UALR reverses Tuesday’s result
UALR 62, TEXAS STATE 51
Teal Battle scored eight of the Trojans’ first 10 points — then nine consecutive to open the second half — to carry the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women’s basketball team to a 6251 victory over Texas State at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock on Friday.
The senior finished with 20 points — one shy of matching her season-high — and added five assists, leading a turnaround offensive performance in which the Trojans shot 45.3% from the field after a season-low scoring effort in Tuesday’s 51-44 loss at Texas State.
“[Teal] did a good job of driving the ball, passing the ball from the high post,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said.
“That high post move is the catalyst. She had to make a lot of decisions out there, and she made pretty good decisions tonight.”
UALR (9-7, 6-5 Sun Belt Conference) led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter and recorded a season-high 11 steals in the bounce-back victory against the Bobcats (7-8, 4-6) in the weekend opener.
Senior Krystan Vornes scored 13 points to go along with 13 rebounds as the Trojans won the battle on the glass 39-22 and bullied Texas State for 42 points in the paint.
Junior Mayra Caicedo scored nine points and dished out six assists for UALR. Sophomore Alayzha Knapp went 3 of 4 from the field to finish with 8 points.
Da’Nasia Hood, the Sun Belt’s leading scorer (17.3 ppg), paced the Bobcats
with 12 points, but she was largely held in check on 5-of11 shooting.
The teams meet for their third game of the week at 4 p.m. today at the Jack Stephens Center.
Foley’s response to Tuesday’s loss was to attack inside against the Texas State zone, and the Trojans made a lineup change to do so. Freshman Tia Harvey recorded four points and 13 rebounds in her first confer- ence start. She also created space for UALR’s forwards in the paint, where the Trojans converted 59.2% of their shots.
The switch put the offense in Battle’s hands, and the senior took advantage from the post.
“It put me closer to the goal so I’m able to drive a bit quicker and better,” Battle said. “Playing outside more, they know that I’m a driver, so they closed the paint up for me, but having Tia out there as an extra guard, putting me back in the post helps a lot with our offense.”
Battle assisted Vornes for the opening points of the game, then rattled off eight in a row to give UALR a 10-6 lead on a contested finish at the basket. Hood responded with seven consecutive points of her own, and Texas State held a short-lived advantage before Caicedo’s baseline floater put the Trojans ahead 15-14 in the closing seconds of the first quarter.
Texas State led 2321 on Kennedy Taylor’s three-pointer with 4:52 remaining in the first half before UALR returned to the paint, where Vornes scored six points over the final 4:41 and sent the Trojans to the locker room ahead 28-23.
With the score 28-25 early in the second half, Battle hit two layups and followed them with a three-point play. Her jumper on the next possession moved the Trojans’ advantage to 10.
Battle scored nine points in the first 3:27 of the half.
“Today I think we came in with a game plan to get it inside, so when I couldn’t score somehow, then the high low was there or we could kick it out,” Battle said. “Basically, our whole game was from the inside out.”