GAME 4
ARKANSAS STATE RED WOLVES
vs. MISSOURI STATE BEARS
Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008 2:05 p.m.
JQH Arena (11,000) Springfield, Missouri
Radio: KWHF 95.9 FM “The Wolf” & AStateRedWolves.com
LiveStats Available at AStateRedWolves.com
Video: None
TIPPING IT OFF: The Red Wolves of Arkansas State University travel to Springfield, Mo., to take on the Bears of Missouri State. Tipoff is scheduled for Nov. 23 at 2:05 p.m. The game can be heard on KWHF 95.9 FM “The Wolf.” The live audio webcast may be accessed online at AStateRedWolves.com. LiveStats may also be accessed online by logging on to AStateRedWolves.com.
THE TEAMS: Arkansas State travels to Springfield in search of its first road win of the season. The Red Wolves were defeated 79-76 Nov. 19 in their only other road game this year and enter Sunday afternoon's contest at 2-1. Missouri State is playing its first home game of the season and first-ever game in the new JQH Arena. The Bears are 0-2 on the season after dropping road games at SEMO and Tulsa.
THE MISSOURI STATE SERIES: Arkansas State leads the all-time series 7-5 and takes a four-game win streak in the series into Sunday's game. The last time the two teams met, ASU posted a 74-54 victory last season in Jonesboro. The last Missouri State victory in the series was a 90-65 Bear victory in Springfield during the 1998-99 season.
THE COACHES: Arkansas State head coach Brian Boyer is in his 10th season at the helm of the Red Wolves program. Boyer holds a career record of 154-122 and has directed the Red Wolves to Women's National Invitation Tournament four times, including three of the past five years. Boyer is assisted by Tanya Ray, Rebecca Peoples and Sean Weibling. Nyla Milleson is in her second year as head coach at Missouri State and holds a 11-21 record as head coach of the Bears. Her overall record stands at 196-57 in eight years as a head coach.
DEFENSIVE PRESSURE: Arkansas State held Northern Arizona to just 20 points in each half in the Red Wolves' 71-40 win Nov. 16. Additionally, the Red Wolves held the Lumberjacks to just 29.2 percent shooting from the floor and forced 23 turnovers while allowing just six assists. Arkansas State notched 13 steals in the game with junior guard Jazmine Taylor and Ebonie Jefferson leading the way with three steals each.
OFFENSIVE BALANCE: Twelve players scored for Arkansas State in the Nov. 16 win over Northern Arizona, with 10 of those players scoring in the first half. Junior guard Ebonie Jefferson led ASU with 12 points, and seven other Red Wolves had at least six points in the game.
RAISING THE BAR: Junior Ebonie Jefferson's six steals during the Red Wolves' 79-76 loss at Southern Illinois Nov. 19 was a new career high...sophomore Shay Scott tied her career high with three blocked shots in the game against the Salukis.
HOME SWEET HOME: Arkansas State's 73-56 victory over Creighton Nov. 14 was the Red Wolves' 200th victory at the ASU Convocation Center. Over the last five-plus years, the ASU women's basketball program boasts a winning percentage of .859 (61-10) at the ASU Convocation Center. The Red Wolves are 200-56 (.781) all-time at the Convocation Center and 89-33 (.729) under head coach Brian Boyer.
TAYLOR'S TREYS: Junior point guard Jazmine Taylor played in 61 games for Arkansas State before hitting her first three pointer. Taylor connected on her first three during ASU's 80-70 victory at North Texas Feb. 23, 2008. Just over three minutes into ASU's season-opening victory over Creighton Nov. 14, Taylor took - and made - her first three pointer of the season, the fourth of her career at ASU.
ASU IN SEASON OPENERS: With ASU's 73-56 win over Creighton Nov. 14, The Red Wolves are 20-15 all-time in season openers, with a record of 13-2 when opening the season at home. The Red Wolves have opened the season at home just three times in Brian Boyer's nine-plus years as head coach, winning against Maryland-Eastern Shore to open the 2002-03 season, against Missouri to open the 2005-06 season, and against Creighton to open the current season. Arkansas State is 5-4 in all season openers under Boyer and 3-0 in home openers under Boyer.
SBC HONORS: The Arkansas State Red Wolves finished in a first-place tie with Arkansas-Little Rock in the Sun Belt Conference preseason West Division poll, released Oct. 13 at the SBC Basketball Tip-Off in Hot Springs. The poll was voted on by the 13 head coaches throughout the league. Arkansas State junior guard Veronica Smith was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference first team, while sophomore forward Shay Scott was named third team All-Sun Belt Conference.
“It's exciting and I think it's a great motivator for this team,” said ASU head coach Brian Boyer when asked about the preseason poll. “It is a nice reward for our team for their hard work as we get ready to start the season.”
A third-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection a year ago, Smith led ASU in scoring last year, averaging 9.6 points per game and 12.1 points per game in SBC play. As a true freshman, Scott finished the 2007-08 regular season averaging a double-double in SBC play, putting up 10.6 points and 10 rebounds per game. In league play, Scott led the league in offensive rebounding at 4.33 per game and was second overall in rebounding at 9.7 per game.
“Veronica and Shay are both very deserving,” said Boyer. “Based on last year, we were so balanced that it is hard to pick a preseason all-conference team. Certainly Veronica's numbers and the way she improved and played during the conference season last year have allowed her to become recognized. Shay had a great freshman year last year, then made the all-tournament team, so I think they both are natural picks to be preseason all-conference.”
The Red Wolves received eight first-place votes and 83 total points in the poll while UALR finished with 83 points and five first-place votes. ASU and UALR were followed by Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas, New Orleans, Denver, and Louisiana-Lafayette. Middle Tennessee topped the East Division poll with 71 points and six first-place votes, followed by Western Kentucky, South Alabama, Florida International, Troy and Florida Atlantic.
Western Kentucky's Dominique Duck was named the league's Preseason Player of the Year.
Arkansas State returns all five starters, seven of the top eight scorers and the top five rebounders from last year's 20-win team.
BOYER CLIMBING: With 79 Sun Belt Conference victories, ASU head coach Brian Boyer is now fifth all-time in Sun Belt Conference wins. Boyer trails former New Orleans head coach Joey Favoloro who is in fourth place with 86 wins to his credit. Former Louisiana Tech head coach Leon Barmore tops the list with 135 SBC victories. With 154 overall victories to his credit, Boyer is in second place on the Arkansas State all-time wins list, trailing only Jerry Ann Winters, who finished with 196 victories in 11 seasons at ASU.
RECORDS WATCH: ASU junior forward Lyndsay Schlup enters the season tied for 11th place all-time on the ASU blocked shots list. Schlup needs just one blocked shot to move into 10th place and five to move up to eighth place...ASU junior point guard Jazmine Taylor finished the 2007-08 season with a team-high 26 blocked shots, bringing her career total to 29. Taylor now needs just three more blocks to move into 15th place on the Red Wolves' all-time leaderboard...Taylor also has 77 steals heading into the season and needs just 20 to move into 20th place all-time at ASU...Taylor also needs just 22 assists to move into 20th place on the ASU all-time assists list...senior guard Caroline Starr enters the season in 15th place on the ASU all-time assists list...Starr also needs just 10 steals to move into 20th place on the ASU career steals list.
CHANGES AT THE CONVO: During the offseason, the Clopton Clinic Strength and Conditioning Room was unveiled at a ceremony in the Convocation Center. The strength and conditioning room used by the Red Wolves features new weights, lighting, floor and wall coverings and entrance doors. Also completed during the offseason was the resurfacing and repainting of the Convocation Center playing court. The court now features the new Red Wolves logo and a large “stAte” logo at center court.
ALUMNI REUNION WEEKEND: In conjunction with the Red Wolves' season-opening weekend, the ASU Women's Basketball Alumni Reunion was held Nov. 14-16. The reunion was open to all former ASU women's basketball players, and got underway with the Red Wolves' season opener against Creighton, Friday, Nov. 14. A reception was held Saturday, Nov. 15 at the Cooper Alumni Center beginning at 7:00 p.m. Sunday's slate included the Red Wolves' pregame shootaround, pickup games on the ASU Convocation Center playing court, ASU's 2:00 p.m. game against Northern Arizona and a Fast Break Club reception following the game.
NEW ERA AT ASU: The 2008-09 season is the first season in which Arkansas State University will compete as the Red Wolves. After 77 years of competition as the Indians, the Red Wolves mascot was adopted in January 2008 after many hours of work by the University's Mascot Selection Steering Committee. The job of the committee was to make a new mascot recommendation to Chancellor Dr. Robert L. Potts and the University administration. The committee recommended “Wolves” at a Jan. 31 meeting, and the Red Wolves mascot evolved from that point.
LAST TIME OUT: CARBONDALE, Ill. (10/19/08) ? Down by 19 with 12 minutes to play, the Arkansas State Red Wolves (2-1) rallied to within a bucket at 76-74 with 47 seconds remaining, but the Southern Illinois Salukis (2-0) held on for a 79-76 victory Wednesday night at SIU Arena in the first-ever meeting between the two schools in women's basketball.
Junior Veronica Smith, sophomore Shay Scott and freshman Shania Hurst all scored 13 points to lead Arkansas State and junior Ebonie Jefferson added 12, but the Salukis got 26 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore forward Katrina Swingler, who hit 8-of-12 shots from the floor and 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
Southern Illinois hit 25-of-30 free throws while ASU connected on 19-of-30 from the line, and the Salukis out-rebounded ASU 41-39, including a 25-14 advantage in the first half to help the Salukis go up 47-29 at the break.
“We didn't play very well in the first half on both ends of the court,” said ASU head coach Brian Boyer. “Offensively we had too many turnovers, and defensively we gave up 47 points and I can't remember the last time we did that.”
“The second half was very good with great energy, and the execution was good enough to win the game,” added Boyer. “We gave ourselves more than enough of a chance in the second half, but in the end, we kind of got what we deserved because of the way we played in the first half.”
After turning the ball over 13 times in the first 20 minutes, ASU committed just four turnovers in the second half as the Red Wolves began to chip away at the Saluki lead.
A three-pointer from Hurst with 6:30 to play cut the Saluki lead to single digits at 67-58, and from there Arkansas State continued close the gap, pulling to within four at 76-72 on another three-pointer from Hurst with 1:20 remaining.
Following a steal from ASU junior forward Lyndsay Schlup, Jefferson scored on a put-back with 47 seconds to play to cut the SIU lead to 76-74, but Southern Illinois freshman Olivia Lett banked in a bucket with the shot clock winding down to give the Salukis a two-possession, 78-74 lead with 19 seconds to play.
Arkansas State came up short on its next possession and the Salukis were able to hold on from there to grab the win.
Smith led the Red Wolves on the boards with 10 rebounds, with Scott adding eight, while Jefferson added a career-high six steals.
