The UALR Trojans entered their matchup with Georgia State having never lost to the Panthers in a Sun Belt Conference women's basketball game, with six of their seven victories coming by 15 or more points.
Form held Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, but the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's 52-45 title-clinching victory was anything but easy and never really a certainty until the final 42 seconds.
The Trojans (20-7, 14-1) led by 12 with 5:02 left to play in the third quarter, but when Georgia State's Tiffany Holston hit a layup with 2:19 left to play in the game, what looked like a sure coronation got a lot more interesting.
Back-to-back field goals from Ronjanae DeGray and Kyra Collier settled the Trojans, and UALR hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 44 seconds to clinch the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament and a first-round bye in New Orleans.
It's the second time in three seasons UALR has won an outright regular-season championship under Coach Joe Foley, and the Trojans have won 18 consecutive Sun Belt games at the Jack Stephens Center.
"This is a blue-collar team, there's no doubt about that," Foley said of a team that clinched a spot in the postseason WNIT if it doesn't make the NCAA Tournament. "There's no high-flying, high-profile athletes. The thing I enjoy about coaching this team is because they pull for each other, they care for each other. And that's why we're winning."
The Trojans led by as many as 10 in the first half, but almost a third of their points came at the free-throw line, where they made 9 of 10, to go along with 10 field goals.
Leading scorer Sharde Collins, who averages 15 points per game, was scoreless until hitting a corner three-pointer just before the second quarter ended, and UALR went into halftime up 30-21.
Collins finished with six points on 2-of-15 shooting, but UALR's post players picked up her slack.
"You know, if our guards had been hitting, this probably wouldn't have even been a game," Foley said.
Senior post Kaitlyn Pratt led the Trojans with 16 points. DeGray finished with 14.
"Coach told us early on that the post was going to have to pick it up," Pratt said. "We just kept packing it in down there and trying to open up some shots for our guards."
All the missed shots led to rebounding opportunities, and UALR's 11 first-half offensive rebounds nearly equaled the Panthers' first-half total of 13.
Georgia State employed a zone for much of the first half and packed the paint with three 6-footers, but the Trojans continued to push the ball inside.
DeGray, who led all first-half scorers with 12, was 8 of 8 at the free-throw line.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 84, ARKANSAS STATE 76
JONESBORO -- A sloppy third quarter prevented Arkansas State University from winning consecutive Sun Belt games for the first time this year.
ASU (6-22, 4-12) committed eight turnovers that led to 13 Georgia Southern points in the third quarter as it lost momentum two days after a home victory over Georgia State.
Senior Brittany Fowler scored a career-high 27 points while making 7 of 10 three-pointers in her final game at the Convocation Center, but it wasn't enough to make up for the Red Wolves' 18 total turnovers, 12 of which came after halftime. Georgia Southern (13-15, 9-8) scored 25 points off turnovers in all.
ASU led 44-40 early in the third quarter, before Georgia Southern went on a 13-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Patrice Butler, and it entered the fourth quarter leading 58-48.
A three-pointer by Fowler and a jumper by Lauren Bradshaw helped get ASU within 69-65 with 3:50 left, but Angel McGowan made a layup off a steal before Alexis Foulks hit a three-pointer after another ASU turnover.
Butler had 28 points for Georgia Southern.
Sports on 02/26/2017