It may have taken longer than he had hoped, but University of Arkansas at Little Rock women's basketball Coach Joe Foley finally notched victory No. 800.
Tori Lasker and Teal Battle each scored 16 points as the Trojans overcame a fourth-quarter rally to beat South Alabama 69-58 and give Foley his milestone victory Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, Ala.
Foley became just the 13th coach in NCAA Division I women's basketball history to win at least 800 games. Only seven of those 13 are currently active, with Foley becoming the latest to join that list. However, the longtime coach was more concerned with the way his team played afterwards than he was about his achievement.
"I'm relieved that we played the game the way it should be played," Foley said. "I thought we moved the ball extremely on offense and shot it well. That's what this team needed so I'm relieved of that.
"But I'm also relieved that nobody will ask me about 800 anymore. There were two good things that happened [Saturday], but the most important was that our kids got their confidence."
The Trojans fell short in their four previous games in trying to help Foley reach his milestone, but UALR put forth an effective outing on both ends of the floor against the Jaguars to put any lingering suspense to rest.
UALR closed out the first half on a 10-2 run to take a 37-34 lead into halftime. A jumper by Battle early in the third quarter started a 12-1 rally to help a 38-38 tie into a 50-39 lead. South Alabama (13-14, 8-7) did get within 52-50 with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter on a basket by Jala Buster, but a layup from Kyra Collier ignited a stirring 16-2 spurt to blow the game open.
Collier added 14 points for the Trojans, who hit 29 of 51 (56.9%) field goals.
Kennedi Centers scored 14 points and Shaforia Kines had 12 to pace the Jaguars. Antoinette Lewis added 10.
TROY 79, ARKANSAS STATE 64
A dismal shooting night kept Arkansas State University (9-17, 6-9) from having any chance of upsetting the conference co-leaders at Trojan Arena in Troy, Ala.
The Red Wolves were only 22 of 77 (28.6%), including 7 of 31 from the three-point line. ASU, which led 19-17 after the first quarter before being outscored 45-25 over the next two periods, was also decimated on the glass, 69-37.
Morgan Wallace scored 12 points while Payton Tennison and Jada Ford both had 11 points for the Red Wolves.
Japonica James came off the bench to score 25 points on 12-of-18 shooting for Troy (22-4, 13-2). Alexus Dye added 23 points and 19 rebounds for the Trojans.
SOUTHLAND MEN
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 84, NICHOLLS STATE 65
Rylan Bergersen scored 25 points and hauled in six rebounds to help the University of Central Arkansas (10-18, 9-8) get above .500 in conference play with a rout of Nicholls State (18-10, 12-5) at the Farris Center in Conway.
Hayden Koval pitched in with 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Jared Chatham had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears, who dominated on the glass and shot 53.8% (14 of 26) in both the first and second halves.
Dexter McClanahan finished with 20 points for Nicholls State.
SOUTHLAND WOMEN
NICHOLLS STATE 67, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 58
The University of Central Arkansas (11-15, 7-10) was held to just nine points in both the first and third quarters in dropping a nine-point decision at the Farris Center in Conway.
Loan Ann Johnson had a career-high 23 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals for Nicholls State (10-16, 7-10). Tykeria Williams and Chystal Ezechukwa both had 11 points for the Colonels. Nicholls State shot 45.2% (19 of 42) from the field and knocked down 26 of 33 free throws to keep the Sugar Bears from making any significant push late.
Hannah Langhi scored 13 points and Carley Hudspeth tossed in 11 for UCA, while Taylor Sells added 10.
SWAC MEN
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 69,
UAPB 61
Devonte Patterson scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Prairie View A&M University overcame an 11-point, second-half deficit to win at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff.
Antoine Lister had 15 points for Prairie View A&M (15-11, 11-2), which still trailed 51-42 with less than 11 minutes to go but went on a 15-3 run over the next five minutes before grabbing the lead for good on Chancellor Ellis' three-pointer with 5:12 left in the game.
Markedric Bell finished with 14 points, while Terrance Banyard had 11 for UAPB (3-23, 2-12), which was outscored 41-27 in the second half after leading 34-28 at halftime. Marquell Carter added 11.
SWAC WOMEN
UAPB 69,
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 54
Kyeonia Harris and Trasity Totten had 14 points apiece as the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (5-19, 4-10) snapped a five-game losing streak with a victory at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff.
Noe'll Taylor scored 10 points and had five steals for the Lady Lions, who had lost nine of their past 10 games prior to Saturday's upset. UAPB led 18-6 after the first quarter and built a lead as big as 20 points in the second half. The Lady Lions shot 45.2% (28 of 62) and came away with 13 steals.
Ke'Asia Williams had 14 points and Diana Rosenthal finished with 13 points for Prairie View A&M (10-15, 7-6), which had beaten UAPB 61-51 earlier in the season but connected on just 17 of 58 (29.3%) of their shot attempts in the rematch.
Sports on 02/23/2020