By JOE ANGOLIA
UALR sports information
The Arkansas-Little Rock women’s basketball team avenged a first-round WNIT loss last season with a 66-44 victory over Southern Miss Wednesday at the Jack Stephens Center. Junior Kim Sitzmann recorded a career high of 28 points including a season high five three-pointers.
“I thought it was our best defensive effort,” said head coach Joe Foley. “I thought Ariel [Rolfe] did a great job on the point guard, so that they couldn’t get into their offensive. Marian [Kursh] did a good job on the post as a freshman.”
Sitzmann went 8-of-13 from the field while recording four rebounds and a team high five steals. Anshel Cooper recorded her sixth straight double-digit scoring game with 14 and led the team with a season high seven rebounds.
Asriel Rolfe recorded a season high nine assists and also knocked down five points, while Chastity Reed knocked down six points and brought down six rebounds.
The first half opened with each team scoring five points with UALR’s scoring coming from Sitzmann and Southern Miss’s coming from Pauline Love.
Back-to-back jumpers by Cooper and Marian Kursh gave UALR a 9-5 lead. The Golden Eagles answered with four consecutive points to tie the score with 14:13 until the half.
Over the next two-and-a-half minutes, Southern Miss out scored the Trojans six to five to take their first lead of the game at the 11:55 mark on a jumper by Stephanie Helgeson.
After a three-pointer by Sitzmann followed by a free throw by Candace Rucker for USM, UALR knocked down five straight points with a three-pointer by Sitzmann and a jumper by Reed to extend the Trojans’ lead to 22-16.
The Trojans out scored the Golden Eagles ten to eight over the next six minutes holding a 32-24 lead with 2:58 until the half.
Over the final 1:48 of the half, UALR held Southern Miss scoreless while recording eight points to bring the score to 40-24 at the half.
Southern Miss opened the second half with five straight points from Love to cut the advantage to 11. The Trojans scored their first field goals at the 15:35 as Cooper scored back-to-back jumpers.
Both teams exchanged points with UALR holding a 13 point advantage. With 9:32 on the clock, the Trojans recorded four straight free throws by Cooper and Sitzmann for a 50-33 lead.
UALR held the advantage over the next three minutes scoring seven points with three coming from free throws.
UALR continues basketball action tonight as they host No. 17 Oklahoma State for Pack the Jack Night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. with the first 1,000 fans receiving free t-shirts.
