The waiting game continues.
Coach Joe Foley's fourth attempt in 13 days at an 800th career victory came up empty Thursday night, as the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women's basketball team hung around for a while before being overwhelmed by Troy 77-59 at Trojan Arena in Troy, Ala.
Foley remains stuck on No. 799.
Troy, which entered Thursday tied for the Sun Belt Conference lead with Coastal Carolina, improved to 21-4 and 12-2 in the league to remain in a tie at the top with the Chanticleers, who also won Thursday.
UALR (10-15, 8-6) lost its fourth consecutive game, a skid that was preceded by a five-game winning streak. The team now sits in a tie for fourth in the Sun Belt with South Alabama, which UALR faces Saturday at 3 p.m. Central in Mobile, Ala.
Junior forward Teal Battle came up one point shy of tying her career high, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-22 shooting with 6 rebounds. Senior guard Kyra Collier recorded her third double-double of the season with 16 points on 7-of-23 shooting and 13 rebounds.
UALR kept pace with Troy for much of the night, even briefly holding the lead at 19-18 early in the second quarter after a layup by Battle. UALR trailed 35-30 at the half.
UALR pulled within six at 47-41 with 2:22 to play in the third quarter, but it was the closest UALR got the rest of the game.
Troy took a nine-point lead heading into the final period after Collier beat the buzzer with a three-pointer. Then Troy closed the door, outscoring UALR 22-13 over the final 10 minutes.
Troy forward Alexus Dye had 16 points and 17 rebounds.
UALR continued its recent stretch of poor shooting by going 24 of 76 (32%) from the floor, but Troy wasn't much better at 36%. Troy dominated the glass, 67-43, including 25 offensive rebounds that generated 26 second-chance points.
UALR didn't escape injury free either, as freshman forward Nicole Hemphill exited the game early in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury after Collier rolled under her while pursuing a rebound. Hemphill, who was inserted into the starting lineup Thursday, was ruled out for the rest of the game, finishing with 2 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes.
Hemphill missed significant time earlier this season with an ankle injury.
ASU MEN
Slide continues
So much for progress for the Arkansas State University men's basketball team.
The Red Wolves have been in a free-fall over the past few weeks and are still without a win this month. The latest disappointment came with Wednesday night's 66-52 home loss to Louisiana-Monroe, the worst team in the Sun Belt at 4-13 and 8-18 overall.
ASU (15-13, 7-10 Sun Belt) has dropped six consecutive games -- which is the longest losing streak of third-year Coach Mike Balado's tenure -- after it started 15-7 and 7-4 in the league.
Balado didn't mince words during opening remarks of his postgame news conference Wednesday.
"Disappointing loss for our program -- probably the most disappointing of my career, including as an assistant," Balado, who spent four seasons as an assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville, told reporters in Jonesboro. "We're going to continue to try to figure out what the problem is, continue to work, obviously not giving up and try to figure out who the right guys are to play and what the right rotation is and the guys that really want to win, because right now I'm looking at a locker room who's completely dejected, so we've got to fix that.
"With three games left, there's still a lot to play for -- believe it or not -- and we just got to continue to get better."
ASU, which now sits eighth in the league, is set to host in-state rival and Sun Belt leader UALR (18-9, 12-4) on Saturday at 4 p.m. at First National Bank Arena.
UCA men
Tough stretch
The University of Central Arkansas men's basketball team dropped to .500 in Southland Conference play after back-to-back road losses to Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin.
UCA (9-18, 8-8) is in the midst of a stretch where it plays the league's top four teams in the standings consecutively.
Sam Houston State (17-10, 10-6) is fourth in the Southland, while Stephen F. Austin (23-3, 14-1) is the league leader by 2 1/2 games.
The Bears host second-place Nicholls State (18-9, 12-4) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Farris Center in Conway before facing third-place Abilene Christian (15-10, 10-4) on the road Feb. 29.
UCA women
Three losses in row
The UCA women's basketball team also has struggled as of late, dropping its third consecutive game with a 58-37 home loss to Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday night in Conway.
UCA had lost by 61 to Stephen F. Austin on Jan. 15 in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Sugar Bears' 37 points Wednesday were tied for their second-lowest total of the season.
The three-game losing skid has come after the Sugar Bears had won three in a row to begin February. UCA hosts Nicholls State on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Conway.
Sports on 02/21/2020