Two final home games will wrap up what has been a challenging season for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team.
The Lady Lions will host Jackson State at 5 p.m. Thursday, then finish the season against Alcorn State at 3 p.m. Saturday at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
UAPB coach Erica Leak said winning either game would be a good momentum builder for the program entering the offseason.
“We’re just going to go out and do what we’ve been doing night after night,” Leak said. “Just playing hard, playing for our fans, playing for (senior forward Stephanie Okowi). We have some other reasons to play right now, though we’re not going to the (SWAC) tournament.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Saturday’s game will be senior night. Okowi is the lone senior on this year’s team.
UAPB (3-23, 1-15 SWAC) is looking to avoid tying its worst SWAC record since finishing 1-17 in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012. The Lady Lions had won 9 or more SWAC games each of the past three seasons after going 2-13 in 2021.
Leak inherited a three-player roster when she was hired last year. The rest of last season’s players, who were the first team to finish with a winning overall record since UAPB moved to Division I, left via the transfer portal or graduated.
The Lady Lions started this season with a small roster, then had two players leave the team in December, including freshman guard Janiyah Tucker and her 13.2 points per game.
Leak said they didn’t fit the direction she wanted to take the program.
“Put them back in the equation, we’ll probably be going to Atlanta,” Leak said. “We probably would have had a lot of other issues, as well, so just had to make tough decisions about the direction you want it to be. We knew kind of early on what this year would look like but still hoping for a better outcome, but I’m satisfied and happy with the decisions that were made, because I know that was just laying a solid foundation for what I’m trying to build.”
UAPB suffered another blow three weeks ago when junior guard Kristyna Boyd, who had started every game, was injured against Alabama A&M. Boyd hasn’t played since, with Leak saying her back injury was likely season-ending.
Leak didn’t have many players to work with in her first season coaching a Division I program, though she produced a few standouts.
Junior guard D’Arrah Allen enters the final week of the regular season as the SWAC’s third-leading scorer with 14.8 points per conference game. She has the fourth-best shooting percentage (.336) and averages 1.9 made 3-pointers per game, which is tied for third.
Okowi, one of the three returning players, has started 15 games this year after starting two in her first three seasons combined. She has played 640 minutes this year after playing 223 minutes total from 2021-24.
With the more prominent role, she is averaging 9.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per SWAC game, making her the league’s fourth-leading rebounder. Her 1.5 blocks per game are tied for third.
Sophomore guard Jailah Pelly is averaging 10.1 points per conference game, and Boyd was averaging 8.8 before her injury.
Their performances weren’t enough to reach the 10-team SWAC women’s basketball tournament this year but could provide a foundation to build from as Leak and her staff add new players during the offseason. Next year, the SWAC tournament will include the entire conference.
Leak said though she is disappointed not to reach the tournament, making the move to Division I coaching this year has been a great experience for her.
“Just that bottom line (I’m) not happy with,” Leak said. “During this process, been fortunate to have other coaches who’ve been in the game a long time like (Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin) and (former Louisiana Tech coach) Lean Barmore call, mentor me, and just say, ‘Hey, my first year, I went 0-14 in conference.’ You know? To say, ‘Don’t go crazy. It’s going to be OK.'”
Jackson State (14-13, 12-4) comes to Pine Bluff looking to jockey for positioning entering next week’s SWAC tournament. The Lady Tigers have clinched a top-four seed but could finish higher with a good final week and some help elsewhere.
Alcorn State (11-16, 9-7) will face Mississippi Valley State on the road Thursday before traveling to Pine Bluff. The Lady Braves enter the week on a three-game winning streak which includes beating Jackson State and Texas Southern, along with a dominant 61-39 win against Prairie View A&M. Alcorn has won eight of its past 11 games after starting SWAC play 1-4.