Never before has UALR traveled this far in the NCAA Tournament.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock's women's basketball team, the Sun Belt Conference Tournament champions, earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament's first round and will meet No. 5 Gonzaga at 2:30 p.m. today at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.
No. 12 seed UALR vs. No. 5 seed Gonzaga
WHEN 2:30 p.m. Central
WHERE Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.
RECORDS UALR 21-10; Gonzaga 28-4
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in Little Rock
TELEVISION ESPN2
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
UALR
POS. NAME, HT, YR.;PPG;RPG
G Kyra Collier, 5-9, Jr.;14.7;5.0
G Tori Lasker, 5-7, So.;9.5;2.6
G Terrion Moore, 5-8, So.;7.9;4.3
F Ronjanae DeGray, 6-0, Sr.;14.8;7.0
F Raeyana DeGray, 5-11, Sr.;7.1;5.6
COACH Joe Foley (333-172 in 16th season at UALR, 789-254 in 30th season overall)
GONZAGA
POS. NAME, HT, YR.;PPG;RPG
G Chandler Smith, 6-0, Sr.;9.2;5.1
G Katie Campbell, 5-10, Jr.;8.1;2.4
G Jessie Loera, 5-6, Jr.;5.6;1.7
F Zykera Rice, 6-1, Sr.;14.8;5.9
F LeeAnne Wirth, 6-3, So;6.5;4.4
COACH Lisa Fortier (126-39 in fourth season at Gonzaga and overall)
TEAM COMPARISON
UALR;;Gonzaga
61.9;Points for;73.7
56.5;Points against;58.7
-0.1;Rebound margin;+5.7
+3.1;Turnover margin;+3.7
43.4;FG pct.;45.5
33.0;3-pt. pct.;37.7
72.5;FT pct.;76.5
CHALK TALK: UALR and Gonzaga will be meeting for the first time ever. … This begins UALR’s sixth trip to the tournament since 2010. The Trojans are 2-5 in the NCAA Tournament.
— Christian Boutwell
Today's winner will advance to play the winner of No. 4 Oregon State and No. 13 Boise State on Monday.
"Basketball takes you to a lot of places," said senior forward Ronjanae DeGray.
In a different sense, UALR will return to a place today that has become quite familiar: the NCAA Tournament.
"If you're playing at this time of the year in the NCAAs, you're pretty happy wherever you are," said UALR Coach Joe Foley.
Earlier this week, the Trojans (21-10) did not know much about the Bulldogs (28-4), who put together a 27-3 record in the regular season -- the best year in program history -- and coasted through the West Coast Conference at 16-2.
Gonzaga's resume is strong. It lost three games to BYU, including an 82-68 defeat to the Cougars in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game March 12.
The Bulldogs' other loss was an 81-65 defeat to Notre Dame on Nov. 22. The Irish are one of the four top seeds in the 64-team tournament field.
The Trojans have put together a fine season of their own, rolling through the Sun Belt at 15-3 to clinch a share of the league's regular-season championship with Texas-Arlington.
UALR's trip to Oregon will mark their sixth to the NCAA Tournament since 2010 and a return from last year.
"Last year, we were able to get our feet wet," DeGray said. "This year, OK, we know what we have to do."
UALR is 2-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
It last claimed a tournament victory as an 11 seed in 2015 against No. 6 seed Texas A&M (69-60).
The Trojans also defeated Georgia Tech as an 11 seed in 2010, the school's first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
"We've done it before in the past, as far as the program goes," DeGray said. "Hopefully we can follow in those footsteps."
To do so, UALR will have to go through a big and deep Gonzaga team, despite two key Bulldogs out with injuries.
They have a premier scorer in 6-1 senior forward Zykera Rice, who's best identified by her hair color and leads all Bulldogs with 14.8 points per game.
"The one with the blue hair ..." said UALR sophomore guard Terrion Moore. "She's big. She's huge."
The Bulldogs are expected to start three players at or taller than 6-0. They also have several players ranging from 6-0 to 6-3 on their bench.
DeGray, UALR's 6-0 center, is expected to be the Trojans' only starter of comparative height. Senior forward Yakina Inkina (6-2) and sophomore forward Teal Battle (6-1) will rotate with DeGray to combat Gonzaga's length.
Gonzaga will be without senior starting point guard Laura Stockton and sophomore reserve Jill Townsend against the Trojans.
Each suffered leg injuries in Gonzaga's 78-77 double-overtime semifinal tournament victory against Saint Mary's College on March 11.
In 31 games with no starts, Townsend averaged 9.4 points per game this season and was the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer. Stockton, the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton, averaged 9.8 points and 4.7 assists in 17 West Coast Conference games.
Rice, Stockton and redshirt senior, 6-0 guard Chandler Smith -- who finished the season averaging 9.2 points and 5.1 rebounds and led the Bulldogs with 28.6 minutes played -- were recently named All-West Coast first team.
Defending a larger team is nothing new to UALR.
As he purposely does, Foley front-loaded the Trojans' regular-season schedule with nonconference games against Mississippi State, a No. 1 seed in this tournament, and Texas A&M, a No. 4 seed.
In nonconference play, UALR also met Kansas State, Missouri State and Rice, each of whom qualified in this season's NCAA Tournament. UALR went 0-5 against the tournament teams.
"[Gonzaga] a little bigger," Foley said. "But they're not Mississippi State or Texas A&M -- 6-4, 6-5, 6-7. They're a little bit smaller [than that], but not as small as us. We're small to begin with anyway. Most people are bigger than us."
Sports on 03/23/2019