Defense carried the UALR women's basketball team to a 5-0 record entering Saturday's game against Tulane, its best-ever start.
More offense was needed Saturday.
The Trojans came up way short on the offensive end, as Tulane outscored UALR 15-1 to open the second half en route to handing UALR its first loss, 74-58, in front of announced crowd of 529 at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
"We had no good looks today," senior guard Taylor Gault said. "We tried every aspect -- driving, the jump shot, the three. Nothing really clicked. It was either a charge or a missed layup or something."
UALR shot 36.4 percent from the floor, three percentage points below its average, but it committed a season-high 22 turnovers and bobbled away offensive possessions in just about every way.
Twice in the first half a UALR player dribbled a ball off a foot and watched it roll out of bounds. On one first-half possession, Ka'Nesheia Cobbins and Kaityln Pratt missed point-blank layups.
Coach Joe Foley said UALR's inability to handle Tulane's pressure was at the root of his team's struggles. His Trojans have been pressured this season, but Foley said not until late in games. Not once in their first five games had an opponent pressured so tightly so early in the game.
"I thought that's what got the game off track," Foley said. "They kind of hit us, and we didn't bounce back. I didn't think their pressure was that good. We just mentally weren't good enough."
The Trojans (5-1) held the Green Wave (7-1) to 33.3 percent in the first half after it came into the game shooting 44 percent. Tulane was held to two field goals through the game's first nine minutes, one an open three-pointer by Kolby Morgan and the other a fast-break layup by Courtnie Latham.
Morgan, Tulane's leading scorer coming in at 15.3 points per game, was held to four points in the first half and finished with 10.
Leslie Vorpahl made up for that, making 4 of 6 three-pointers and finishing with 22 points. She scored Tulane's final eight points of the first half as it took a 28-22 lead, then made a three to open the second half and start a 15-1 run that gave the Green Wave a 43-23 lead four minutes into the half.
Tulane shot 65.4 percent in the second half and 49.1 percent for the game.
"They don't give you any easy baskets," Tulane Coach Lisa Stockton said. "They don't give you back door or anything like that. They're very physical. You've got to be able to handle that, and it's about taking the right shot and not the quick shot."
Stockton said her team's ability to force turnovers helped get its offense settled, and forward Shanity James said the big run was something UALR was unfamiliar with.
"No one has ever gotten us down like that," James said. "For us to fight back, it was something new for us."
Gault led UALR with 17 points, and James had 15 points and 7 rebounds.
Sports on 12/07/2014