ASU wins 21st as Hunt hits 21

SUN BELT WOMEN

ARKANSAS STATE 87, LA.-LAFAYETTE 65

The Arkansas State women's basketball team defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 87-65 Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro, picking up its 21st victory to tie the 1992-1993 squad for the program's most regular-season victories.

The Red Wolves (21-9, 16-4) completed the regular season with at least 20 victories for the second consecutive year.

ASU, which will enter the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed, will play seventh-seeded Appalachian State in a first-round game at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.

Senior forward Jasmine Hunt scored a game-high 21 points, finishing 8 of 8 from the field to tie a Convocation Center record for highest field goal percentage in a game and also was 5 of 5 from the free-throw line. Senior Hanna Qedan had 13 points.

Junior forward Khadija Brown-Haywood finished with 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while junior guards Aundrea Gamble and Brittney Gill added 14 and 12 points, respectively.

"This was a good performance by us against a Lafayette team that is very good," ASU Coach Brian Boyer said. "Defensively we were really good in the first half and we made them have to score over us. In the second half, we were really able to take care of the ball and only turned it over two times in the final 15 minutes.

"If you can do that against a team like this then you are doing something really good offensively."

ASU used a 14-3 run over a five-minute span in the first half to take a 33-19 lead. The Ragin' Cajuns cut the lead to seven points on several occasions in the first half, but ASU scored the final seven points to extend its lead to 46-32 by halftime.

The Red Wolves' largest lead was 85-60 with 1:26 left. They shot 54.4 percent from the floor while holding Louisiana-Lafayette to 39.4 percent.

Louisiana-Lafayette never challenged in the second half as the Red Wolves' lead swelled to as much as 25 points on two different occasions, the last coming at 85-60 with 1:26 left in the game.

Keke Veal led the Ragin' Cajuns (18-11, 10-10) with 16 points.

SOUTHLAND WOMEN

MCNEESE STATE 72, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 68

Central Arkansas (17-13, 10-8) couldn't overcome a 16-point second-half deficit, losing to McNeese State (17-12, 11-7) at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles, La., in its Southland Conference regular-season finale.

UCA will be the No. 7 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament and will face No. 6 Northwestern (La.) State at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Merrill Center in Katy, Texas.

The Sugar Bears trailed 63-47 with seven minutes left, but they went on a 9-0 run to pull within 70-67 on Kendara Watts' layup with 27 seconds left. McNeese State made 2 of 4 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Maggie Proffitt led UCA with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Watts had 15 points and 3 rebounds. Terai Sadler added 12 points and 7 rebounds while Brianna Mullins finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists for the Sugar Bears.

Sports on 03/08/2015

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