The UALR women's basketball team entered Thursday's game against Troy without a Sun Belt Conference loss and having won seven in a row by at least 20 points, but there wasn't any complacency to be found.
UALR Coach Joe Foley made sure of that by reading Troy's offensive statistics to his team.
Troy went into Thursday's game averaging a league-best 75.8 points per game and having scored at least 82 points in four consecutive games, but UALR forced 26 turnovers and used a dominating 15-minute stretch that propelled it to an 82-56 victory at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
"We knew what we needed to do," senior guard Ka'Nesheia Cobbins said. "If we did what we needed to do on defense, then we could get buckets on defense."
A large portion of UALR's offense came from its defense. The Trojans turned 26 turnovers into 34 points while beating a Sun Belt team by 20 or more points for the eighth consecutive game. The victory might be UALR's most impressive yet against a conference opponent, considering Troy's offensive ability and that it had won six consecutive games.
" They were 6-1, and they were second in the league. If that doesn't get your juices going, nothing will," Foley said. "I was glad of the way we responded. They're a pretty smart bunch, and they adapted well."
The game didn't start as a blowout. Ronita Garrett scored inside on each of Troy's first three possessions, and Aissata Maiga scored inside to make it 8-2 a little more than two minutes into the game.
Then Kaitlyn Pratt scored inside to spark a run of six consecutive points, and UALR put together maybe its best stretch of defense so far this season by holding Troy (11-6, 6-2) without another basket until Lacy Buchanon's three-pointer from just inside the halfcourt line at the first-half buzzer. Troy missed 19 consecutive shots during the stretch as UALR took control with a 22-2 run.
UALR (15-2, 8-0) led 42-18 at halftime and by as much as 76-38 with 6:47 left.
"We just know we have to bounce back," guard Taylor Gault said of the slow start. "We're not going to get our heads down just because we're down a few points. We knew what we can do on defense. We know we can stop them."
Gault finished with 14 points, and Shanity James had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Cobbins added 11 points and Kiera Clark had 10 for UALR, which shot 50.0 percent from the floor.
Garrett led Troy with 22 points and 11 rebounds, but UALR held leading scorer Ashley Beverly-Kelley to 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting. Troy has averaged 75.3 points per game since Chanda Rigby took over in 2012 but has averaged just 60.3 points in seven meetings with UALR.
"It's really strange, because what they do is not something that would systematically give us trouble, but they're really good at what they do," Rigby said. "They're good at keeping people in front of them and not letting you get by them."
Foley also was pleased with what his team's offense. UALR shot 50.0 percent from the floor (30 for 60), and its 82 points were its most against a Sun Belt team since an 83-48 victory over Troy on Jan. 8, 2011.
Part of that had to do with playing to Troy's up-tempo style, but Foley was pleased with his team's ability to convert easy shots.
"The chances we had were layups, and we're going to take layups," Foley said. "That's what people don't understand about us. If we get the opportunity, we're going to take a layup anytime we can get it."
Sports on 01/23/2015