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UALR women can't hold on in final minutesBECK CROSSARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Western Kentucky got the victory, but UALR's youth and inexperience were the primary culprits in its defeat. In search of their first Sun Belt Conference victory, the Trojans (6-19, 0-14) held a 10-point lead with just over four minutes to play but fell victim to five closing turnovers in allowing the Lady Hilltoppers (16-10, 8-6) to escape with a 70-65 victory Saturday at Alltel Arena. Muci Haris paced UALR with 17 points, while first-time starter Eplunus Brooks grabbed 15 rebounds. "We've got to be more composed and show more poise with the basketball,'' UALR Coach Tracy Stewart-Lange said. "I'm so proud of the effort defensively, but toward the end we broke down a little bit. "We stopped doing the things that were working for us and we rocked back on our heels. We're doing everything correct but finishing and winning.'' For at least 37 minutes, it was all UALR. The Trojans led 37-27 at halftime and took their largest lead at 46-33 with 14:18 remaining in the game. With Haris benched with four fouls for a six-minute span midway through the second half, Western Kentucky launched a 15-2 run to tie the score at 48 with 9:22 left. Behind Brooks, who finished with nine offensive rebounds and eight points, UALR regrouped and retook the lead at 50-48 with 8:37 remaining. Haris checked back in and was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in a span of 3:23 to help pad the Trojans' advantage to 62-52 with 4:06 remaining. From there, UALR was its own worst enemy. Against a full-court press, the Trojans turned the ball over three times in 42 seconds, allowing the Lady Toppers to cut the margin to 62-59 with 3:29 left. Roberta Sarti sank the second of two free throws to extend the margin to 63-59 with 2:31 left before Western Kentucky took a 64-63 lead on a three-pointer by Kristina Covington and a 12-foot jumper by ShaRae Mansfield. After UALR took its last lead at 65-64 with 1:01 remaining on a basket inside by Sarti, Natalie Powers drew Brooks' fifth foul and made both free throws to give the Lady Toppers a 66-65 lead with 46 seconds left. Camryn Whitaker came up with the turnover on the inbounds pass, drew the foul from Shameka Strong and made both free throws to extend Western Kentucky's lead to 68-65 with 38.1 seconds left. Strong's three-point attempt to tie with 13.1 seconds remaining was short before Whitaker set the final margin with two free throws. "UALR outplayed us basically the entire game,'' Western Kentucky Coach Steve Small said. "What you hope for with teams who have been losing is that they get that fear in their eyes that they might lose again. "It looked like to me they were thinking, 'Here we go again.' They killed us on the boards and ran their offense better than we did. Once they get over the hump of learning how to finish a game, they'll be a very good team.''
PCT. -- FG 44.1. FT 75.0. 3-PT 23.1 (Powers 1-5, Covington 2-8). BL -- 6 (Powers 2). TO -- 15 (Mansfield 5). ST -- 14 (Covington 4).
PCT -- FG 41.0; FT 75.0. 3-PT 37.5. (Huskey 3-9, Haris 3-5, Strong 0-1, Cash 0-1) BL -- 2 (Stephenson, Drennon 1. TO -- 22 (Haris 7). ST -- 8 (Haris 2, Strong 2). Halftime -- UALR 37, KU 27 Officials -- Tillman, Morris, Knight
This article was published on Sunday, February 18, 2001RETURN to main page
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