WOMEN’S NIT

ASU comes out with a purpose

JONESBORO -- Arkansas State had no issues in the first round of the WNIT, knocking off Western Michigan 61-49 Wednesday night in front of a rowdy home crowd at the Convocation Center.

The Red Wolves came in with a chip on their shoulder after losing 78-72 to UALR in the Sun Belt Tournament final and being left out of the NCAA Tournament.

At a glance

WOMEN’S NIT

First round

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

Arkansas State 61, Western Michigan 49

Michigan 72, Cleveland State 50 East Carolina 74, Radford 52 Mississippi 80, Tenn.-Martin 70 E. Washington 67, Washington State 65

"We didn't want all of our hard work to go to waste," ASU senior guard Hanna Qedan said. "Just because we didn't go to the NCAA, we still wanted to show people how tough we are."

The victory improved ASU to 13-8 all-time in their 10th appearance in the WNIT, including their sixth appearance under Coach Brian Boyer. ASU also improved to 24-10 this season, one victory shy of the school record.

Boyer said he could tell when he walked out on the court for practice Tuesday that the Red Wolves were ready to play after being among the final four teams under consideration for the NCAA Tournament that were left out of the field.

"Their spirits were high, and they were past it," he said.

ASU advances to play the winner of tonight's first-round game between Middle Tennessee State and Ball State. The time, date and location of the second-round match has yet to be determined.

Aundrea Gamble led ASU with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting Wednesday night and had 4 assists to become the school's single season assists leader with 170. Jasmine Hunt added 11 points and Qedan finished with 10 as ASU shot 31.6 percent from the field. Hunt had a career-high 16 rebounds.

"The plan was to get every board," Hunt said. "Whatever was in reach, I wanted to get it and I did my best at that."

Miracle Woods scored 17 points and Jazmine Windham had 14 for Western Michigan, which finished the season 20-13 for just its fourth 20-victory season and its best season since 2003.

ASU scored the first four points of the game on its way to a 12-4 lead, led by five points from Hunt. Western Michigan eventually used a 10-2 run to grab its first lead, 17-16, with 8:21 left in the first half on a field goal by Alex Morton.

Gamble answered that with five points off a field goal and three-pointer that helped ignite a 9-1 run that gave ASU a 25-18 lead with 4:11 left in the first half.

Western Michigan managed only two more points in the half, both on free throws by Akasha Westbrook with 3:58 left in the half, and ASU took a 28-20 lead into the break.

"I thought we played really well, but I want to know where my offensive team went shooting 27 percent in the first half," Boyer said. "We had a lot of open looks but just missed."

Western Michigan outscores ASU 13-8 to open the second half as it pulled to within 36-33. The Broncos pulled as close as 42-40, but a 6-0 run by the Red Wolves -- capped by a field goal from Gamble -- increased the lead 48-40.

Khadija Brown-Haywood scored with 4:19 left to extend ASU's lead to 55-45, and Western Michigan managed only three more points over the final 3:11.

Sports on 03/19/2015

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