Having the task of being a team’s most important scorer and guarding one of the opposing team’s best players gets no sympathy from Joe Foley.
“Better not be [hard] if you want to be a champion,” the University of Arkansas-Little Rock women’s basketball coach said. “Michael Jordan did it for years. You’ve got to have kids like that.”
UALR’s Sharde Collins held Angel McGowan of Georgia Southern University in check late, and Collins’ own shot eventually started to fall in a 57-41 victory Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. The Trojans clinched at least a share of the Sun Belt title and a first-round bye in next month’s conference tournament in New Orleans.
Collins finished with 24 points, 16 of which came in the final 14 minutes to spark a 28-10 game-closing run after Georgia Southern had taken a 31-29 lead with 4:43 to go in the third quarter.
McGowan, who entered Thursday fourth in the Sun Belt at 15.1 points per game, finished with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, but she was held scoreless over the game’s final 8:25. After McGowan’s three-point play made it 42-40, she didn’t take a shot the rest of the game.
Collins slapped the ball out of McGowan’s hands on the next possession, and Kaitlyn Pratt corralled it and passed it to Ronjanae DeGray for an easy layup to spark a 15-0 surge.
“She was difficult,” Collins said of McGowan. “We know she’s left-handed, but she can go right, so you can’t really play her straight up.”
Foley thought Collins did her part fine for most of Thursday, but trouble arrived when her teammates weren’t providing enough help. When they did, Georgia Southern (12-15, 8-8) didn’t have another answer — no other player had more than six points — and UALR took off when Collins started making shots.
The senior, mired in a shooting slump for three weeks, scored eight consecutive points for the Trojans late in the third quarter, then added two three-pointers and a jumper in the fourth for her highest point total since scoring 29 at Louisiana-Monroe last month.
“I feel like the shots I took this game were all good shots,” said Collins, who made 10 of 21 from the floor. “I was missing early, but I felt like one of them was going to fall. Once it does, I’m going to keep shooting.”
Foley blamed Georgia Southern’s zone defense for UALR’s early offensive struggles. The Trojans led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and 24-23 at halftime, but they twice gave up the lead in the third quarter. The zone defense was similar to one UALR saw Feb. 11 at Texas State, when it suffered its only Sun Belt loss.
Considering his team’s 79 three-pointers are last in the Sun Belt, Foley figured it would be a slog against the zone. But Pratt, who had 17 points and nine rebounds, said the Trojans opened things up by attacking inside.
“Sometimes we’re hard-headed,” she said. “And this game, we tried to do what he told us to do.”
Foley said he wasn’t worried when Collins’ shots weren’t falling early in the game. Before Collins’ jumper with 4:23 left in the third quarter tied the game at 31-31, Pratt had scored five third-quarter points.
When both got going, the Trojans met little resistance.
“The game was probably going to stay close if we just had that going,” he said. “But, I tell our kids all the time, if we start hitting threes and our post players are scoring, I don’t have to coach anymore. It gets pretty easy. When you can’t hit a three against a zone, it’s going to be a close game.”
SUN BELT WOMEN
ARKANSAS STATE 59, GEORGIA STATE 57
JONESBORO — Tahlon Hopkins’ basket with two seconds remaining gave Arkansas State University (6-21, 4-11 Sun Belt) the winning margin, but the Red Wolves had to survive some tense moments up until the final buzzer.
Georgia State University (11-16, 7-9) led 53-49 with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter, but two Brittany Fowler free throws gave the Red Wolves a 57-55 lead with 58 seconds remaining. Kierra Henry made two free throws for the Panthers 26 seconds later until Hopkins’ game-winning layup.
After a timeout, Hopkins fouled Haley Gerrin with no time remaining. Gerrin missed both free throws, giving the Red Wolves their first victory in their last five games. Georgia State had won three of its last four and six of its last eight entering Thursday’s game.
Hopkins led the Red Wolves with 16 points. Jada Ford came off the bench to score 13, whole Fowler chipped in 10. Reserve Lauren Bradshaw had a team-high seven rebounds for ASU. Georgia State’s Jada Lewis led all scorers with 18 points, while Henry added 14. Gerrin added 10 points in 16 minutes off the bench for the Panthers who outscored the Red Wolves 36-26 in points in the lane.
The Panthers led by as many as 10, 41-31, with 4:07 left in the third quarter.
Sports on 02/24/2017