans Earn No. 2 Seed in SBC Tournament with Win over Bobcats
LITTLE ROCK – The Trojan women's basketball team clinched the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament while getting some revenge from its last loss of the season on Saturday night.

Little Rock's defense held its seventh consecutive opponent under 50 points and Shanity James posted a double-double in a 57-45 win over Texas State at the Jack Stephens Center.

The victory – the Trojans' 11th straight – combined with a loss by Louisiana against South Alabama on Saturday, guarantees Little Rock (16-11, 14-4 Sun Belt) the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament in New Orleans on March 8-11. Little Rock will play the No. 7 seed in the first round on March 8 at 5 p.m.

Texas State (12-15, 7-10) was not helped Saturday by its 22 turnovers, resulting in 18 Little Rock points. The Bobcats shot just 37 percent from the field and had only three assists. The Bobcats are the last team to have beaten the Trojans, claiming a 67-57 win in San Marcos on Jan. 21.

Little Rock, meanwhile, got an excellent game from James. The senior, playing in her second-to-last home game at the Jack Stephens Center, led all players with 18 points and had 13 rebounds. Those 13 rebounds tied a season high and marked her fifth double-double of the year.

Alexius Dawn also scored in double figures, putting up 12 points. She also led the team with three steals.

The win gives the Trojans 14 Sun Belt victories for the second consecutive year and extends the team's winning streak to 11 games, its longest since the 2012-13 season. Little Rock also won its eighth consecutive game at the Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans have also swept through February, going 8-0 in the month.

Already leading by 10 points at halftime, Little Rock pulled away from Texas State in the third quarter. The Trojans scored the first 4 points of the period to take a 31-17 lead, and that would stretch to 16 points at 47-31 after two James free throws at the end of the quarter.

The Bobcats briefly got the Trojans' lead into single digits with 3:42 left in the game, but Little Rock got back-to-back James layups to put the game out of Texas State's reach.

Sharde' Collins finished the night with 8 points, while Kaitlyn Pratt and Monique Townson had 6 apiece. Keanna Keys put 7 points on the board and tied with Pratt and Townson with five rebounds. Keys also had the team's only block.

Little Rock shot 84.6 percent from the free-throw line, sinking 11 of 13 attempts to eclipse the 80 percent mark for the third consecutive night.

The first quarter began very slowly, with the Bobcats getting a basket on their first possession but then being held scoreless for the next five minutes. James had two layups in that span for the Trojans, and the game was tied at 4-4 at the first media timeout. The scoring didn't kick in much for the rest of the quarter, and Little Rock held just an 8-6 lead entering the second.

In the second quarter, though, the Trojans' offense got going. Little Rock put up 19 points in the period including 10 from Dawn. The senior hit two 3-pointers and had two layups, helping the home team extend its lead to 10 points at halftime. James also had 10 points at the break, and Little Rock's shooting had improved from 33 percent to 41 percent. Included in that second quarter was a 10-2 run that saw four straight made field goals. Little Rock got a Dawn 3-pointer and a Keys and-1 play in that span to take the larger lead.

Texas State was responsible for much of its own undoing in the first half, committing 14 turnovers and having no assists to its name. The Bobcats made just six of 20 field-goal attempts in the first two quarters.

The Trojans will play their final game of the season in front of the Jack Stephens Center crowd on Tuesday, battling Arkansas State in a showdown between the league's first- and second-place teams. Tipoff is set for 5:15 p.m.

Mountaineers Down Panthers with Clutch Plays in Final Moments
ATLANTA - For the second time in as many games, Appalachian State University women’s basketball (10-17, 7-11) needed late-game heroics to come away with an exhilarating 72-69 win over Georgia State Saturday afternoon in the GSU Sports Arena.

With the win, the Mountaineers have a two-game cushion over GSU (10-17, 5-13) for the eighth seed in the conference tournament, while the victory gave the Apps a 2-0 finish on the road in league play for the first time this season.

Joi Jones pumped in a career-high 28 points while shooting an impressive 12-for-17 (70.5 percent) in a game-high 38 minutes of action. The junior guard came up with big plays in the final quarter once again with 11 of her 17 second-half points. Kaila Craven didn’t play like a freshman on Saturday, pouring in a personal-best 18 points off the bench while draining a career-best four 3-pointers, three of which either tied the game or gave Appalachian the lead.

Madi Story stuffed the stat sheet with six points, a team-high seven boards, four assists and four swipes.

KeKe Cooper added in 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field with three blocks and five boards. The senior didn’t set any career highs, but she did make perhaps the two biggest plays of the season for the Mountaineers in the thick of the tournament race.

With 27 seconds left in the game and the Mountaineers trailing, 69-67, Cooper grabbed the offensive board over two defenders off the missed layup, went up strong to convert the putback in spite of being fouled and tied the game at 69-all. Moments later, Cooper hit the free throw to put the Apps up by one, 70-69.

On the following possession, Georgia State’s Makeba Ponder went left for the layup before Cooper came from help side to pick up the crucial block, while Bria Carter snagged the rebound.

Still leading by just one with six seconds left, Craven stepped up to the line after drawing the foul and hit the two biggest free throws of the game that gave Appalachian a 72-69 advantage, and put pressure on GSU to hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. Georgia State had chance to tie with a tightly-contested 3-pointer, but fell way short, sealing the win for the Mountaineers.

The trio of Jones, Craven and Cooper scored 57 of the team’s 72 points (79 percent) while shooting 23-for-39 (59 percent) from the field.

It was a close game throughout, as the Mountaineers and Panthers exchanged 14 ties and 14 lead changes while neither team led by more than five points.

Appalachian took an early 9-4 lead in the opening 3:46 of the contest once Jones hit one of her three layups in the period. GSU cut the deficit to one, 11-10, with 3:03 left in the first stanza. Cooper extended the lead back to five, 15-10, on a jumper that was assisted on by Carter. App State was on top of the hosts for the rest of the frame taking a 17-14 advantage.

Craven’s trifecta with 9:28 left in second quarter put the Apps up 20-16. However, an 11-2 run over a 4:01 span gave Georgia State its largest lead of the game at five, 27-22. Appalachian responded with a 9-4 run to cut the lead to one, 32-31, thanks to a layup from Cooper with 45 seconds left. After a GSU layup on the following possession, Craven drained one from long distance to tie things up going into the break, 34-34.

Both teams shot well in the first half with Appalachian shooting an even 50 percent and Georgia State shooting 51.7 percent. Jones and Craven totaled 21 points between the duo guards on 9-for-13 shooting while Cooper went 4-of-6 for eight points.

The Sun Belt foes went back and forth in the third quarter. Trailing 42-38 with 5:23 left in the contest, Ashley Bassett-Smith sparked a 5-0 spurt that was capped off by a corner trifecta from Craven that pushed App State to a 43-42 advantage. From the 5:04 mark until the end of the third quarter, the Apps and Panthers finished with seven lead changes before the Black and Gold took a 50-49 lead into the fourth quarter when Mia Marshall received a nifty pass from Carter for the layin.

Story got the ball rolling with three-straight points in the final period to extend the Apps’ lead to three, 52-49. But like the previous three frames, the Panthers didn’t go away quietly where they scored 10 of the next 14 points to take a 59-57 lead with 4:56 left in the game. App State scored on back-to-back jumpers from Jones that gave App State a 61-59 lead. But the Panthers sprinted to a 65-62 lead with 2:35 left in the contest off a 6-1 run.

Coming in the clutch moments later was Craven on the offensive end, where she hit a 3-pointer to tie the contest, 65-65. GSU and App State traded two more baskets that gave GSU a 69-67 lead with 1:19 left in the game, setting up the final theatrics.

In the fourth quarter, App State came away with seven offensive rebounds to GSU’s two boards on the offensive end. The Panthers did have 13 offensive rebounds (Appalachian - eight offensive rebounds) entering the final period. Appalachian also went 8-for-9 in the fourth quarter (11-for-13 overall).

App State will conclude the regular season with the final home stretch against the top two teams in the conference, starting with Little Rock on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Holmes Center.