LITTLE ROCK — UALR’s last five minutes made the rest of the game irrelevant.

Chastity Gooch scored a game-high 23 points Thursday night and Western Kentucky stifled UALR’s women’s basketball team in the final minutes of a 78-69 victory at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.

“I’ve got a bunch of resilient young ladies,” Western Kentucky Coach Michelle Clark-Heard said. “There’s no quit in them.”

Both teams struggled offensively in the opening minutes, except for UALR forward Kiera Clark. Clark scored all of UALR’s eight points and grabbed three of the Trojans’ six rebounds in the first five minutes. UALR (10-3, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference) put an early priority on scoring in the lane and maintained its lead as Clark scored 12 of the team’s first 17 points.

Western Kentucky (12-2, 5-0) took its first lead when Alexis Govan converted a contested layup for a 23-21 lead with 8:04 remaining in the first half. The Hilltoppers then went on an 11-4 run by scoring in transition and drawing fouls in the lane.

UALR also was hurt when forward Janette Merriex picked up her fourth personal foul with just less than three minutes remaining in the half. Merriex was UALR’s secondleading scorer with seven points when she was called for the foul, and she remained on the bench for the remainder of the half and most of the second half.

Western Kentucky substitute Bianca McGee made a jumper at the buzzer for a 38-33 halftime lead.

Taylor Gault made a threepointer for UALR with 18:30 remaining that tied it at 38-38. The Trojans had opportunities to tie or take the lead three times over the next five minutes but had three turnovers. Gault eventually came up with a steal and a layup with 10:07 remaining that put UALR ahead 52-51, but Western Kentucky grabbed a loose ball under the basket and scored to reclaim its lead on the next possession.

UALR post player Hannah Fohne was called for a foul, but she grabbed the rebound after a missed free throw and was fouled on the other end with 3:46 remaining. Fohne made a free throw to tie it at 62-62, but Western Kentucky outscored UALR 8-0 and held the Trojans scoreless until just 30 seconds remained.

“Youth and inexperience pretty much sums it up,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said. “They couldn’t get defensive stops when we needed to.”

Clark led UALR with 20 points and Taylor Ford added 15. Gault and Ford, UALR’s starting guards, were a combined 7 of 27 from the floor.

Govan added 18 points for the Hilltoppers, who made 26 of 28 free throws.

Sports, Pages 20 on 01/04/2013