TEMPE, Ariz. -- The UALR women's basketball team isn't worried about Arizona State's pressure defense, or that the third-seeded Sun Devils will play tonight's second-round NCAA Tournament game on their home floor.
The No. 11 Trojans aren't worried about playing another game with a height disadvantage or against what Coach Joe Foley said will be one of the best shooting teams they've faced all season, either.
Put simply: The Trojans (29-4) feel they belong in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a point to which only 32 of 342 Division I teams reach. Even more, they think they'd belong among the top 16 teams if they were to beat Arizona State (28-5) at 8 p.m. Central at Wells Fargo Arena.
"We're not afraid," senior guard Ka'Nesheia Cobbins said. "We just have to step up to the plate."
UALR came into the season after missing postseason play for the first time in six seasons, but its confidence began simmering in November and has reached a boiling point in March.
UALR opened with a 70-54 victory at LSU, which was ranked No. 24 in the Coaches Poll at the time and was a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They lost to Tulane, another tournament team, a month later before jumping to a 14-point halftime lead and holding on to beat Oklahoma, a No. 5 NCAA seed that plays Stanford tonight in a second-round game.
The Trojans raced through the Sun Belt with only two losses -- it beat its first nine opponents by 20 points or more -- to break a school record and tie a conference record with 18 league victories. They were at their best last week in the Sun Belt Tournament in New Orleans, when they averaged more than 78 points per game in winning the tournament title.
What Coach Joe Foley saw at the tournament was enough to make him tell his team Friday night it would beat sixth-seeded Texas A&M on Saturday, and then they did with their motion offense flowing perhaps better than at any time since Foley arrived in 2003.
UALR's 2010 team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament has an edge in most offensive statistics, but that was partly because of Chastity Reed's 25.2 points per game. This year's team is more balanced with three players -- Taylor Gault, Shanity James and Alexius Dawn -- averaging more than 10 points per game, and are better three-point shooters.
This team doesn't take a back seat to any other in Foley's mind.
"I've got faith in them," Foley said. "They play like they're playing the last two weeks, they're capable of doing anything."
UALR, averaging 76.3 points per game and shooting 49.4 percent since the start of the Sun Belt tournament, has gained the attention of Arizona State Coach Charli Turner Thorne, too.
"They just don't let things bother them," Turner Thorne said. "I think you can see it in their body language, how they respond to a call that maybe didn't go their way or just maybe a team goes on a little bit of a run. You just see them keep playing and staying with things."
Gault, who had a season-high 25 points in Saturday's victory, said the desire of three seniors trying to get back to the NCAA Tournament after playing in it as freshman is what prepared them for the moment.
"I think we deserve it," Gault said. "We worked so hard this season. Us being seniors, we're leaders on the court. So we just know that we're not going to let each other down and we know what it takes."
UALR will be undersized again tonight against an Arizona State team that rotates four players who are 6-0 or taller. The Sun Devils' size might be even a bigger challenge than it was Saturday because of how balanced they are scoring, too. Forward Sophie Brunner averages 11.7 points in the post and guard Katie Hempen set a school record with 73 three-pointers.
But Foley's confidence comes from what he first saw Nov. 14 in Baton Rouge, which is similar to what he saw last week in New Orleans and on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.
"I think the experiences they've had is coming out right now," Foley said. "We've been through this before. It's not anything new. They know they have to play well, they know they have to prepare well. But they've been prepared, so they know what to do."
Sports on 03/23/2015