Before Thursday's 63-44 victory against Louisiana-Monroe, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women's basketball team went nearly two months without a victory at home.
The Trojans (5-7, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) forced the Warhawks into 20 turnovers and converted 52 percent of their 50 shot attempts. After a rocky nonconference schedule in which UALR lost five games at home to tough competition -- the last home victory was 61-38 vs. Florida Atlantic on Nov. 14 -- the Sun Belt's preseason favorite came alive Thursday.
UALR began its conference opener on a 17-0 run, which spanned the first 9:03 of their rout in the Jack Stephens Center. The victory over Louisiana-Monroe was the fifth consecutive win in a Sun Belt opener for the Trojans.
"It was really good," said senior forward Ronjanae DeGray, who finished with 23 points, two shy of her career high. "It really was. We had the two road wins before [a 48-44 road loss at] Missouri [State], but it's been a while since we won on our home court.
"It felt good to get one for our crowd, for our program and give them some hopefulness that we're going to do this."
UALR will welcome Louisiana-Lafayette (2-10, 0-1) to the Jack Stephens Center at 3 p.m. today, the schools' first matchup since UALR's 72-63 overtime victory in the final game of the 2017-2018 regular season. The Ragin' Cajuns were defeated 87-75 Thursday at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
Good start
The Arkansas State men's basketball team made a statement Thursday.
With a 94-83 victory at Louisiana-Lafayette -- the Sun Belt's reigning regular-season champions -- the Red Wolves scored their most points ever in a Sun Belt road game.
ASU's season-high 94 points were also the most the program has scored in a conference road game since Jan. 10, 1966, when it defeated then-Southland Conference member Trinity University 99-84.
The Red Wolves (7-7, 1-0) will complete a league-opening two-game road trip at 2 p.m. today at Louisiana-Monroe (8-5, 1-0) in Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The Warhawks defeated UALR 97-84 at home Thursday.
ASU has won four of its past five games, with the lone loss being an 82-52 defeat at Syracuse.
"Right now, I'm feeling very good about where we're going," ASU Coach Mike Balado said before Thursday's victory.
Sophomore guard Jonathan Adams -- a 6-3, 209-pound wide receiver on the football team who had 17 receptions for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns before switching uniforms the day after the Arizona Bowl last Saturday -- did not make his season debut Thursday, but he is on the two-game trip in Louisiana.
Junior 6-6 guard Canberk Kus also did not play Thursday because of an ankle injury, but he could return at Louisiana-Monroe.
Bad second half
The Trojans' mistakes this season are following a trend.
Neutralizing a fine offensive evening where UALR shot 62 percent from the field (31 of 50) and 54.5 percent from the three-point line (12 of 22), the Trojans committed 18 turnovers and gave up a season-high 57 points in the second half of Thursday's 97-84 loss at Louisiana-Monroe.
UALR (5-9, 0-1) has allowed 45 or more second-half points in six of its 14 games.
The Trojans will also complete a two-game road trip with a 7 p.m. tipoff tonight at Louisiana-Lafayette (9-5, 0-1) in the Cajundome. They will return to the Jack Stephens Center at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to face Troy.
Sports on 01/05/2019