First-place UALR eases sting vs. Troy

UALR guard Kyra Collier (center) tries to track down a loose ball before Troy defenders ArJae Saunders (left) and Kristen Emerson get to it during Thursday night’s game at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. Collier had 14 points in the Trojans’ 77-74 victory.
UALR guard Kyra Collier (center) tries to track down a loose ball before Troy defenders ArJae Saunders (left) and Kristen Emerson get to it during Thursday night’s game at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. Collier had 14 points in the Trojans’ 77-74 victory.

The way last season’s hopes for an NCAA Tournament berth were thwarted has stung UALR women’s basketball Coach Joe Foley ever since.

The Trojans have a long way to go to earn another spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game — where a year ago they lost by one point in the final seconds to Troy — but they took a step Thursday toward an easier path to that destination.

UALR built a 12-point lead early in the second half at the Jack Stephens Center, then exhaled after a wild three-pointer by ArJae Saunders went out of bounds with 8.9 seconds left to secure a 77-74 victory over Troy, which was the only other Sun Belt team without a conference loss.

The victory gave UALR (12-6, 6-0 Sun Belt) sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt, and it avenged last season’s 61-60 loss in the conference tournament final in New Orleans, a result that sent Troy to the NCAA Tournament and UALR to the WNIT.

UALR 77, TROY 74

“That’s a feeling you’ll never get rid of,” Foley said. “But if you can lessen it a little bit, that helps.”

UALR did so by beating Troy, the league’s highest-scoring team, at its own game.

UALR shot 43.3 percent, below what it had been shooting against Sun Belt teams, but made 29 of 67 shots — a season high for attempts in a game. Troy shot 48.1 percent but made 26 of 54 shots, a season low for attempts. It entered averaging 73.6 shots per game.

UALR held a 42-32 halftime lead, and it led 48-36 three minutes into the third quarter. But Troy went on a 10-2 run to get within 50-46 and led 57-56 at the end of the third quarter.

There were three lead changes in the fourth quarter before UALR took a 72-67 lead with 4:34 left on a Kyra Collier layup.

It was cut to 74-73 on Caitlyn Ramirez’s three-pointer, then Claresa Banks missed a three-pointer that would have given Troy a lead. Troy’s last chance came on a wild threepoint attempt by Saunders that was defended by Kaitlyn Pratt.

Troy Coach Chanda Rigby said she thought there was contact on the shot, but no foul was called as UALR sealed its sixth consecutive victory.

“We knew we had to come out and attack because they’re going to attack us,” said Collier, a freshman guard who had 14 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. “We knew we were battling for the No. 1 spot. That’s all we wanted.”

Rigby didn’t blame the loss on the no call, but rather her team’s 24 turnovers that kept it from producing the same amount of shots as usual.

“If we don’t shoot above 80, we don’t have a good chance of winning,” said Rigby, whose team shot 99 times during a loss at Tennessee this year. “Here, they do such a good job in the passing lanes that we didn’t get the shots off.”

Pratt led UALR with 20 points, while Sharde Collins had 16 and Ronjanae DeGray had 13.

The attacking offense worked until Pratt got into foul trouble in the second half. The senior forward picked up her third foul in the third quarter and went to the bench with UALR leading 56-48. When she came back, UALR’s lead was cut to 56-55, and Troy led 57-56 after a jumper by Banks.

Pratt’s fourth foul came with 2:27 left and UALR leading 75-71. She went to the bench, and UALR didn’t make another shot from the field. She came back in time to defend Saunders’ final three-point attempt.

“We kept our composure,” Foley said. “Just because they had beat us and had a good team, we didn’t just say ‘All right, y’all make that run there’s nothing we can do about it.’ We came back and fought.”

SUN BELT WOMEN

ARKANSAS STATE 56,

SOUTH ALABAMA 53

The Red Wolves had an 18-point fourth-quarter lead trimmed to one by South Alabama at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro on Thursday, but they held on to record their first conference victory of the season.

Tahlon Hopkins’ putback with 8:25 left gave ASU (3-14, 1-4) a 52-34 edge, but South Alabama scored 13 consecutive points to cut the lead to five on Chyna Ellis’ jumper with 1:33 left.

The lead was trimmed to 54-53 when Colby Davis made two free throws with 12 seconds left, but Hopkins responded with two free throws and South Alabama (7-9, 2-3) failed to tie the game in the final 10 seconds.

ASU shot just 5 of 27 from the field and committed 12 turnovers in the second half, after leading 40-22 at halftime. Hopkins’ 20 points and 14 rebounds led the game in both categories. Dominique Oliver added 13 points and Brittany Fowler chipped in 10 for the Red Wolves.

Sports on 01/20/2017

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