With the postseason now out of reach, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team is looking to disrupt others’ postseason plans.
UAPB will play its final road game of the season Saturday against Mississippi Valley State at 4 p.m. at the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex in Itta Bena, Miss.
UAPB (3-22, 1-14 SWAC) was eliminated from postseason contention with last Saturday’s 67-65 overtime loss at Prairie View A&M. Head coach Erica Leak said UAPB wants to finish the season strong with three games remaining.
“I tell them all the time: there’s two type of people in the world when they see the finish line,” Leak said. “Some slow down, and others speed up. … Valley’s trying to still make it in the tournament. Our job is to not let that happen. Jackson and Alcorn want to finish higher. We’re going in to disrupt their plans, because we still want to get the last three and end the season with winning as many games as we possibly can.”
MVSU (4-22, 3-12) enters the second-to-last weekend of the regular season in 11th place. The top 10 will qualify for the SWAC tournament. Alabama State, which beat MVSU twice, sits in 10th. The Devilettes must win two of their final three games while hoping ASU doesn’t win again or win all three if ASU earns one more win. Two ASU wins would eliminate MVSU.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB can’t knock MVSU out on Saturday unless ASU upsets Alabama A&M, but the Lady Lions can at least push Valley to the brink.
The Devilettes have plenty to play for. Leak said the Lady Lions must match their energy and urgency.
“They’re coming,” Leak said. “We beat them by (29) when they were here. With that type of intensity, could very well be the other way around if we don’t bring it, if we don’t match what they have, the goal they have set in front of them. The girls, they know what we’re up against. They’re going to compete.”
The Lady Lions’ only SWAC win of the season so far was a 68-39 domination of MVSU in Pine Bluff. They held Valley to 24.6 percent from the field and 3 of 27 from the 3-point arc. Freshman forward Kearra Jones scored 20 points with 10 rebounds, but no other Devilette scored more than 5 points.
It was one of UAPB’s best defensive showings of the season. The Lady Lions held non-Division I opponents Texas A&M-Texarkana and Arkansas Baptist to 38 and 39 points, respectively, but no other Division I team has scored fewer than 52 points against UAPB.
Valley will have senior 6-foot-4 center Mia Hardin available this time after she missed the first meeting, something Leak said will require an adjustment. MVSU didn’t field a player taller than 6-foot-1 when the teams met in Pine Bluff.
UAPB has lost seven straight games since beating Valley, with two of the past three coming in overtime. The Lady Lions’ three wins this season were by an average of 28.7 points, so they haven’t won a close game thus far.
Leak said when a game is tight in the fourth quarter, UAPB must control the final two minutes.
“Alabama State and Prairie View, let the last two minutes get away from us when both of those games should have been won in regulation,” Leak said. “So, just taking better control, listening better and executing better in the last two minutes of the game to close them out. Making free throws, getting stops, and just being locked into the details of what we’re going to do. If we’re going to switch everything, know what’s going on, know what we’re doing.”