UALR's Taylor Gault came up from a pile on the floor near her team's basket about 10 minutes into the first half Saturday clutching her right hand.
The Trojans' senior guard had scored 11 points before that, but no teammate had been able to equal her fast start.
"I wasn't real happy about that," UALR Coach Joe Foley said. "I didn't really want her to come out."
Gault's quick trip to the bench might have helped UALR on Saturday, though.
Forwards Keanna Keys and Kaitlyn Pratt each scored while Gault was getting looked at to spark a run that helped UALR to another runaway victory, this one a 70-43 blowout of Texas State at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
Gault returned four minutes later and finished with 19 points, while Keys had 14 points for the Trojans (19-3, 12-1), the Sun Belt leader who now has a one-game lead over second-place Arkansas State and at least a four-game lead over other teams with seven games remaining.
But UALR's latest blowout -- it was the Trojans' 11th Sun Belt victory this season by 20 points or more -- didn't start taking shape until Gault went to the bench with what Foley thought was a dislocated finger.
Gault scored the team's first points on 3 three-pointers and two free throws, and UALR led 15-13 with 10:45 left when she walked off the floor holding her hand. But Keys sparked UALR with a jumper, Pratt scored inside to give UALR a 19-16 lead and, after Gault returned to immediately make a jumper, Shanity James, Ka'Nesheia Cobbins and Keys each scored to help UALR take a 31-21 halftime lead.
"I think everybody knows that if she goes out that everybody better step it up because somebody is going to have to create some shots," said Foley, who did not make players available for interviews.
It wasn't one player Saturday, but a collection of them that created offense off its defense.
Alexius Dawn had eight assists, all in the first half, and many coming in transition. UALR scored 16 points off Texas State's 16 turnovers, often turning fast breaks into easy baskets inside from forwards James, Pratt and Keys.
"We're too small to set up against a set defense," Foley said. "We've got to play in the open floor."
UALR held Texas State (13-9, 8-5) without a field goal over the final 5:40 of the first half, and two minutes into the second half. The Bobcats were 6 of 35 from the floor in the second half, and 14 of 59 for the game (23.7 percent).
Erin Peoples, a Little Rock Parkview graduate, led Texas State with 7 points.
Overall, it was a better effort than what Foley saw in Thursday's 68-44 victory over Louisiana-Monroe. After that game, assistant coach Bobby Brasel said the Trojans' lacked energy.
Foley said Saturday that keeping his team at the energy level he likes is difficult during a Sun Belt season that has included so many blowouts. It hurts, too, that UALR's schedule doesn't include old Sun Belt rivals Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, both of which are now in Conference-USA.
"Everybody is trying to get through practice and get through games," Foley said. "Right now, we've been in that mode where we've already played A-State, and it used to be where it's Western and Middle. Now we don't have those big rivalry games, so it's a lot harder to keep them juiced up a little bit."
The Trojans found it Saturday, though, after an early run from the Bobcats.
"We adjusted pretty good," Foley said. "I told them 'You start making those layups, you keep running and playing good defense, eventually this will break open on you.'"
Sports on 02/08/2015