JONESBORO — Arkansas State’s women’s basketball team entered Wednesday night with an inside track of unseating UALR’s five-year run atop the Sun Belt Conference’s West Division.
It’s going to be more difficult to stay there now.
Taylor Ford and Kiera Clark combined to score 12 points during a decisive 4 1/2-minute stretch of the second half and UALR’s man-to-man defense frustrated Arkansas State in a 54-50 victory in front of an announced crowd of 1,271 at the Convocation Center.
The victory was UALR’s sixth consecutive and reduced ASU’s lead in the West to a half-game with a little more than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
“We grew up a lot tonight,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said. “These kinds of games is what makes kids grow up. ... I think we learned a lot playing tonight. We’ll learn from here on out and be ready for the tournament.”
Evidence of that growth came about eight minutes into the second half.
The Trojans (17-7, 9-6) had missed seven of their first eight shots after halftime, and the Red Wolves (13-12, 10-6) took their first lead at 29-27 with 12:52 left.
Not long after, with the game tied 32-32, Ford hit a jumper, Ka’Nesheia Cobbins found Clark under the basket for an easy layup and Ford hit another jumper to put UALR ahead 38-32. Hannah Fohne and Clark added baskets to cap a 10-0 run. Clark and Ford each hit jumpers to stretch the lead to 46-34 with 7:36 left.
ASU pulled to within five points three different times but didn’t get closer until the final minute as it lost for the third time in four games.
Ford, a junior guard known more for her defense than her offense, finished with a teamhigh 16 points, added seven rebounds and helped hold ASU guard Hannah Qedan scoreless.
“[Ford] was the catalyst for our ballclub tonight,” Foley said. “I thought she played extremely hard.”
Ford was one of four UALR starters to finish with seven or more rebounds. Shanity James had a team-high nine rebounds. Clark had eight to go with 14 points, and Hannah Fohne had seven rebounds.
UALR held a 40-29 rebounding advantage and its 16 offensive rebounds led to13 second-chance points.
It helped slow an ASU offense that was coming off a 78-74 victory over Western Kentucky last Saturday in which it shot 52 percent.
The Red Wolves shot 45.7 percent from the floor Wednesday but took 16 fewer shots than UALR from the floor and committed 17 turnovers.
“They shot the ball 16 more times than us,” ASU Coach Brian Boyer said. “You better shoot 90 percent from the field if you’re going to beat somebody doing that.”
Even with fewer opportunities, Boyer wouldn’t blame the loss entirely on his offense. Jalen O’Bannon finished with 16 points and Jane Morrill had seven of her 13 in the final three minutes of the first half to get within 25-23 at halftime.
He was more concerned with a defense that failed to grab rebounds on UALR’s missed shots and didn’t track its motion offense well enough to prevent Ford and Clark from getting free for open jumpers.
“We’ve just got to rebound and box out better,” ASU guard Quinishia McDowell said. “The offense they run, as far as the screening game, makes it difficult. We’ve got to work on it and be better prepared next time.”
That will come March 2 in Little Rock, when the teams meet at the Jack Stephens Center to close the regular season.
How much that game will matter in the division race depends on how ASU responds from Wednesday’s loss, Boyer said.
“We can still win the division, but we still have to win,” he said. “The bottom line is we’ve got to move forward and we’ve got to win. That’s all you can do.”Sun Belt women WEST DIVISION CONF. ALL Arkansas State ..........10-6 13-12 UALR ..................... 9-6 17-7 North Texas ...................8-7 9-15 La.-Monroe.....................5-9 7-16 La.-Lafayette..................1-14 7-17 EAST DIVISION CONF. ALL Middle Tennessee ..........13-2 18-6 W. Kentucky ..................11-4 18-6 Fla. International .............9-6 15-9 Florida Atlantic ...............8-8 11-13 South Alabama ...............7-9 14-11 Troy................................2-12 5-18 WEDNESDAY’S GAMES UALR 54, Arkansas State 50 W. Kentucky 64, Florida Atlantic 61 South Alabama 53, La.-Lafayette 39 TODAY’S GAMES All times Central Fla. International at Troy, 5:15 p.m.
North Texas at La.-Monroe, 5:15 p.m.
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/14/2013