LITTLE ROCK — The UALR women’s basketball team opened its Sun Belt Conference schedule Thursday night against a team that played a style it hadn’t seen this season.
No problem.
UALR’s man-to-man defense held Troy’s transition offense to a season low in field goals made, shooting percentage and points in a 75-52 victory at the Jack Stephens Center.
“We wanted definitely to get them out of their rhythm,” said UALR guard Taylor Ford, who had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. “We wanted to wear them down in their offense, make them get through screens and take away their transition ... so they didn’t have the energy to go up and down the floor.”
Six Troy players came into the game averaging at least 9.8 points per game, and the team came in ranked fourth in NCAA Division I with an average of 88.8 points per game.
But UALR (5-1) forced misses on Troy’s first four possessions and never let the Trojans get their transition game get rolling. Troy (1-4, 0-1 Sun Belt) missed its first 14 shots, scoring all of its early points on three throws, and didn’t make a field goal for almost 10 minutes. By the time it did, with 10:25 to play in the half, UALR had a 23-9 lead.
Twice during the game Troy had streaks of almost six minutes without a basket. The first came to start the game, and the second came as UALR stretched its lead to 63-34 midway through the second half.
UALR, which has won three consecutive games by 23 points or more, held Troy to 22.6 percent shooting (14 of 62) and forced 23 turnovers.
“A lot of times we looked pretty good, then other times we lost a little bit of concentration,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said. “Overall, for what we were facing and the first time we’ve seen it this year, it wasn’t a bad effort for us.”
Janette Merriex had 14 points, Hannah Fohne and Ford had 12 each, and Ka’Neshia Cobbins had 10 off the bench in the first half.
Joanna Harden led Troy with 14 points and Ashley Kelley-Beverly had 11.
ARKANSAS STATE 60,
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 57
MIAMI, Fla. — Jane Morrill scored 12 points in the second half Thursday night as Arkansas State earned its first victory of the season, topping Florida International (2-4, 0-2) in its Sun Belt Conference opener.
Morrill was held scoreless in the first half but bounced back in the second half. Jalen O’Bannon added a careerhigh 12 points for ASU (1-5, 1-0), and Quinishia McDowell finished with 13. O’Bannon finished with two steals, including one with 3:06 to go in the game that led to a layup by McDowell to give the Red Wolves a 57-55 lead.
Olvera picked up her second steal on the next possession as ASU finished with a season-high nine steals.
Sports, Pages 26 on 11/30/2012