Sun Belt victory eludes UALR again

DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES

MOBILE, Ala. -- UALR, in search of its first Sun Belt Conference victory, led with just over a minute to play on Thursday night, but the Trojans could not hold on.
South Alabama (12-12, 6-7) scored the last 10 points and came away with a 63-57 victory.
Roberta Sarti led all scorers with 19 points, while Mandi Huskey added 11 and Muci Haris had 10 for the Trojans. Lyletha Gamble's 15 points led the Jaguars.
"I thought we played with focus and with a lot of energy and effort, especially on the defensive end," UALR Coach Tracy Stewart-Lange said. "I thought we outplayed USA in the second half, with the exception of the last two minutes. We put ourselves in a position to win, but just couldn't finish."
The Trojans (6-18, 0-13) took a four-point lead with 1:40 left in the game, when Haris hit a three-pointer. South Alabama came back with a three-point shot by Sara Carter.
The Jaguars then stole a Scealita Drennon pass on the Trojans' next possession, which led to a layup by Tanesha Russell, giving South Alabama a 58-57 lead with 56.6 seconds remaining. Carter hit the front end of a 1-and-1 attempt. Gamble pulled own an offensive rebound to seal the victory for the Jaguars.
Neither team led by more than five in the first half. South Alabama led 17-12 with 11 minutes to go, but UALR briefly took the lead at 20-19 when Drennon hit a jumper at the eight-minute mark. The Jaguars regained the lead on a three-point shot by Chelsea Bell and retained that advantage until they went into the half leading 35-31.
Sarti hit 8 of 17 field goals in leading UALR and played the final 3:53 with four fouls.
"Roberta really stepped it up tonight," Stewart-Lange said of Sarti's 19 points, her second-highest output of the season. "They had a difficult time stopping her. They double-teamed her and we had to find others to take the shots. She did a great job of playing with four fouls."

This article was published on Friday, February 16, 2001

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