State sports briefs

VOLLEYBALL UALR completes unbeaten Sun Belt season Edina Begic had 21 kills as UALR swept Arkansas State 25-20, 25-22, 25-23 on Saturday night at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro.

UALR (26-4 overall) has won 21 consecutive matches and became the first team to go 20-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans will enter the Sun Belt Tournament, which begins Thursday in San Marcos, Texas, as the No. 1 seed.

Megan Mathis finished with 36 assists as Coach Van Compton won her 216th conference match, the most in Sun Belt history.

UCA advances to Southland final The University of Central Arkansas defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 26-24, 26-24, 25-21 Saturday in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament in Natchitoches, La.

The Sugar Bears (20-11) will face Northwestern (La.) State at 2:05 p.m. in the final.

Heather Schnars had a match-high 16 kills, Fulani Petties had 11 and Evie Singleton had 9 kills and 11 digs. Amy South had 43 assists and nine digs. Shelbee Berringer had 10 digs.

Brittany Gilpin led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 11 kills.

BASKETBALL Williams Baptist drops two Williams Baptist lost two games Saturday at Columbia (Mo.) College. The Lady Eagles (2-4) lost 92-70 to Columbia after trailing 36-28 at halftime.

Alisha Stone led the Lady Eagles with 16 points, and Da’Monique Brown added 14.

Columbia defeated Williams Baptist 68-37 in the men’s game. The Eagles (2-4) trailed 36-19 at halftime.

Arkansas Baptist’s winning streak at 4 Sophomores Dexter Porchia of Stephens and Fred Albright of Little Rock Central scored 18 points each as the Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes defeated Cowley County (Kansas) 81-64 in Harrison to earn their fourth consecutive victory.

Mike Ayers, a sophomore from Memphis, added 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Arkansas Baptist (7-5).

CROSS COUNTRY Harding finishes 13th in regional Harding’s women’s team finished 13th of 29 teams Saturday at the NCAA Division II Central Region Championship in Wayne, Neb.

The Lady Bisons scored 389 points while Minnesota-Duluth won the meet with 40 points and will advance to the NCAA Division II Championship in Louisville, Ky., with Augustana (59 points), Missouri Southern (150) and Winona Stae (151).

Harding’s Kelsey Taylor was the Lady Bisons’ top runner, finishing 53rd in 23 minutes, 33.92 seconds. Minnesota-Duluth’s Samantha Rivard won the race in 21:05.73.

SWIMMING AND DIVING Arkansas’ Daniels wins Arkansas’ Nikki Daniels won the 200-yard breastroke Saturday at the Georgia Tech Invite in Atlanta.

Daniels won the 200 breaststroke in 2 minutes, 11.66 seconds. In addition, Anna Mayfield finished second in the 200 backstroke in 1:54.84.