Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
UALR women ready for defense
NEW ORLEANS — The quest to repeat as Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions begins today for the UALR women’s basketball team.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (19-10) earned the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament after finishing 15-3 in conference play, including four consecutive victories to end the regular season.
UALR will meet No. 5 Appalachian State (18-13) at 11:30 a.m. today at Lakefront Arena.
UALR suffered a bump in February with a pair of losses, but the setbacks helped the Trojans rediscover a championship version of themselves.
“It took them a while to grow up,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said. “This group is a good group. They developed into a good basketball team. I think we understand strengths and weaknesses now. The last two weeks, we grew up a lot.”
After consecutive losses to Texas State on Feb. 16 and Arkansas State on Feb. 23, the Trojans reeled off four consecutive victories to clinch a co-Sun Belt regular-season championship with No. 2 seed Texas-Arlington.
“The motivation and the need to want to win and pull back-to-back championships, that’s what’s been working for us,” senior forward Raeyana DeGray said March 2 after UALR’s final home game of the season.
UALR and Appalachian State have met once previously this season. The Trojans defeated the Mountaineers 74-59 on Jan. 26 in
Boone, N.C. The Trojans bolted out to a 43-24 lead at halftime.
“Fortunately, up there, we jumped out in front and they kind of got their heads down a little bit,” Foley said. “We played a good game up there. But they’re a good scoring offense.”
To Foley, the largest concern for UALR in today’s semifinal is defense.
“Appalachian State can score the ball,” Foley said, “That’s their big thing. They’ve got a lot of different scorers. They can hurt you in a lot of different ways.”
The Mountaineers averaged 68.9 points per game this season prior to a 47-45 upset victory Thursday against No. 4 seed Georgia State at Lakefront Arena.
On Wednesday, Appalachian State posted 41 firsthalf points in a 78-42 victory against No. 8 seed Coastal Carolina to advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal.
In 10 different games, Appalachian State has made seven or more three-pointers. UALR has made seven or more three-pointers in one game this season, going 10 for 18 in an 82-50 victory against Georgia Southern on March 2.
Appalachian State is 2-0 at Lakefront Arena this week. Today’s game will be its third in three days.
UALR is 11-0 all-time against the Mountaineers, and 2-0 against Appalachian State on a neutral court.
The winner of Appalachian State and UALR will advance to the Sun Belt championship game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Lakefront Arena. The winner of Texas-Arlington and No. 7 seed South Alabama will be waiting.
Texas-Arlington and South Alabama — which upset No. 3 seed Troy 87-74 on Thursday — will tip off at 2 p.m. today.
Can the Trojans repeat? They think so.
“I do believe that we can do it,” DeGray said.
“Appalachian State can score the ball. That’s their big thing. They’ve got a lot of different scorers. They can hurt you in a lot of different ways.” UALR Coach Joe Foley