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Cobbins pitches in on offense
NEW ORLEANS — Ka’Nesheia Cobbins has been UALR’s defensive stopper all season. She added to that role Wednesday. Cobbins was 5 of 5 from the field, tied a career high with 15 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and had 10 assists as the Trojans advanced out of the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 71-54 victory over Georgia State at Lakefront Arena.
UALR will face Texas State at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the semifinals.
Cobbins, a senior, averaged 5.3 points per game during the regular season but sparked an offense that shot 49.1 percent for the game Wednesday and received credit from Coach Joe Foley for opening up chances for guards Taylor Gault and Alexius Dawn.
Gault scored 23 points, while Dawn made 6 of 13 three-pointers and finished with 18 points.
“We knew what we needed to do,” said Cobbins, who was named the conference’s defensive player of the year earlier this week. “Drive the ball, penetrate and get it to our shooters.”
Foley said he spoke with Cobbins before the tournament about being more assertive on offense.
“I didn’t know she was going to come out and be that aggressive, but she was definitely aggressive today,” Foley said. “She really did that early in the year, then she got into just letting those guys
do a little bit too much.
“If she’ll play like that, that really helps us a lot.”
The offense was necessary because Georgia State tested UALR’s usually stingy defense. Georgia State entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed but finished the season ranked among the conference’s top two in several offensive categories.
Georgia State forward Brittany Logan scored 14 points, guard Alisha Andrews had 11 and Kennesha Nichols finished with 10 as the Panthers shot 45.1 percent for the game, including 50 percent in the second half.
“That team is hard to stop,” Foley said. “They’ve got some scoring weapons. I tell you what, there are not too many teams in our conference that can score from so many different positions.”
UALR never trailed as it jumped out to a 13-4 lead after two frees throws by Gault with 12:21 left, but Georgia State kept trying to chip away. It scored on three consecutive possessions to get within 21-17 with 4:39 left in the game, but UALR closed out the half with a 12-5 run to take a 33-22 lead into halftime.
The Trojans extended that to 49-30 in the second half with an 8-0 run that included a three-pointer by Dawn, jumpers by Gault and Cobbins and a free throw by Shanity James.
Georgia State had one more run, scoring 11 consecutive points to get within 49-41 with 10:50 left, but a three-pointer by Dawn from the wing made it 52-41 and Georgia State didn’t make another serious threat as UALR scored 28 points off 21 turnovers.
“We do have some shooters. We have some people who can put the ball in the basket,” Georgia State Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener said. “They don’t let you have your first option. Most of the time they don’t let you have your second option. We really worked on our third and fourth options.”
Georgia State couldn’t account defensively for UALR’s guards. Gault made her first two jumpers to give UALR an early lead before Dawn rebounded from a slow start. Dawn missed her first 3 three-pointers, then made four of her next five and finished 6 of 10.
“She’s got to keep shooting,” Foley said. “She’s got to fire. For us to win, she’s got to shoot that three.”
The Trojans may be the favorite to win the Sun Belt Tournament and earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but Gault said the Trojans aren’t looking past Friday’s semifinal matchup to the championship game Saturday.
“We’re not even thinking about Saturday,” Gault said. “This game is over with. We made some mistakes that will better us for Friday.
“Saturday, we’re not even thinking about that right now.”