SUN BELT WOMEN

Cold shooting dooms UALR women

Coach Joe Foley called the first half of a Sunday victory over Oklahoma one of its best offensive performances in his 12 years as coach. Chances are he won't have similar thoughts about either half Thursday at South Dakota State.

Four days after its biggest victory of the season, the Trojans were held to 32.1 percent shooting in a 67-42 loss to the Jackrabbits on Thursday at Frost Arena in Brookings, S.D.

UALR was held scoreless for more than the first three minutes of the second half and South Dakota State started the half on a 20-2 run to go up 49-17 with 12:19 remaining.

Shanity James led UALR (6-2) with a season-high 17 points on 7 of 14 shooting, but Taylor Gault was its next leading scorer with 7 points while Kiera Clark and Alexius Dawn each scored 6 points. UALR finished 18 of 56 from the floor, 0 for 7 from three-point range and were outrebounded 45-23.

South Dakota State (8-3) shot 44.7 percent and had five players score 10 points or more. Ellie Thompson and Mariah Clarin each had 12 points, while Megan Waytashek had 11 and Kerri Young and Macy Miller each added 10 for the Jackrabbits, who also beat Arkansas on Dec. 4. Thompson added 12 rebounds.

UALR shot a season-high 58.1 percent in a 66-62 victory over Oklahoma, its second victory over a major conference team this season. The Trojans shot 76 percent in the first half of that game, but didn't come close to equaling that production Thursday.

The game was tied 4-4 at the first media timeout, but South Dakota State responded with an 8-1 run to go up 12-5 and led 21-9 with 7:01 left in the first half. The Trojans trailed 29-15 at halftime, but the slow start negated any chance of a comeback.

Sports on 12/19/2014

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