UALR dances with offense, secures bid
NEW ORLEANS — The UALR women’s basketball team etched out a reputation over the past decade as one of the Sun Belt Conference’s most relentless group of defenders.
Saturday, UALR leaned on its offense to earn a spot back in the NCAA Tournament.
Taylor Gault scored 21 points, Alexius Dawn had 17 and UALR played well enough defensively in the final moments to escape with a 78-72 victory over Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game.
Ka’Nesheia Cobbins added 15 points and Kiera Clark came off the bench to score 13 as the Trojans shot 48 percent to make up for what they couldn’t do defensively against the Red Wolves for most of the game. And for that, the Trojans are heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time and the first time since 2012.
UALR will learn its tournament opponent and site when the women’s field is unveiled at 6 p.m. Monday.
“Man, what a ballgame,” said UALR Coach Joe Foley, clutching the freshly snipped net. “They played great, and I thought we came back and played with a lot of heart the last four minutes.”
The top-seeded Trojans (28-4), who set a program record for victories, needed a strong finish after what they let Aundrea Gamble and the second-seeded Red Wolves (23-10) do for most of Saturday.
Gamble scored 27 points, had 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Jasmine Hunt scored 11 points and Khadija Brown-Haywood had 10. ASU shot 50 percent from the field, well above the 36.5 percent opponents had shot against UALR going into Saturday’s game. ASU made six shots in a row early in the second half as it turned a five-point halftime deficit into a 49-47 lead four minutes in.
“Love the energy that we came out with,” ASU Coach Brian Boyer said. “Gave ourselves a lead, and gave ourselves a chance.”
The Red Wolves then pushed their lead to 58-50 after a Gamble three-pointer with 11:21 left.
“We came out a little flat,” Cobbins said. “I’m a defensive-minded person so I was just thinking about what we needed to do defensively.”
ASU’s Jamie Ruffins made two free throws to tie the game at 67-67 with 3:32 left, but that’s when UALR’s defense showed its face.
Dawn and Clark each made two steals in the final 3:30, and UALR turned each turnover into points to turn the tied game into a 77-72 lead with 28 seconds left.
ASU missed two three-pointers in the final seconds before Gault grabbed the rebound. She dribbled out the final 10 seconds in front of her team’s bench.
As a freshman in 2012 Gault made a jump shot to send the Sun Belt final into overtime before UALR beat Middle Tennessee. She was just as important to the Trojans on Saturday.
“It was just such a surreal feeling,” Gault said. “It’s pretty cool to end your senior year like you ended your freshman year. So, when I was dribbling the ball, I was just so happy and proud of my teammates.”
Gamble and ASU did everything they could to keep up with UALR, which averaged 78.7 points in three tournament games while shooting 50.6 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from threepoint range.
“It does feel that way that you have to make a basket to keep up,” Gamble said. “But, it all comes down to, you have to play defense for the whole 30 seconds.”
UALR did that to all three opponents this week.
Gault scored 62 points in the tournament, while Dawn set a Sun Belt Tournament record by making 15 three-pointers.
Even Cobbins, considered UALR’s best defender, became more aggressive while driving to the basket. That combination made up for UALR’s lack of inside scoring — forwards Shanity James and Kaitlyn Pratt combined for 10 points Saturday — and helped even more when Dawn missed on all 3 three-pointers in the second half.
“They’re on a different level of offense of what his teams have been in the past,” Boyer said. “They can really make you pay in a lot of different ways.”
ASU led 62-61 with less than seven minutes to play when Cobbins, Clark and Dawn drove for baskets on three consecutive possessions as UALR retook the lead and control. The Trojans also scored 27 points off 17 ASU turnovers, making up for allowing ASU to make 50 percent of its shots.
“Hats off to them. You’ve got to score in the paint,” Foley said. “The way we do it is with driving. We do it with our guards driving, so that makes up for it. You’ve got to give those guards credit, they’re doing a great job.”