UALR women improve in loss

This time, there were signs of progress.

Last week’s rough start for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women’s basketball team featured back-to-back road losses by 43 and 26 points, while the Trojans combined to score a mere 75 points.

But in Wednesday night’s home opener against LSU, the Trojans hung in and refused to get dusted.

Senior guard Kyra Collier continued to be a force offensively, freshman forward Nicole Hemphill made her first-career start and was scrappy the entire night, and the Trojans showed brief spurts of life.

LSU (2-1) still powered its way to a 65-50 victory over UALR (0-3) at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. But afterward, UALR Coach Joe Foley thought his team took a step, albeit a small one, against the Tigers.

“LSU I think’s a great, quality ball club, and at times I thought we competed really well, and that’s a change from the last two games,” Foley said. “I’m a little more pleased with our ball club today than I was last week, so hopefully we’ll keep getting better.”

Collier led UALR in scoring for the third straight outing, pouring in 16 points, including 11 in the third quarter, while grabbing 6 rebounds and playing all 40 minutes.

Her 3-point outburst early in that third period kept the Trojans at bay, after LSU had taken a 34-19 halftime lead. Collier drilled a trio of shots from beyond the arc in the opening three minutes of the quarter, which helped trim LSU’s lead to 36-28.

“I was kind of dialed in. I knew we needed to get some type of spark, get some type of juice going,” Collier said. “That’s my job on the team is to get people going, get people pumped up and make sure everybody’s giving maximum effort.”

After starting the same five for the first two games, Foley opted to tweak the lineup on Wednesday. Sophomore forward Krystan Vornes and freshman forward Alayzha Knapp each began on the bench this time, while senior guard Sydney Chastain and Hemphill started the game.

Hemphill tallied 13 points and 6 rebounds and went 7 of 7 from the free throw line, while logging 37 minutes. The true freshman repeatedly scrapped for offensive boards and dove for loose balls on the floor.

“She came in and fought the whole time, so I’m real proud of her,” Collier said of her teammate. “She was everywhere. She brought a lot of juice. It was different seeing Nicole like that. She usually plays hard, but I just saw a different type of fire in her today.”

Outside of the play of Collier and Hemphill, it was still a struggle for UALR offensively, especially in the first half. Fourteen of the team’s 19

turnovers came in the first two quarters, and the Trojans shot 27 percent.

LSU was aggressive on the defensive end with sharp man defense and a healthy dose of full-court press.

Hemphill gave UALR a brief lift midway through the second quarter when she corralled an offensive rebound before coming back with a lay-in while taking contact. She made the ensuing free throw attempt to complete a three-point play, and the Trojans trailed 23-16 with 5:22 left before the break.

But LSU closed the half on a 11-3 run, as the Tigers’ defense stymied UALR and forced six turnovers. LSU finished the night with 26 points off of UALR’s turnovers.

“It got away from us there (late in the second quarter),” Foley said. “We were moving along pretty well.”

Collier’s quick 3-point barrage to open the third was about all UALR could depend on. She scored 11 of UALR’s 14 points in the quarter, while LSU still maintained a 50-33 advantage through 30 minutes.

In the fourth quarter, junior guard Tori Lasker, who finished with eight points, showed promise hitting a pair of triples. The Trojans trailed by 22 with 3:45 to play, but they were able to whittle away at the deficit and close the game on a 9-2 run, bolstered by seven made free throws, to make it respectable.