Arkansas State responded to its first Sun Belt Conference loss with a 67-63 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday in Bowling Green, Ky.
ASU outscored Western Kentucky 14-7 over the final 5:03 to make up for a four-point deficit as the Red Wolves remained on top of the conference standings.
ASU (11-7, 5-1) trailed 57-53 with 5:03 left when Jalen O’Bannon made a layup to cut the deficit to 57-55, and after falling behind 59-55 it scored seven consecutive points to go up 62-59 on another O’Bannon layup with 2:19 left. From there, ASU pushed its lead to 65-60 on three free throws by Aundrea Gamble, the last coming with 40 seconds left, to seal the game.
Western Kentucky (11-5, 3-2) led by as much as 48-40 with 11:06 left, but Hanna Qedan made consecutive three-pointers to pull ASU within 48-46.
Gamble led ASU with 20 points, while Qedan and O’Bannon scored nine each. ASU made 46.5 percent of its shots from the floor and 24 of 34 free throws.
Chastity Gooch led the Hilltoppers with 19 points. Micah Jones and Kendall Noble scored 14 points each.
ASU’s victory came four days after a 76-74 home loss to Georgia State, which was its first conference loss and first loss at home in almost two months.
The Red Wolves let the Panthers shoot 48.1 percent from the floor and make nine three-pointers in that game. ASU was much better defensively Saturday, holding Western Kentucky to 39.2 percent shooting and 3 of 10 from behind the three-point line.
GEORGIA STATE 61, UALR 59
Gabby Moss’ layup with three seconds left completed Georgia State’s second-half comeback and handed the UALR women’s basketball team its second loss in three days.
Moss’ layup came after UALR’s Taylor Ford made two free throws with 12 seconds left to tie the game, and it gave Georgia State a victory at GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta.
The Panthers (7-10, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference) took their first lead of the second half at 59-57 - their first lead since it was 8-7 early in the game - on Kayla Nolan’s putback of her own missed layup with 42 seconds left in the game. Ford tied the game with two free throws before Moss’ layup, and then Ford failed to get a shot off before time expired to seal UALR’s loss in the first meeting between the schools.
Taylor Gault led the Trojans (8-8, 3-3) with 21 points, the fourth time in four games she has had at least 20 points, and Kiera Clark added 18 points and 10 rebounds. UALR made 47.1 percent of its shots and held a 34-23 rebounding advantage, but was 9 of 19 from the free-throw line.
The Trojans, off to their worst six-game start in the Sun Belt since 2006, looked like they would pull away early in the second half when they went on a 15-2 run capped by a Clark jumper to go up 49-36 with 11:09 left. But Georgia State responded with a 11-2 run, finished off by Alisha Andrews’ three-pointer and a free throw by Moss that made it 51-47 with 6:17 left.
The Trojans led 57-50 with 3:25 left, but the Panthers scored nine consecutive points and went ahead 59-57 on Nolan’s layup with 42 seconds left.
After taking a 57-50 lead with 3:25 left, UALR missed two shots from the floor and committed four turnovers that helped Georgia State’s rally.
Andrews scored 22 points for Georgia State, which shot 51.1 percent from the floor. Kendra Long added 10 points.
SOUTHLAND WOMEN CENTRAL ARKANSAS 67, ABILENE CHRISTIAN 54
Freshman guard Brianna Mullins scored a career-high 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting to lead Central Arkansas(10-6, 4-1 Southland Conference) to a victory over Abilene Christian (11-7, 2-1) at Moody Coliseum in Abilene, Texas.
Mullins also made 9 of 10 from the free-throw line and finished with 5 rebounds and 1 assist.
Senior center Courtney Duever had 15 points and 14 rebounds, while freshman guard Kelsey McClure added 11 points and five rebounds.
UCA led 35-24 at halftime. The Sugar Bears’ largest lead was 52-32 with 9:48 remaining.
Freshman forward Lizzy Demba led the Wildcats with 17 points. Senior forward Renata Marquez had 11 points. SWAC WOMEN SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 84, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 70
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-13, 0-4) lost its 13th consecutive game and fourth in a row in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, falling to Southern University of Baton Rouge (8-5, 5-0) at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff.
The Lady Lions trailed 37-32 at halftime but were outscored 47-38 in the second half to lose in their first home game since Dec. 17 against Talladega College.
Cassidy Wright led UAPB with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Jazmyne Victorian had 16 points while Christina Lasane added 11 for the Lady Lions, who shot 56.8 percent (25 of 44) from the field but went 16 of 32 (50.0) from the free-throw line.
Jasmine Jefferson finished with 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Southern.
Sports, Pages 26 on 01/19/2014