SUN BELT WOMEN

UALR puts all the pieces together

There have been times over the past four weeks when the UALR women's basketball team's scoring has come from its post players.

There have been other times when its guards have broken out of their shell.

The team's defense has been the catalyst in other victories.

But few times, maybe not once all season, has UALR put everything together like it did against South Alabama on Saturday.

Shanity James scored 22 points, Alexius Dawn made four three-pointers and scored 18, and the Trojans forced 24 turnovers in a 74-43 victory over the Jaguars at the Jack Stephens Center.

In pulling within a game of Louisiana-Lafayette for second place in the Sun Belt Conference, UALR (10-11, 8-4) shot 52 percent from the floor, held a 32-21 rebounding edge and scored 32 points off turnovers. It was exactly what Coach Joe Foley has been waiting to see.

"I've been hoping for a long time," he said. "I thought the potential was there, that we could have some good guards, we could have some good posts and mesh it together and do a good inside-outside flow. I thought we did that tonight."

It started early with a 14-4 run, which gave UALR a 17-7 lead after Dawn's three-pointer from the wing late in the first quarter. Moments later, UALR started a 15-0 run over more than eight minutes, which included points from four different players. UALR led 32-9 midway through the second quarter.

Dawn, who broke out of a prolonged slump Thursday night, scored six points during the spurt and finished with 14 points in the first half. She was 4 of 8 from three-point range for the game.

"If my first shot doesn't go down, then I get really down on myself," said Dawn, whose team won its fifth consecutive game and seventh in the past nine games. "But, once I see it go in, I get my confidence back."

It helped open everything else up for the Trojans, who have scored more than 70 points in consecutive games for the first time this season.

James' 22 points came on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor and 8-for-13 shooting from the free-throw line. Forward Keanna Keys added 10 points off the bench.

"When [Dawn] is hitting shots on the perimeter, it opens up the post tremendously," said James, who has scored 15 or more points in five consecutive games. "It's wide open in there for us. When they're making their shots, it leaves us one on one."

After building a 43-15 halftime lead, the Trojans pushed it to 68-33 in the fourth quarter after a Monique Townson jumper. The victory capped a perfect 4-0 homestand over the past two weeks.

UALR heads back on the road for games at Louisiana-Monroe and second-place Louisiana-Lafayette next week, followed by games at Georgia State and Georgia Southern. Foley sees it as a welcomed challenge after two weeks of improvement at home.

"It was very beneficial, and it couldn't have come at a better time, and I think you're seeing the result of it," Foley said of the four home games. "Now, we need to go on the road and play a couple; we need to go test it out again."

Sports on 02/07/2016

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