What a Win – Arkansas State Women Take Down Louisiana Tech

 

Arkansas State Women Take Down Louisiana Tech

RUSTON, La. —  Redshirt junior Hanna Qedan scored a career-high 26 points and redshirt sophomore Aundrea Gamble had 23 as the Arkansas State women’s basketball team snapped a 29-game losing streak to Louisiana Tech with a 91-68 victory at Thomas Assembly Center Monday night.

The victory was the first ever for the Red Wolves in Ruston, La., and it marked Arkansas State’s first victory against Louisiana Tech since the 1991-92 season when the teams were both members of the Sun Belt Conference.

The Red Wolves (4-1) started strong on offense and never relented in the first half, jumping out to an 8-0 lead after Qedan hit the first of her three shots from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes. She added two more to help Arkansas State push the advantage to 16-5 with 13:53 remaining in the opening frame, and the margin did not reach single digits for the remainder of the game.

Gamble added A-State’s fourth 3-pointer of the first half that pushed the advantage to 23-7 with seven minutes to go. Morrill gave Arkansas State its largest lead of the first half when she hit a jumper with 2:52 remaining to make it a 24-point (40-16) advantage. Qedan led the way in the first half, scoring 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. The Red Wolves also crashed the boards and held a 23-11 margin at halftime over the Lady Techsters (0-4).

“That first half was as good as it gets,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “It was under a minute before Louisiana Tech got to the bonus and we just did a really good job of defending without fouling. I think they only had four rebounds in the first half, and it all started on the defensive end and it was really good.”

A-State never allowed Louisiana Tech go get closer than 19 points in the second half as Gamble took control of the game and scored 18 points in the final 20 minutes.  Gamble added eight rebounds to go along with 8-of-12 shooting, while Brittney Gill scored nine points for the third straight game and also collected career bests with eight rebounds and four assists.

Arkansas State’s defense played a major factor in its success as the Red Wolves scored 27 points off 21 Louisiana Tech turnovers and had a plus-16 (43-27) edge on the boards. A-State shot 53 percent from the field (34-64) and made 58 percent (7-12) of its 3-point field goals.

Jane Morrill and Jalen O’Bannon finished with nine points each, while Carlisha Wyatt had six points and seven rebounds.

The Red Wolves will travel to Cancun, Mexico, to participate in the Cancun Challenge Nov. 28-30. A-State will take on North Carolina (Nov. 28 at 2:30), Illinois (Nov. 29 at 2:30) and Arizona State (Nov. 30 at Noon) in the tournament. For in-game updates follow @AStateGameDay on Twitter and stay up to date with the A-State women’s basketball team by following them on Twitter at @AStateWB.

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