NEW ORLEANS -- The UALR women's basketball team has earned a reputation over the past decade as one of the Sun Belt Conference's most relentless defensive teams, but the Trojans are returning to the NCAA Tournament because of the offense they unleashed in three games over four days at Lakefront Arena.
Tournament glance
All times Central
WOMEN
SATURDAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
UALR 78, Arkansas State 72
MEN
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Ga. State 83, La.-Lafayette 79 Ga. Southern 44, La.-Monroe 43
TODAY’S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Ga. State vs. Ga. Southern, noon
Senior Taylor Gault scored 21 points, Alexius Dawn made 3 three-pointers and finished with 17 and five players scored at least eight points as UALR survived another tight game with in-state rival Arkansas State for a 78-72 victory in the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to lock up the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans' offensive performance overcame a subpar defensive night against the Red Wolves and, more importantly, sends the Trojans to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012 and for the fourth time overall.
The Trojans (28-4), who set a program record for victories, will learn their first-round opponent and sight when the field is unveiled at 6 p.m. Monday. ASU (23-10), which lost in the conference tournament final for the second consecutive year, is left hoping for an at-large berth, which would be the program's first.
Gault made 9 of 19 shots from the field and Dawn was 3 of 9 from behind the three-point line to set the conference tournament record with 15. Ka'Nesheia Cobbins added 15 points for the Trojans while Kiera Clark had 13, 12 coming in the second half.
ASU senior Aundrea Gamble scored 27 points, while Jasmine Hunt had 11 and Khadija Brown-Haywood finished with 10.
UALR created enough separation over the final three minutes when it forced two consecutive turnovers. With the game tied 67-67, Cobbins came up with a steal and missed a layup, but Kiera Clark scored on a putback to give UALR the lead. Cobbins ended up with a loose ball again, and this time she finished and was fouled. Her free throw gave UALR a 72-67 lead with 2:08 left.
The Trojans scored at least 71 points in all three tournament victories, and shot 48.4 percent percent from the field in the title game.
It made up for a defense that couldn't slow Gamble or ASU.
Gamble made 11 of 17 shots and ASU shot 50 percent as a team, well above the 36.5 percent opponents had shot against UALR going into Saturday's game.
The victory followed two others in which UALR easily surpassed its season averages in most offensive categories.
It looked as though the Trojans would cruise to another easy victory in the first half.
A 9-0 ASU run gave it a 15-9 run early, but UALR outscored ASU 17-9 over the next six minutes to go up 26-21. Dawn made 3 three-pointers in the first half and Gault accounted for 13 first-half points as UALR took a 35-30 lead.
ASU started the second half by making its first six shots to take a 51-47 lead four minutes into the half. The Red Wolves kept the lead until the 6:21 mark, when Cobbins drove the lane for a layup to give UALR a 63-62 lead.
The teams traded the leads twice more over the next two minutes, but Alexius Dawn's breakaway layup gave UALR the lead for good at 67-65 with 3:51 left.
ASU committed three turnovers in the final four minutes to prevent any last comeback, and it had 17 for the game.
Sports on 03/15/2015