Losing the rebounding and turnover battles limited the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s chances in women’s basketball Thursday night.
UAPB lost 64-57 to Grambling State at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
Grambling State (6-11, 3-3 SWAC) entered the game as the SWAC’s leader in offensive rebounds and grabbed 21, leading to 14 second-chance points. UAPB had 15 offensive rebounds but only scored 4 points from them.
UAPB (2-14, 0-6) turned the ball over 33 times compared with Grambling’s 24. GSU senior Douthshine Prien led the Lady Tigers with six steals.
The Lady Tigers didn’t take full advantage of the turnover margin, only matching UAPB’s 20 points off turnovers. The extra turnovers combined with GSU’s offensive rebounding success limited the Lady Lions to 52 shot attempts compared to GSU’s 66. The shooting percentages were nearly identical, but Grambling getting up more shots made a difference.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB coach Erica Leak said the Lady Tigers showed why they are the best in the SWAC on the offensive glass.
“We just couldn’t keep them off the boards late in the second half,” Leak said. “I thought we did a better job in the first half in containing (GSU center Lydia Freeman), but in that zone, they started knocking down some shots, and it kind of changed the game.”
GSU junior Zaria Johnson led the Lady Tigers with four offensive rebounds, though Freeman and forward Alyssa Phillip led in overall rebounding with nine apiece.
UAPB’s rebounding leader was senior forward Stephanie Okowi. She led the team on both ends of the glass with four offensive and seven defensive rebounds while adding 11 points to complete her double-double.
Okowi said the Lady Lions needed to box out better against the taller Lady Tigers.
“If you small, you gotta be quick,” Okowi said. “And if you quick, that mean you gotta execute everything. Even if we are small, I feel like getting to the hole, it’ll make us having a better advantage of winning these games, but I feel like we gotta go harder. We gotta get into the paint. We gotta draw fouls more.”
Foul trouble also hurt UAPB. Junior guard D’Arrah Allen, who led all scorers with 19 points, fouled out with 6:44 remaining on a reach-in foul as she looked for a steal in transition. She also led the team in assists and steals with three apiece.
Okowi joined guards Empress Roberts and Jailah Pelly in collecting four fouls, with Pelly fouling out in the final seconds. After Allen and Okowi, Roberts and Pelly were the next-leading scorers for the Lady Lions.
UAPB made five of seven 3-point attempts in the first half and trailed 33-31 at the break but missed all six attempts beyond the arc in the second half. Allen made four of her six.
Leak said the falloff in 3-point shooting may have been influenced by Grambling’s ball pressure.
“It was really a challenge to get into our sets and get flow,” Leak said. “So, I think that’s attributed to their pressure defense. So, just trying to stay poised and really stay patient and get through our sets, we gotta do a better job on that execution.”
GSU guard Kahia Warmsley led the Lady Tigers with 18 points and shot four of seven from 3-point range.