Trojans cope with roster size
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock women’s basketball team has coped well leaning on a six-player rotation over the last month, but its short bench gave out at LouisianaMonroe on Monday.
The Trojans (13-8, 9-5 Sun Belt Conference) suffered their first double-digit defeat in league play in the 62-44 loss to the Warhawks, snapping a 19-game winning streak over LouisianaMonroe. UALR trailed 45-38 after three quarters before the Trojans shot 1 of 12 from the field and were outscored 17-6 in the final quarter.
The loss gave the Warhawks their first Sun Belt win of the season, and for UALR, a wake-up call ahead of the final weekend of the regular season.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of energy and enthusiasm, and it caught up with us,” Coach Joe Foley said. “We just couldn’t hit a shot. We couldn’t make shots.If you can’t score, everything else gets kind of difficult.”
Foley’s Trojans will seek to return to the win column when they travel to West Division-leading Louisiana-Lafayette today and Saturday ahead of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which begins March 5. UALR enters the two-game series in third-place in the division, 1 1/2 games behind TexasArlington for a second-place spot that would earn the Trojans a first-round bye in the postseason tournament.
The Mavericks are set to visit Arkansas State University for a weekend series in Jonesboro.
UALR has maintained its place in the upper half of the West Division following the opt outs of Bre’Amber Scott, Brianna Crane and Alayzha Knapp that dwindled the roster down to just nine players. Since Jan. 22, the Trojans are 8-4 and have allowed opponents 50.4 points per game over that stretch. Despite losing its two leading scorers in Scott and Crane midseason, UALR heads into the final weekend with the fourth-best record in the conference.
That success has required heavy minutes from the players Foley still has at his disposal. Junior Mayra Caicedo leads the Sun Belt playing 37.6 minutes per game, and she is joined by three other teammates — seniors Teal Battle and Krystan Vornes, and sophomore Ky’lie Scott — averaging 30-plus minutes per game.
In the loss to LouisianaMonroe, five Trojans spent 32 minutes or more on the court, and the fatigue caught up the UALR in its second game in as many days.
This weekend against the Ragin’ Cajuns, Foley intends to extend minutes to reserves such as freshmen Paloma Iradier, Trinitee Alexander and MeKayla Holley, in search of relief deeper down the bench.
“We’ve got some other kids we’re trying to get ready,” Foley said. “We’ll play them quite a bit this weekend and see where they are. Hopefully we can add one or two of them to the rotation during the tournament if we need it.”