Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
DeGray’s happy feet carry UALR
UALR 62, LA.-LAFAYETTE 48
Nearly two calendar years later, the only thing Ronjanae DeGray remembers from Jan. 28, 2017, is her feet — blistered and in pain. On Saturday — 706 days after one of DeGray’s best performances — she duplicated her offensive output in a Sun Belt Conference victory against Louisiana-Lafayette. DeGray steered the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to a 62-48 victory Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center with a career-high-tying 25 points, the same total she posted in an 82-64 victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns two seasons ago. Except this time, the senior forward’s feet feel just fine. “That’s the main thing I can remember from that game,” DeGray said. “They were hurting so bad. But no, they don’t hurt right now.” DeGray, who also had 11 rebounds and made 10 of her 20 shot attempts, and junior guard Kyra Collier, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds, combined to shoot 40 of the Trojans’ 59 shots. They were UALR’s first pair to notch double-doubles in the same game since Kaitlyn Pratt and Shanity James did so vs. Arkansas State University on March 1, 2016. DeGray and Collier’s high volume of shots paced UALR (6-7, 2-0 Sun Belt) to its second consecutive conference victory after a 63-44 home win Thursday against Louisiana-Monroe. DeGray added 20 of her 25 points in the second half. She also collected four of her six offensive rebounds in the final 20 minutes. “If [Collier] and Ron are both shooting well, then we’re looking pretty good on offense,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said. Foley praised the Trojans on Saturday for another dominant first quarter. UALR scored 23 points in the opening frame while Louisiana-Lafayette (2-11, 0-2), which committed seven of its 18 total turnovers in the first, managed just eight. “First quarter was pretty exceptional,” Foley said. In two games, the Trojans have yet to allow a Sun Belt opponent to score 10 points in the first 10 minutes. Louisiana-Monroe scored four Thursday. In 20 first-quarter minutes, UALR has allowed 12 points (0.6 points per minute). “Our big thing is starting out and hitting people in the mouth,” Collier said. The Ragin’ Cajuns held a lead against UALR for 16 total seconds after scoring the first basket of Saturday’s game. Louisiana-Lafayette — which trailed by as many as 17 with 9:27 remaining in the second quarter — cut the Trojans’ advantage from 3323 at halftime to 35-31 with 5:32 remaining in the third quarter. “We just had to realize, hey, they’re playing harder than we are,” Foley said. “They were taking it to us on the offensive end.” UALR ended the quarter on a 10-4 run, including six points from DeGray. In the second and third quarters, the Ragin’ Cajuns outscored the Trojans 27-22 after UALR’s 23-8 lead at the end of the first. “We got a little bit tired,” Foley said. “I had to sit some of our players. That’s just part of it right now. When they made the run at us, I thought we came back. That’s good to see.”