MIAMI, Fla. (02/07/09) ? Arkansas State could not overcome cold
shooting and a lack of rebounding in the second half as the Red Wolves (10-13,
4-8) suffered a 55-44 loss to the Florida International Golden Panthers (6-18,
4-9) in Sun Belt Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at
U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami.
The Red Wolves forced 17 turnovers and got 11 points off the bench
from junior forward Lyndsay Schlup in building a 27-25 halftime lead, but
A-State hit just 5-of-20 (.250) shots in the second half and were out-rebounded
21-12 in the final 20 minutes as FIU fought back to grab the win.
Schlup finished with a career-high 13 points to lead the Red
Wolves. Freshman guard Shania Hurst also
scored in double figures for Arkansas State, finishing the afternoon with 12
points. Senior forward Jasmine Jenkins
led FIU with 14 points, sophomore guard Michelle Gonzalez finished with 13
points and junior guard Monika Bosilj added 11 points, all in the second half.
“Sometimes you go in at halftime with the lead and you are not
real happy, you are concerned,” said ASU Head Coach Brian Boyer. “We held their big-time scorer (Bosilj), scoreless
in the first half. With that type of
defensive effort but only to be up by two was not a good sign, because you weren't
going to hold her down the whole game.
In the second half, she got it going a little bit and we found it tough
to score period, and they were able to pull away to get the win.”
After facing an early 7-2 deficit, Arkansas State erased the
Golden Panther lead with a 12-0 run to go up 14-7 on a pair of free throws from
junior guard Veronica Smith with 11:08 to play in the first half. The Red Wolves forced 11 of FIU's 17
first-half turnovers in the first nine minutes of the game to help boost the
ASU run.
ASU did not trail again in the half, taking the two-point, 27-25
lead into the locker room at the break.
“We had a chance to really pull away in the first half,” said
Boyer. “Numerous times we were up by
five or six and we'd have a stop. If we
could have just finished with a rebound I really felt like we could have
extended the lead.”
Florida International outscored the Red Wolves 20-11 in the first 12
minutes of the second half, hitting 4-of-7 from behind the three-point line to
take a 45-38 lead as the Red Wolves hit just 4-of-14 shots from the field.
Arkansas State kept the FIU lead within single digits until the
final minute but could not close the gap to fewer than seven points in the
waning minutes.
The Red Wolves return to action Wednesday, Feb. 11 when Arkansas
State hosts SBC-West and in-state rival Arkansas-Little Rock in a 7:05 p.m.
game at the ASU Convocation Center.
