JONESBORO -- Arkansas State University's best women's Sun Belt Conference victory of the season was a puzzling loss for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The Red Wolves defeated the Trojans 62-58 Saturday at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro to avenge a 68-55 loss on Feb. 2 in Little Rock.
"Yeah, it was personal," said ASU sophomore forward Peyton Martin, who's from Pine Bluff.
From Saturday's tip, things felt off for the Trojans.
UALR, which dropped a 50-48 decision Feb. 16 at Texas State and have now lost consecutive games, began the game without sophomore guard Terrion Moore in the starting lineup.
Moore scored a game-high 20 points in UALR's 13-point victory against ASU earlier this month, but she never checked into the game Saturday.
UALR Coach Joe Foley also benched junior guard Kyra Collier, the team's leading scorer; starting sophomore point guard Tori Lasker; and starting senior forward Raeyana DeGray.
Foley said the reason for UALR's recent struggles precedes the losses, and that's why the lineup was shaken up.
"I'm just trying to find somebody that is playing pretty well," he said.
Foley said the Trojans' problems began revealing themselves after UALR's 76-72 home victory Feb. 7 against Troy, which then was tied with UALR (15-10, 11-3) for first in the conference at the time.
So what was Foley's impression of his new-look lineup?
"About what we've been playing like," he said bluntly.
Foley said the decision to bench Moore was a coaching decision, and he did not elaborate.
"But they deserved to win," said Foley, crediting ASU. "They did a good job."
The Red Wolves (10-15, 5-9) scored 40 points in the paint and made 16 of 21 free throws. All but six of ASU's 62 points were recorded in the lane or at the free-throw line.
ASU expanded a 31-27 lead with an 8-0 run to begin the third quarter, and it swelled to 14 points with 5:56 remaining in the third.
"Great, great start in the third quarter, to come out and build a double-digit lead," ASU Coach Brian Boyer said. "But probably even bigger than that was the response to their run that you knew would probably come at some point."
In the final 5:56 of the third, UALR scored 13 consecutive points behind Collier and senior forward Ronjanae DeGray, the only usual starter who remained in Saturday's initial lineup.
Ronjanae DeGray finished with 16 points, all of which came in the second half. Collier added eight of her 10 points in the final half.
Two free throws from Ronjanae DeGray with 8:10 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Trojans their first lead of the second half at 46-45.
"My initial thought was it was great building the lead, but it probably wouldn't last," Boyer said. "They're too good. They're too disciplined."
Collier's layup put UALR ahead 53-48 with 5:25 remaining, but ASU scored 10 of the next 12 points. Martin's two free throws gave the Red Wolves a 56-55 edge with 2:45 left, and UALR would not lead again.
ASU went 11 for 12 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Martin, who led all scorers with 18, went 6 of 6. Freshman point guard Jireh Washington went 3 for 4 from the free-throw line, and senior guard Akasha Westbrook made 2 of 2 in the fourth.
Washington and Westbrook went 4 of 4 from the line in the final 43 seconds of ASU's first victory against UALR since Jan. 18, 2016.
"Free throws, we knew from the beginning of the game that that was going to be important," Westbrook said. "We knew it was going to come down to that, too."
UALR M FG FT O-R pf a Pts
Ro. DeGray 38 6-14 4-5 7-14 3 4 16
Inkina 16 4-8 0-0 0-0 1 0 9
Battle 23 2-6 3-3 4-8 3 1 7
Chastain 34 2-6 0-0 1-1 3 3 5
Walker 6 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
Collier 31 4-19 2-2 3-7 3 5 10
Ra. DeGray 23 3-8 2-3 2-4 2 0 8
Hurlburt 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Lasker 26 1-4 1-2 0-1 1 3 3
Team 0-0
Totals 200 22-66 12-15 17-36 20 16 58
PCT. -- FG 33.3, FT 80.0. 3-PT. -- 2-8, 25.0 (Inkina 1-2, Chastain 1-3, Collier 0-1, Lasker 0-2). BL -- 1 (Battle). TO -- 9 (Ro. DeGray 3). ST -- 5 (Collier 3).
ASU M FG FT O-R pf a Pts
Peevy 18 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
Martin 28 6-11 6-8 1-5 3 1 18
Washington 33 5-12 6-9 3-9 0 3 16
Wallace 37 3-8 0-0 2-9 2 2 6
Westbrook 35 6-9 4-4 1-6 3 1 16
Taylor 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Tennison 7 0-2 0-0 0-1 2 0 0
Heckert 13 1-2 0-0 0-1 3 0 2
Jackson 10 2-4 0-0 2-5 2 0 4
Elder 10 0-4 0-0 1-1 2 1 0
Team 3-3
Totals 200 23-53 16-21 13-41 17 9 62
PCT. -- FG 43.4, FT 76.2. 3-PT. -- 0-6, 0.0 (Peevy 0-1, Wallace 0-1, Tennison 0-1, Heckert 0-1, Elder 0-2). BL -- 1 (Martin). TO -- 14 (Tennison 3). ST -- 3 (Jackson).
UALR 18 9 15 16 -- 58
ASU 15 16 12 19 -- 62
Officials -- Winders, Stanton, Marshall
Attendance -- 871
Sports on 02/24/2019