JONESBORO, AR ? The Arkansas State women's basketball team dropped its second straight game in Sun Belt play as the Lady Indians fell to Florida International, 67-64, at the Convocation Center on Monday night. The loss drops the Lady Indians to 11-12 on the year and 5-5 in conference play while FIU improves to 14-9 overall and 7-3 in SBC action.
The game was a tale of two halves as the Lady Indians dominated the opening frame as they jumped out to an 18-point first half lead. The Golden Panthers reversed the fortunes in the second half as they out-scored the Lady Indians 41-19 in the second half to secure the come from behind victory.
“It was certainly two separate and different halves. The first half we played as well as we have in a long time on both ends of the court,” head coach Brian Boyer said. “In the second half the momentum started to go the other way against us and we were unable to stop that swing.”
The Lady Indians came out of the game on fire as the Tribe quickly jumped out to a 24-14 lead courtesy of a 10-point ASU run. The run was highlighted by junior guard Rudy Sims as she scored seven straight points to force an FIU timeout. The Tribe kept pressing and extended the lead to 18 points at 44-26 right before the half as freshman guard Brittney Hiles hit a jumper with 10 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
The Lady Indians dominated the first half as they connected on 48.5 percent of their shots from the field while limiting the Golden Panthers to just 35.7 percent shooting. The Tribe defense also forced FIU into 15 first half turnovers as the Tribe scored 18 points off of FIU turnovers in the half. Junior center Adrianne Davie led the charge in the first half as she scored 14 points in the opening frame while sophomore forward Kelsey Lock scored six points in the first nine minutes of the game before leaving due to an injury in first half.
The Lady Indians took their biggest lead just thirty seconds into the second half at 46-26 but the tide was about to turn. The Golden Panthers scored 13 straight points to pull back within seven at 46-39. The Tribe held onto the lead until just under three minutes when the Golden Panthers finally overcame the deficit and took their first lead of the game at 58-57.
The Lady Indians struggled in the second half shooting as the Tribe only connected on 17.2 percent of its shots in the second frame. In fact, the Lady Indians were held without a basket for over eight minutes in the second half and the Tribe also committed nine turnovers. FIU on the other hand caught fire in the second half as the Golden Panthers connected on 62.5 percent of their shots in the frame to cap off the rally.
Davie finished the night with 18 points as she was eight-of-17 from the field and also grabbed nine rebounds. Sims added 18 points as well for the Tribe and also dished out a team-high five assists. Freshman guard Caroline Starr chipped in nine points off the bench for the Tribe.
Jekabsone closed out her stellar night with her sixth straight double-double as she scored 18 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. She also added seven blocked shots with six coming in the second half. FIU had four different players score in double figures in the victory including 14 points by Iva Ciglar.
The Lady Indians will be back in action on Thursday night as the Tribe hits the road to take on Middle Tennessee. The game is set for a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Murphy Center.
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