During the opening weekend of SWAC play last month, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff women’s basketball team got off to a rough start against Alabama A&M.
The Lady Lions will look for a better start to Thursday’s rematch, which will tip off at 6 p.m. at H.O. Clemmons Arena on the UAPB Golden Lion Athletics channel on YouTube. UAPB will then go on to host Alabama State at 3 p.m. Saturday on the SWAC Digital Network.
Alabama A&M (15-8, 8-3 SWAC) dominated the first half on Jan. 4 at home, leading 37-15 at halftime. The Lady Lions went on to outscore the Lady Bulldogs 37-29 in the second half but couldn’t mount a comeback.
UAPB (3-18, 1-10) Coach Erica Leak said the Lady Lions are playing much better than the first time these teams met.
“The key for us is breaking their press, not turning the basketball over, being poised through that,” Leak said. “We want to be more aggressive and taking advantage if we have an advantage, a 3-on-2 or 2-on-1 situation. If we don’t, we want to eat the clock. We just gotta help each other out on the defensive end, because they got a lot of strong guards.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB has started better in its recent games. The Lady Lions led 15-13 in the final seconds of the first quarter at Alcorn State in their most recent outing, two days after leading Jackson State 26-21 midway through the second quarter.
In the last home game, UAPB led first place Texas Southern 14-13 after the first quarter three days after crushing Mississippi Valley State for the Lions’ first SWAC win.
The problem in the past three losses has been finishing the game after starting strong. TSU outscored UAPB 22-14 in the fourth quarter. Jackson State dominated the third quarter 22-9. Alcorn State finished the first quarter with a go-ahead half court buzzer beater and outscored UAPB the rest of the way.
This game will mark the return of former UAPB Coach Dawn Thornton to Pine Bluff for the first time since she left following last season to take the head job at AAMU.
Thornton took three Lady Lions players with her to Huntsville, Ala. None played in the first meeting with UAPB, but Kaila Walker returned soon after and has led AAMU with 14.2 points per game this season.
Leak said AAMU having Walker back makes the Lady Bulldogs that much tougher to beat.
“We’re going to have to help each other out on defense, whether we zone it up and throw different types of looks at them,” Leak said. “She makes them a lot stronger, and we lost to them the first time. So, we have our work cut out for us, but my message to the girls, play with freedom. Play with heart. They’re coming to our turf, somewhere where we practice and play all the time. Just have pride in every possession.”
The other two UAPB transfers, Kourtney Rittenberry and Maori Davenport, haven’t played since before the first UAPB game.
Two days later, UAPB will host Alabama State (5-18, 3-8). The Lady Hornets are on a five-game losing streak entering their game at Mississippi Valley State on Thursday. ASU opened SWAC play 2-0 with home wins against UAPB and MVSU but has just one win since, a home victory against Prairie View A&M on Jan. 25. The Lady Hornets are 0-12 on the road this season.
Leak said the ASU game is a must-win.
“The girls know that,” Leak said. “They’re mentally prepared for that. We’ve also been better in our first game of the week than the latter, so I’m a little worried about our wear and tear from (Thursday), then turning back Saturday. … So, I’m going to try to play as many players as I can and rotate them as much as I can (Thursday) to kind of help us for Saturday.”
When UAPB opened SWAC play at ASU on Jan. 2, forward Cordasia Harris led the Lady Hornets past UAPB with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Harris has missed the past four games due to injury.