RUSTON, La. – After keeping pace with Louisiana Tech for three quarters, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team faded in the fourth on Tuesday.
Louisiana Tech defeated UAPB 73-49 at the Thomas Assembly Center during head coach Erica Leak’s return to her alma mater.
UAPB (1-4) never led but mostly kept the deficit within single digits across the first three quarters. The Lady Lions trailed 44-40 entering the fourth and were looking for their second comeback road win this season.
Instead, La Tech (2-2) dominated the fourth quarter 29-9. The Lady Techsters opened the quarter on a 10-0 run and made 11 of 12 shots from the field in the final period, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
Leak said her players stuck to the defensive game plan for the first three quarters but couldn’t keep it up in the fourth.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“We were being tougher and grittier and getting our hands on, contesting, making everything tough, and not going away,” Leak said. “As soon as they would pull away, we would come right back. Honestly, I think towards the fourth quarter, we kind of got worn down, because (Jailah) Pelly, Indiya (Bowen), Jasmine (Davis), they’re playing a lot of minutes.”
Tech junior guard Jianna Morris, a Sherwood native, led all scorers with 17 points after shooting 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Sophomore guard Paris Bradley scored 15, and junior guard Alexia Weaver added 13.
UAPB junior guard Jailah Pelly led the Lady Lions with 14 points and nine rebounds. Freshman forward Tyra Taylor added 12 points, while junior guard Indiya Bowen scored 10.
Pelly played from the bench for the first time this season. Leak said she wasn’t happy with her effort in UAPB’s previous game, so she wanted to send a message.
“I think she responded, and I don’t think she wants to come off that bench,” Leak said. “She proved that tonight.”
Tech opened the game on an 8-0 run, but UAPB matched that after the first quarter media timeout to tie the game at 8. Bradley responded with a 3-pointer to give the Lady Techsters an 11-8 lead after the first quarter.
The lead ballooned to 20-10, but UAPB again fought back. UAPB held Tech without a field goal for 5:49 in the second quarter, and Pelly hit a 3-pointer to cut Tech’s lead to 23-20. The Lady Techsters got out of their slump in time to take a 28-20 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was UAPB’s best. The Lady Lions scored 20 points thanks in part to three 3-pointers, two from Bowen and one from Pelly. It was their second-highest scoring quarter of the season, only behind their 25-point fourth against Memphis.
Leak, known as Erica Smith-Taylor when she played for the Lady Techsters from 2001-05, said she got emotional when she walked into the building Monday night for practice.
“It just brings back so many great memories that we had right here,” Leak said. “Just the culture and looking at the banners and knowing what this program means, and that’s the exact type of culture that I want to establish at UAPB, and letting the players know this is a sisterhood. This is a forever relationship. It’s not transactional; it’s transformational. It’s forever, and just glad to see some of my teammates in the stands.”
Tech welcomed Leak back to Ruston during the pregame announcement of the starters. She walked to center court and hugged Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr, who was her teammate at Tech.
Stoehr, then known as Brooke Lassiter, was a senior during Leak’s freshman season. Together, they went 25-5 with a 17-1 WAC record and won the 2002 WAC tournament by defeating Hawaii 53-50. Leak was a WAC freshman of the year.
Tech went 53-3 at home during Leak’s four years, making Tuesday’s game just the fourth Leak has lost in the Thomas Assembly Center.
Stoehr said Leak was a great teammate, and she was excited to face her.
“We knew she was going to have that group ready to play,” Stoehr said. “We knew that she would have them fired up, and we knew they’d play really hard for her. That’s a team that went to Memphis and won. They’ve got a grit and a toughness, and it models who she was as a player, and how she competes every day.”