JONESBORO -- Aundrea Gamble deflected talk about her involvement in Arkansas State's offense after the Red Wolves' 68-48 victory against Texas State on Saturday at the Convocation Center.
So the junior guard's teammate spoke up for her instead.
"That's our game plan every game," Hanna Qedan said of Gamble, who scored all of her 23 points before five minutes had passed in the second half.
Gamble, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year and the league's leading scorer, had 15 points in the first half and made 11 of 17 shots to spark the Red Wolves (11-6, 6-1) to a victory two days after their first conference loss.
Gamble's first 25 minutes were so good that she could have challenged her career high of 33 points, and possibly could have made a run at the 38 points she needed to reach 1,000 for her career. But she didn't score after her reverse layup with 15:14 left gave ASU a 43-28 lead, and she watched the final 2:35 from the bench.
It was Gamble's fourth consecutive 20-point game and her 10th this season, but she said the biggest benefit was bouncing back from Thursday's 70-69 loss at Appalachian State.
"We were ready to get to this next game," she said. "We just had to look past the Appalachian State game and move on."
ASU Coach Brian Boyer complimented Gamble's ability to lead ASU's offense despite being the focus of opposing defenses.
"We know the talent level, we know how gifted she is," Boyer said. "The thing that still amazes me is how durable she is. Nothing comes easily for her. Every cut, she's getting grabbed and pushed and hit and she doesn't let it affect her."
Gamble scored five points in a key stretch midway through the first half that gave ASU momentum it never gave back.
Texas State (9-7, 4-3) scored eight consecutive points to tie the game at 10-10 with 13:11 left in the first half, but Jasmine Hunt scored inside and Gamble followed with a three-pointer another drive to the basket that sparked a 12-0 run that pushed ASU's lead to 22-10.
The Red Wolves extended it to 30-17 on a jumper by Gamble with 2:50 left, led 33-24 at halftime and started the second half with an 8-0 run to go up 41-24 as it cruised to a victory over a team that was picked in the preseason to finish third in the league.
Boyer was just as pleased about the complementary pieces surrounding Gamble. Qedan made 3 of 4 three-pointers to finish with 9 points, while Khadjia Brown-Haywood made 2 first-half threes to finish with 8 points and Amanda Lawson made 4 of 5 shots to finish with 8 points for ASU, which shot 50.0 percent from the floor.
Erin Peoples, a Little Rock Parkview graduate, led Texas State with 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting with 7 rebounds, but the Bobcats were held to 29.7 percent shooting, their season low in conference play.
"I don't know about a statement other than it's just another good win," Boyer said. "I think we all know to have a chance in this league you've got to win your home games."
ASU did after a sloppy start in which it committed four turnovers in the first three minutes of the game, then let Texas State score eight consecutive points to tie the game at 10-10.
"We were really prepared, we knew what we needed to do, it just took us a minute to get used to what we needed to do," Qedan said. "This last loss was a heart-breaker for us, but it's one of those things that it can really give you motivation to not let it happen again."
UALR 79, LA.-MONROE 41
UALR’s women scored a season-high 47 first-half points Saturday on the way to a 79-41 victory over Louisiana-Monroe at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, La. It was the seventh consecutive victory for the Trojans (13-2, 6-0 Sun Belt Conference), which kept them a half-game ahead of Arkansas State in the conference standings.
The 38-point victory also was the largest of the season for the Trojans, who have won all six of their Sun Belt games by at least 20 points. The 47-point first half was one more than the Trojans had in their season-opening 70-54 victory over LSU.
Sports on 01/18/2015