For one season early in the century, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball coach Erica Leak and Louisiana Tech coach Brooke Stoehr were teammates.
More than two decades later, the two will go head-to-head on the court they once shared when UAPB faces Louisiana Tech at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, Louisiana on ESPN-Plus. It will be Tech’s Education Day game.
Leak, then known as Erica Smith-Taylor, played at Louisiana Tech from 2001-05. She overlapped one year with Stoehr, then known as Brooke Lassiter, who played for the Lady Techsters from 1998-2002. Stoehr has been coaching her alma mater since the 2016-17 season, while Leak is in her second year leading UAPB (1-3).
During that one overlap season, Tech went 25-5, winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament before falling in the opening round of the NCAA tournament to UC Santa Barbara, 57-56.
Leak was named WAC freshman of the year after averaging 7.9 points per game, the fifth-most on the team and the most by a player with fewer than 25 starts. Leak played in all 30 games with three starts. Stoehr averaged 8.5 points as an every-game starter and collected 105 assists.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Tech won the WAC and reached the NCAA tournament in each of Leak’s four seasons before the Washington Mystics drafted her in 2005.
She said she is looking forward to returning to her alma mater.
“It’s very exciting to be in the TAC (Thomas Assembly Center),” Leak said. “Hopefully, they pack the TAC. That’s my alma mater, but you know I want to get them. They’re tough. They had a chance to beat Arkansas.”
Tech (1-2) led Arkansas 17-2 early in its season opener, but the Razorbacks rallied for a 93-81 win in Fayetteville. On Nov. 7, Tech fell 70-62 at Louisiana-Monroe. UAPB has played both teams, falling 101-49 at Arkansas and 79-50 at ULM.
The Lady Techsters’ lone win came a week before this game when they routed NAIA foe Louisiana Christian 121-34 in their home opener at the TAC. They haven’t played again since, while UAPB has played two games in that span.
UAPB junior guards Jailah Pelly and Indiya Bowen are averaging 14 points and 13.8 points per game, respectively, but no other player is averaging more than 6.8. The Lady Lions need other players to get going offensively if they are to keep up with Tech’s offense.
Four Tech players are averaging double digits, led by sophomore Little Rock Central product Jordan Marshall’s 17.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Sylvan Hills graduate Jianna Morris, a junior guard, averages 12 points.
The Lady Techsters average 8.7 made 3-pointers per game and have made at least seven in each game so far. They are shooting 44 percent from the field and 69.4 percent from the free throw line.
Tech averages 12.3 steals per game. UAPB has had turnover problems this season and gave the ball away 61 times across the past two games. Tech scored 10 points off turnovers against Arkansas and 9 against ULM.