UALR Goes Pink, Comes Up Roses in 74-52 Win over Louisiana

Courtesy University of Arkansas at Little Rock Athletics Department

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – It started with sophomore Ka’Nesheia Cobbins’ layup while being fouled, and then the Trojans were off to the races.

Cobbins shot ignited a 14-0 run and the Trojans never looked back as UALR (14-7) knocked off Louisiana Tech (9-11) Wednesday night (Jan. 30) in non-conference action at the Jack Stephens Center.

UALR pushed its advantage down on the block, holding a 48-35 edge on the glass and tied a season-best with 11 rejections. The Trojans also turned 15 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.

The Trojans hit 25-57 (43.9 percent) from the field for the game while holding La Tech to 19-60 (31.7 percent).

Individually, four different Trojans reached double-digit scoring. Junior Taylor Ford led the way with 16 points, six rebounds and assists and a block. Classmate Taylor Gault came off the bench for 13 points on 5-11 shooting while Cobbins added 12. Junior Kiera Clark hit 5-8 from the field for 10 points.

Junior Hannah Fohne turned in a solid line of eight rebounds, four points, three blocks and an assist and steal.

Lulu Perry paced the Lady Techsters with 14 points while Whitney Frazier added 11. Kelia Shelton tallied a game-high nine rebounds.

It took until the first media timeout for UALR to create space, but a 14-0 spurt gave the Trojans a double-digit lead it would not relinquish. Down 8-7, Cobbins drove the lane and made the bucket while being fouled to send the game to a timeout.

After Cobbins missed the free throw, the UALR defense forced a stop. Ford grabbed the rebound and went coast-to-coast for the hoop and harm. She finished the old-fashioned three and UALR was up 12-8. Cobbins then hit a pair from the line before Gault got hot and scored seven in a row. She started with a short pull-up jumper at the right elbow for two before a step-back three put UALR up 11. She followed that up with a right baseline shot right in front of the three-point arc to cap the 14-0 run. UALR led 21-8 with 12:04 left in the half.

The Trojans never led by less than 12 the rest of the half and hit 5-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to race out to a 40-21 lead at the break. UALR assisted on 10-15 of shots, making 50 percent of its attempts from the field (15-30). Louisiana Tech was held to one assist on only seven field goals for the stanza (7-30 shooting).

La Tech tried to mount a comeback but could not cut it closer than 17. Brittney Jefferson hit a jumper with 6:51 left to cut it to 61-42, but UALR responded with a 5-0 run and never led by less than 20. James started the spurt with a layup with Ford hitting 3-4 from the line. UALR made 7-10 from the charity stripe down the stretch and freshman Carolee Dillard put the exclamation point on the night with a fastbreak layup to open a 26-point UALR advantage, its largest of the night. La Tech scored the final four points as UALR cruised to the 74-52 win.

UALR returns to action for its final home game in two weeks when it takes on South Alabama Saturday (Feb. 2) at 4:30 p.m. The Trojans beat the Jaguars 49-40 on Dec. 22, 2012 in Mobile, Ala.

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