Late Offensive Outburst Propels A-State Women’s Basketball Past Troy, 94-80
JONESBORO, Ark. (2/6/16) – Led by three players scoring at least 21 points, the Arkansas State women’s basketball team used a late offensive explosion to turn a tightly-contested Sun Belt Conference game against Troy into a 94-80 victory Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
The Red Wolves won their 12th consecutive game to improve their overall record to 18-3, which ties the 1992-93 team for the program’s best ever mark through 21 games. A-State also improved to 12-0 in Sun Belt play for the first time in school history and extended its school-record home winning streak to 22 contests. Troy saw its overall record move to 10-11 and now stands 5-7 against league opponents.
Senior forward Khadija Brown-Haywood collected her third straight double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds, which were both team highs. A-State senior guards Jessica Flanery and Aundrea Gamble scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, while junior guard Brittany Fowler came off the bench to add 10. Flanery’s scoring production was the second best of her career, and Gamble reached at least 20 points for the fourth time over the last five games.
“I think to say that this was a big win for our team would be an understatement,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “As seasons go along certain wins take more meaning and this is one of those because Troy is a really good team and this was battle and to get out of here with a victory against a team like Troy is a big reward.”
The contest’s first 35 minutes featured seven ties and 20 lead changes with neither team holding more than a seven-point advantage at any point. The Red Wolves ended the first period with a one-point lead and took a 39-38 advantage into the break.
The third period was back-and-forth as well, and Troy even held a 71-70 advantage with 6:06 left in the fourth before A-State took the lead for good on a pair of Dominque Oliver free throws 10 seconds later. Still ahead by just three points, 75-72, with 3:38 remaining on the clock, the Red Wolves exploded for a 14-2 run in a span of just over two minutes to create some breathing room.
The run saw A-State score on five of its six possessions, including three pointers by Gamble and Flanery and old fashioned three-point plays by Lauren Bradshaw and Brown-Haywood, who scored 21 points and 10 rebounds in the second half alone on her way to her ninth double-double this season.
“From a team standpoint I thought weathering that second quarter was huge for us,” Boyer said. “With Khadija and Brittney Gill in foul trouble it was all we could do to keep things under the control. Then in the fourth quarter it was just a matter of stringing together three or four stops to stretch out the lead a little bit.”
The Red Wolves completed the game with 12 three pointers and 22 free throws, both season highs, and their second highest totals this year for points scored and assists (20). Flanery alone tied her career high for three-point field goals with six, which also tied the fourth most in school history.
The squad also tied their second highest output for rebounds (46) and blocked shots (6) this season. A-State ended the game with a 45.5 field goal percentage in comparison to Troy’s 42.7, and the Red Wolves collected nine more rebounds.
The Trojans were led by three players scoring in double digits, including Ashley Beverly Kelley with a team-high 32 points that were only one shy of her season high.
A-State will begin a four-game road swing Thursday, Feb. 11, with a 5:00 p.m. contest at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Tickets are on sale for all remaining home games, including four mini game packs. For more information, visit AStateRedWolves.com/Tickets.
For the latest on the A-State women’s basketball follow the team log onto the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB, follow them on Twitter @AStateWB and on Instagram at “AStateWBB.”
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Mountaineers Assist Their Way to Win Over ULM
BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University women’s basketball (8-13, 5-7 SBC) used a team-centric performance to roll past ULM (9-12, 3-9 SBC),64-52, Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center.
The Mountaineers displayed great ball movement for 40 minutes that led to 17 assists on 25 field goals (68 percent) while shooting 45.6 from the field.
Much like Thursday’s victory over UL-L, Madi Story (Maiden, N.C./Bandys) and KeKe Cooper (Spartanburg, S.C.) provided the scoring punch combining for 30 points.Story scored a game-high 18 points on 6-for-15 shooting with four boards and three assists. Cooper notched her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points on another efficient performance going 6-for-8 from the floor and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Story and Cooper led nine different student-athletes that scored during the contest. Joi Jones (Duluth, Ga./Duluth) stuffed the box score with seven points, five assists and four rebounds, and Kaila Craven (Asheboro, N.C./Southwest) came off the bench for seven points and a career-high five assists. Ashley Bassett-Smith (Pickerington, Ohio/UT Martin) came off the bench to chip in with six points on 3-for-5 shooting.
The Apps got contributions from everyone, including a second unit that outscored ULM’s reserves, 20-2. Appalachian also controlled the paint outrebounding ULM, 41-30, and scoring 28 points in the paint to the Warhawks’ 20.
Defensively, Appalachian forced the visitors to shoot 32 percent from the field while swatting away six shots, including two each from Bria Carter (Spotsylvania, Va./Spotsylvania) and Cooper.
Both teams traded 3-pointers to start the contest as the first five shots of the game came from outside the arc. Story hit a pair of trifectas to start the game for the Mountaineers. After ULM took its last of the contest with, 6-3, with 7:40 left in the first period before the Apps took over with an 8-0 run over the next 1:44 to take the lead for good.
Story’s second trey of the game found by Jones started the spurt followed by a layup from Jasmine Ogunjimi (Chicago, Ill./Hutchinson CC) and Jones hitting one from long distance to cap it off. Appalachian stayed on top of the Warhawks en route to taking an 18-10 lead going into the second period. Four of the seven-made field goals for the Mountaineers were from behind the arc while six of seven field goals were assisted on.
Appalachian also held ULM to just 3-for-23 shooting (23.1 percent) and 10 points.
The Mountaineers started to dominate going on a stretch where they went 6-for-7 and held the visitors to a 1-for-13 stretch after starting 3-for-6. Appalachian forced ULM to go on a three minute scoring drought that led to a 12-point lead, 26-14, after Cooper found Mia Marshall (Lilburn, Ga./Parkview) on a nice pass.
ULM got out of its shooting funk midway through the second period hitting five consecutive baskets that cut the lead to six, 28-22. But the Mountaineers prevented ULM from going on any type of run that would give the visiting team momentum. Appalachian scored four of the next five points with Marshall and Bassett-Smith hitting back-to-back layups to help the hosts go into the locker room with a nine-point lead, 32-23.
Appalachian held ULM to 32.1 percent from the field in the first half while nine student-athletes scored for the Black and Gold. The App State defense clamped down to force ULM to miss nine-straight field goals, a stretch that started at the 3:03 mark of the second quarter and carried over until the Warhawks hit a 3-pointer with 6:13 left in the third period.
Cooper found Story for a jumper to start the second half that gave the Mountaineers a double-digit lead, 34-23, and kept the lead by no more than eight points the rest of the way. With 4:49 left in the frame, Story found Craven in the Corner for a trey that gave the Mountaineers the double-digit lead, 40-29.
App State pushed the lead to as much as 16, 50-34, at the end of the quarter once Bassett-Smith hit a jumper from the baseline. Appalachian was never threatened in the fourth quarter en route to the 12-point victory and season sweep over ULM. The win also gives App State a 2-0 start to the second half of conference play and matching the amount of wins App State had in January.
The Apps will head to Texas next week for a matchup against Texas State on Thursday before heading to UT Arlington for a Saturday showdown.
Quotable:
“Our team played with a sense of urgency on the defensive end and played unselfishly on offense. I’m proud of the fact that we put two games together with great effort and execution. This was another great team win!” - head coach Angel Elderkin
Tip-Ins
- The two wins over ULL and ULM is the first time App State finished the week 2-0 in conference play.
- Story’s double-digit scoring streak has increased to nine-straight games.
- Cooper’s double-double was the 12th of her career.
- Appalachian is 4-0 all-time against ULM.
- All nine student-athletes that played were in the plus category in the plus/minus threshold
- Story led the team with plus-13.
- The Mountaineers averaged .914 points per possession while scoring on 42.9 percent of their possessions.
- Appalachian led for 37:10 of the game and trailed for just 22 seconds.
- Six different student-athletes recorded at least one assist.
- Cooper led one of three student-athletes with a PER of 21 while Story (15) and Jones (11) followed suit.
- Over the past two games, the Mountaineers have assisted on 34 of 50 field goals (68 percent).
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Hot-Shooting Women’s Basketball Handles Texas State
The Eagles open a two-game road swing at Troy Thursday
STATESBORO, Ga. – Patrice Butler and Angel McGowan combined for 47 points, and Georgia Southern never trailed in cruising to a 78-64 Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball victory over Texas State Saturday evening in Hanner Fieldhouse.
McGowan tallied 24 points to go along with career highs of eight rebounds and six assists for Georgia Southern (7-14, 4-8). Butler finished with 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting, including 3 of 3 from long distance, and added nine rebounds and a steal.
Toshua Leavitt scored 16 points off the bench to lead Texas State (10-11, 5-6), which suffered its third-straight loss. The freshman connected on 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Ericka May scored 11, and Kiani Lurry netted 10 points.
The Eagles shot a season-high 52 percent from the field and canned 8 of 19 from 3 –point range while netting a season-high 78 points.
The Story
The Eagles came out blistering hot and made 10 of their 14 shots in the first quarter to build a 23-11 cushion at the end of the period. McGowan scored the last five points of the quarter on a 3-pointer from the wing and a transition layup as the buzzer sounded. The Eagles held the Bobcats to 4 of 13 from the field at the other end.
Georgia Southern turned a nine-point lead into a 35-16 advantage when Butler started a 10-0 run with consecutive 3-pointers. A McGowan transition layup gave the Eagles a 19-point lead, its largest of the contest, halfway through the second quarter. Ayriel Anderson and Taeler Deer answered with consecutive 3-pointers for the Bobcats, and Georgia Southern held a 39-26 lead at the intermission. The Eagles shot 57 percent in the half, and when the first shots didn’t go in, they were there for the rebound, turning seven offensive boards into eight second-chance points.
Four straight buckets by the Bobcats cut the margin to nine points early in the third, but two triples by Trellanie English-Lurry helped the Eagles push the margin to 56-40 at the end of the period. Trailing 60-42, the Bobcats began pressing with eight minutes left in the fourth and forced five quick turnovers while scoring nine straight points. Free throws by Alexis Sams and McGowan stemmed the tide and pushed the margin back to 12 points.
The Bobcats cut the lead to nine twice more, but the Eagles answered with baskets at the other end.
Quotable from Georgia Southern Coach Kip Drown
“From tip to final buzzer, I thought it was our most solid performance of the year offensively. The execution, particularly in the first half – you know, we’re just growing up as a basketball team. We didn’t hold on to the ball tonight as much. We’d been doing that, and that’s been slowing us down. We want to play fast offensively, and we’re getting better trying to create more tempo in our offense.”
“It was satisfying for me as a coach, but I think it was for our players too. They were rewarded for doing what we’ve been trying to get them to do. We did them and we got good results tonight. That’s always a positive thing.”
“I thought we really pounded them on the glass. That’s about effort. That’s just about going and rebounding hard. We had 14 offensive rebounds, and that’s really about effort. That’s an area that we have struggled in at times so really happy to see us get after it so hard and be that physical. We’ve been trying to get more and more physical. That’s what rebounding is – it’s about playing hard and not being afraid to put your body on the line out there.”
Next Up
Georgia Southern opens a two-game road swing through Alabama at Troy Thursday. Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m. ET. Following Saturday’s game at South Alabama, the Eagles play four straight at home from Feb. 18-25.
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. For tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events, visit GSEagles.com/tickets.
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UTA avenges early-season loss in win over GSU
ATLANTA – In a reversal of the teams previous meeting, it was UT Arlington that used a big third quarter to pull away against Georgia State. The Lady Mavericks earned their third win in the last four games with a 74-45 victory on Saturday at GSU Sports Arena.
The Lady Mavericks (10-11, 5-6 Sun Belt) outscored the Panthers 24-9 in the third to avenge what was a 25-2 advantage for GSU in the Dec. 30 meeting at College Park Center. The win gave UTA coach Krista Gerlich 199 in her career, just one shy of the 200 milestone as the Lady Mavs travel to Texas State on Tuesday to end a five-game road trip.
UTA's three starting guards were at the helm of an attack that shot 45.5 percent from the field. Amara Wainwright and LaShanda Green each tied for a game-high with 16 points. Cierra Johnson added 15 points, tied a career high with six assists and also chipped in with three steals.
After the team's exchanged six 3-pointers to start the game, it was UTA that took command of the half. Johnson led the charge with a pair from beyond the arc and UTA went on an 11-0 run to end the first quarter.
The momentum continued to swing in the Lady Mavs favor to start the second. UTA held Georgia State scoreless for more than five minutes as the stretch went to 21-5 in favor of the Lady Mavs. The Panthers defense was finally able to hold back UTA late in the half. The Lady Mavs were scoreless for the final three minutes of the period as GSU closed the game to 37-25 at halftime.
UTA expanded the lead to 30 points with its defense clamping down on the Panthers. GSU shot just 25 percent in the third quarter on 4-of-16 shooting, knocking down its lone 3-pointer of the quarter with 10 seconds left in the third.
Turning point
Leading 12 coming out of the break, UTA left no doubt in the contest with a 16-2 run to start the third to build the lead up to a game-high 32 points. The Lady Mavs shot 66.7 in the quarter, hitting 10-of-15 from the field, including 3-4 from 3-point range.
Key Stats
UTA outscored GSU 30-5 in points off of turnovers despite just a slight edge in the overall turnover margin (UTA plus four). … Cierra Johnson has had double-digit scoring in three of the last four games. … Rebekah VanDijk's double-double streak came to an end as the sophomore had nine points and seven rebounds.
Notable
UTA improved to 5-1 against Georgia State all-time and are 3-0 at GSU Sports Arena. … UTA is 3-1 in the five-game road trip. … GSU led by just 17 seconds in the game.
Up next
UTA closes out the road trip on Tuesday at Texas State at 1 p.m. The Bobcats have won the last five games and lead the all-time series 38-25.
Quotable
UTA coach Krista Gerlich on the team's performance:
"It was a really big win. I don't know if I have ben more proud of a group of girls. When we lost that game at home we had a 6 a.m. practice that next day and spent a lot of time trying to rehash every little thing about that game. These kids didn’t forget that. We had a 7 a.m. practice this morning and they have been set on go ever since that day. I am really proud of the effort that they showed tonight."
Gerlich on the performance of her starting guards:
"Our guards did a really nice job. I challenged those three because I thought Rebekah (VanDijk) is starting to play well and Toma is starting to figure it out. They remember that they didn’t shoot the ball well last time and didn’t look inside well. I am proud of the way they played and maybe more proud of the 17 assists that they had."
Amara Wainwright on being able to avenge the earlier loss:
"It was great. On our scout, coach put a quote that said "the acts forgets but the true remembers" and we remembered how we felt that game and we wanted to make them feel the way we felt. We wanted to show them who we actually are and the team they are actually playing and get after them."
Wainwright on the team's ability to shoot the 3-pointer:
"We were confident. We came in and hit a few shots early and that kept us going. We were able to help each other hit those 3-pointers, and after we hit the first couple it kept us going."
Wainwright on the points off of turnover margin:
"It goes with the confidence again. A lot of times we struggle with taking care of the ball, and some teams take advantage of it. But for us to do that against them helped our confidence today."