SUN BELT WOMEN: Trojans extend streak to 18 games

— The victory came without much trouble - at least after the opening minutes. The flair was a little more difficult to come by.

UALR used a 12-0 run late in the first half to gain separation and won its 18th consecutive game with a 56-43 victory over Troy on Wednesday before 1,627 at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.

“It was another win, that’s about all you can say,” UALR Coach Joe Foley said of the Trojans, who establish a school record with each consecutive victory. “I didn’t think we had a whole lot of enthusiasm, a whole lot of intensity. We opened up sloppy and we had spurts where we played pretty well.”

Junior forward Chastity Reed led UALR with 28 points, putting her 15 away from tying Jocelyn Love’s all-time UALR career record. Senior guard Kim Sitzmann made 3 of 7 three-pointers and finished with 13 points. She needs 51 points to pass Love on the all-time list.

The 18-game winning streak ranks third-longest in the nation behind Connecticut (67) and Nebraska (26).

West Division champion UALR (23-5, 16-1 Sun Belt Conference) needs a victory on Saturday against New Orleans to clinch the No. 1 seed at next month’sSun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs.

Reed said it is important for UALR to go into the postseason playing well.

“I think if we would have went to the tournament playing better last year it might have been a different story at the end,” said Reed, who had eight rebounds and now has 670 for her career. The school record is 696. “We can’t go like this. If you play one bad game you go home. There are no second chances in the tournament.”

ARKANSAS STATE 67, NEW ORLEANS 52

JONESBORO - Arkansas State (12-16, 7-1) had four players with at least 10 points each and held New Orleans (10-18, 4-13) to just 23.1 percent shooting and 17 points in the second half in a convincingvictory at the Convocation Center.

Shay Scott and NeNe Hurst each scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Red Wolves, while Ebonie Jefferson had 12 and Quinishia McDowell 10. Jefferson finished with a team-high five assists as well and narrowly missed her third double-double of the season with eight rebounds.

SOUTHLAND WOMEN CENTRAL ARKANSAS 83, NICHOLLS STATE 68

CONWAY - Central Arkansas (20-6, 10-3 Southland) used a 16-4 run in the second half to pull away from the Lady Colonels (4-21, 1-12) and cruise to a victory in the Farris Center.

The Sugar Bears remain tied atop the Southland Conference East Division and tied the biggest turnaround in conference history, matching North Texas’ 14-game improvement in 1986. The Sugar Bears also reached 20 victories for the first time in NCAA Division I and picked up their 14th home victory of the year, the most in a regular seasonin school history.

Megan Herbert finished with a teamhigh 23 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Central Arkansas. Desiree’ Rogers added 16 points, while sophomore guard Marci Moffitt tied a career high with 14 points and sophomore guard Nakeia Guiden added 10.

Ricshanda Bickham scored a gamehigh 26 points to lead Nicholls.

SOUTHLAND MEN NICHOLLS STATE 68, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 51

THIBODAUX, La - Anatoly Bose scored a game-high 23 points as the Colonels (9-17, 5-8) defeated the Bears (8-19, 2-11) at Stopher Gymnasium.

The Colonels took control from the start, running out to leads of 11-3 and 18-8 in the first 11 minutes. Bose had 14 points in the opening 10 minutes of the game as the Colonels shot better than 60 percent during that time. Bose finished with 19 points in the first half.

Mitch Rueter led the Bears with 12 points, while Tadre Sheppard added 10.

Sports, Pages 17 on 02/25/2010

Upcoming Events