The shots didn’t fall often for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team on Monday night, but the Lady Lions’ defense powered them to victory.
UAPB defeated Texas A&M-Texarkana 63-38 at H.O. Clemmons Arena in its home opener, giving Erica Leak her first win as a college coach.
Leak said it feels good to get the first victory.
“Man, we did it,” Leak said. “It started out slow, started out rocky. It was a lot of uncertainty. We were doing a lot of things that we’re not accustomed to doing every day in practice. But after halftime, they made the adjustments and got the job done.”
Neither team shot the ball well, but UAPB (1-3) stole the ball 19 times and forced 34 Eagle turnovers. Five Lady Lions had three or more steals, and UAPB held Texarkana to 33.3 percent from the floor.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Those steals led to UAPB outscoring Texas A&M-Texarkana (0-4) 28-5 in points off turnovers and 16-0 on the fastbreak.
Leak said the defense was good, but the Lady Lions need to improve at converting the steals into points.
“We just gotta make layups, and that has to be better,” Leak said. “We get an opportunity, we’re playing great defense, and then we go here and blow a bucket. So, that’s something that, going into practice the rest of the week, we’re going to be emphasizing how to finish.”
The defensive effort was critical with the offense struggling.
UAPB played without its leading scorer, D’Arrah Allen, who averages 10.7 points per game. Leak said Allen sprained her thumb and will miss Wednesday’s game against Arkansas Baptist before returning on Saturday at Sam Houston State.
Without her, UAPB shot 36.9% from the field, including 20% in the third quarter.
The offense finally came in the fourth quarter, when UAPB shot 60 percent and outscored the Eagles 21-5.
Sophomore guard Jailah Pelly led the Lady Lions with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. She was the only UAPB player to reach double digits. Junior guard Kristyna Boyd was UAPB’s second-leading scorer with 9 points despite playing only 18:39 due to foul trouble.
This was the first game in Clemmons Arena for all but three of UAPB’s players. Pelly said nerves may have contributed to the slow start.
“I just feel like we just had to get the jitters out,” Pelly said. “When we got on the same page, got a good outcome.”
Senior forward Kayla Williams led TAMU-Texarkana with 12 points, though she didn’t score in the second half. She scored the game’s first 8 points to give the Eagles an early lead before UAPB came back to tie the game at 10 by the end of the first quarter.
UAPB took its first lead 12 seconds into the second quarter on a layup by junior guard Nadiyah Byard. Williams answered with a pair of layups to tie the game at 14, but Pelly hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:53 remaining in the first half, and the Lady Lions led the rest of the game.