NEW ORLEANS -- Arkansas State Coach Brian Boyer had seen opponents make pivotal third-quarter runs on his team all season.
Tuesday night with the season on the line, the Red Wolves turned the third-quarter tables on Georgia Southern and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference women's tournament with s 61-54 victory at Lakefront Arena.
"We've really struggled in the third quarter all year," said Boyer, whose team had been outscored by 118 points in the third quarter this season, its most lopsided quarter. "So it was neat to see us respond the right way and fight through it."
The 11th-seeded Red Wolves (7-24) will play third-seeded Troy at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Troy won both regular-season games against Arkansas State University, prevailing 83-75 on Jan. 21 in Jonesboro and 90-77 in Troy on Thursday.
Georgia Southern (13-17) scored just 20 first-half points and trailed by three at halftime, but it increased the scoring pace to start the third quarter.
The Eagles made 3 three-pointers and converted a three-point play during the first 5:10 to take a 35-31 lead.
After a Red Wolves' timeout, Jada Ford -- who scored a game-high 23 points -- made two steals and scored eight points in a 14-0 run during a two-minute span that gave Arkansas State a 45-35 lead.
"We just slowed down and started playing the way we know how to play," Ford said. "We didn't force anything. We tried to get the ball into the post and not take the perimeter shots first. Then the perimeter shots opened up."
Patrice Butler ended the run by making a free throw, and Alexis Sams beat the buzzer with a three-pointer that cut the Red Wolves' lead to 45-39 after three quarters. ASU outscored Georgia Southern 22-19 in the quarter.
Georgia Southern scored the first five points of the fourth quarter before Ford made a three-pointer and Lauren Bradshaw made two free throws to push the lead to 50-44.
The Red Wolves made a 11 of 14 free throws (78.6 percent) in the final quarter and never relinquished the lead.
"When I looked at the stat sheet, the first thing I noticed is we shot 18 percent (2 of 11) in the fourth quarter," Boyer said. "Obviously, making the free throws is critical, but more importantly we were able to get to the line. Our guards were aggressive, and we got in the double bonus early."
Bradshaw had a game-high 13 rebounds as ASU had a 48-34 edge in rebounds after getting outrebounded 39-29 in the loss to Georgia Southern 10 days earlier.
In a low-scoring first half, Ford made a three-pointer to start a 7-0 run that helped Arkansas State take a 14-9 lead after one quarter.
The Eagles twice got to within one point in the second quarter before Starr Taylor scored ASU's final five points, giving the Red Wolves a 23-20 halftime lead.
Taylor chipped in 13 points for ASU.
Angel McGowan led the Eagles with 19 points, and Sierra Butler had 11.
The Red Wolves won a Sun Belt tournament game for the fourth consecutive season as it improved to 6-3 in that stretch.
"We were really, really pumped for this game," Ford said. "I did not want to go home and neither did my teammates."
Tournament glance
Lakefront Arena, New Orleans
FIRST ROUND
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Appalachian State 79, Coastal Carolina 58 Louisiana-Lafayette 79, Louisiana-Monroe 72 South Alabama 49, Georgia State 44
Arkansas State 61, Georgia Southern 54
QUARTERFINALS
THURSDAY’S GAMES All times Central
Appalachian State vs. UALR, 11:30 a.m.
Louisana-Lafayette vs. Texas State, 2 p.m. South Alabama vs. Texas-Arlington, 5 p.m.
Arkansas State vs. Troy, 7:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Appalachian State-UALR vs. Louisana-Lafayette-Texas State, 5 p.m. South Alabama-Texas-Arlington vs. Arkansas State-Troy, 7:30 p.m.
FINAL
SUNDAY’S GAME
Semifinal winners, 6 p.m.
SWAC WOMEN
UAPB’s season ends
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team’s season came to an end Tuesday night in a 48-46 loss to Alabama State in the first round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament at Montgomery, Ala. Danielle Clark scored 19 points for Alabama State (14-15). Ziara Doe had 10 points. Niya Head led UAPB (12-18) with 11 points. Shawntayla Harris added nine points for the Lady Lions.
Sports on 03/08/2017