JONESBORO, Ark. (2/28/21) – With the regular season in the books, the Arkansas State women's basketball team turns its attention to the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
A-State will be the West Division No. 5 seed in the tournament, held in Pensacola, Florida, and will take on East Division No. 4 seed South Alabama at 2 p.m. CT Friday at Hartsell Arena on the campus of Pensacola State College.
Friday will mark the first game of the season versus a foe from the league's East Division for the Red Wolves, having played an all-divisional schedule this season. A-State is 39-14 all-time versus USA, going 1-2 in three meetings last season. The lone win came in Jonesboro, a 21-point comeback victory in the penultimate game of the regular season. In the last meeting, USA staved off another comeback bid en route to an 82-71 win in Arlington, Texas, in the first round of the conference tournament.
The Red Wolves enter the postseason 9-11 overall and 4-10 in league play following a 75-64 home loss to UT Arlington to end the regular season. Jada Stinson leads the team in scoring at 12.7 points per game while Peyton Martin averages 11.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.
South Alabama is an even 12-12 overall and 9-9 in league action after closing the regular season with a 76-64 loss at Georgia State on Saturday. Antoinette Lewis leads the Jaguars with 11.8 points per game and 8.8 rebounds with a league-best 63 blocked shots. Lewis is the only active player in the Sun Belt with over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. Savannah Jones is right behind Lewis with 11.6 points per game and 7.9 boards per contest, and is among the top 10 active leaders in the NCAA in career three-point field goals (276).
The winner of Friday's game moves on to the tourney quarterfinals to face conference regular-season champion Louisiana at 1:30 p.m. CT Saturday inside the Pensacola Bay Center. All games will be held in either Hartsell Arena or the Pensacola Bay Center.
All games will be broadcasted live on ESPN+, with the tournament final being televised nationally on ESPNU. The radio broadcast of every game can be heard on the EAB Red Wolves Radio Network on 95.3 The Ticket as well as 96.9 FM and 970 AM.
For the latest on the A-State women's basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team's Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.
