Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Week 11)
2012-13 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
2012-13 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2012-13 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2012-13 Sun Belt Conference Statistics

Week 11 Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week

Ebony Rowe (Middle Tennessee, Junior, Forward)
Ebony Rowe paced the Blue Raiders by averaging a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds in Middle Tennessee’s victories over Florida Atlantic and ULM. Rowe netted 22 points and grabbed 15 boards in the win over FAU, who was previously unbeaten in the Sun Belt. She collected a pair of blocks and steals, while inking her school-record 42nd double-double. The junior forward followed with a career-high notching 32 points and grabbing nine boards at ULM. Rowe shot 65 percent (11-of-17) from the field, while making 10 of those points from the free throw line. She added two more blocks and steals as the Raiders recorded their fifth consecutive win. This season, Rowe leads the Blue Raiders with 21.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Coming into the weekend, the Lexington, Ky., product ranked 14th in scoring and 32nd in the NCAA in rebounding. Her 10 double-doubles is tied for fifth nationally.

Previous Players of the Week
11.13 - Ebony Rowe (Middle Tennessee, Junior, Forward)
11.20 - Chastity Gooch (Western Kentucky, Sophomore, Forward)
11.27 - Jerica Coley (FIU, Junior, Guard)
12.04 - Alexis Govan (Western Kentucky, Sophomore, Guard)
12.11 - Ebony Rowe (Middle Tennessee, Junior, Forward)
12.18 - Jerica Coley (FIU, Junior, Guard)
01.07 - Alexis Govan (Western Kentucky, Sophomore, Guard)

Around the Sun Belt Conference
Middle Tennessee's Ebony Rowe earned this week's Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Week honor after leading the Blue Raiders to a 2-0 record last week. The double-double machine averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds in wins over Florida Atlantic and Louisiana-Monroe.

She scored 22 points and pulled in 15 rebounds against FAU, who was previously unbeaten in the SBC, and then added a career-high 32 points while grabbing nine boards in a win over ULM. Rowe, the MTSU record holder for double-doubles in a career, is tied fifth nationally in double-doubles with 10.

UALR dropped both of its games this week by a combined margin of five. The Trojans fell to North Texas 68-65 and then dropped its game to FIU, 55-53. On the season UALR is 11-5, 4-4 SBC.

Arkansas State has been on a tear winning its past three games after recording SBC victories against FIU and Louisiana-Lafayette this past week. The Red Wolves completed a season sweep of the Golden Panthers with a 49-43 victory on Jan. 9 in Jonesboro and then followed that up with a 48-39 win over the Ragin’ Cajuns on Jan. 12.

Florida Atlantic is coming off two double-digit road losses to the Blue Raiders and Hilltoppers and will look to end a two-game losing skid with a pair of home games this week against Troy on Wednesday, January 16 and North Texas on Saturday, January 19.

FIU went 1-1 on the road in SBC play this past week, falling to Arkansas State and defeating UALR. The Panthers’ win over the Trojans marked their first since 2008, as well as FIU’s first victory in Little Rock since 2006. Junior Jerica Coley has scored 1,676 career points, a mark which ranks fifth all-time at FIU. Coley has scored in double-figures in 15 of 16 contests this season and in 72 of 82 career games.

The Ragin’ Cajuns set out on the Western Kentucky-Middle Tennessee road trip this week marking the final road games in January. Middle Tennessee won the season’s first meeting, posting a 72-45 win at Earl K. Long Gym back on Nov. 24.

ULM went 1-1 this past week dropping a game to the Blue Raiders and defeating the Troy Trojans. unior forward Ashleigh Simmons collected her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Blue Raiders. Five Warhawks scored in double-figures against Troy, the first occurrence since Feb. 18, 2002 and just the 10th time in program history.

The Blue Raiders re in the midst of a five-game win streak after picking up victories over Florida Atlantic (73-59) and ULM (66-48). MT used a 15-0 second half run to give the Owls their first conference loss this season. Junior forward Ebony Rowe etched her 42nd double-double with 22 points and 15 rebounds in the win. The momentum carried over as MT forced 21 ULM turnovers in a road victory over the Warhawks. Rowe netted a career-best 32 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

North Texas picked up its fourth straight win with a 20-point victory over South Alabama. It’s the first four-game winning streak for the Mean Green since the 2007-08 season. It was also the fourth straight Sun Belt Conference win for the Mean Green, and it’s the first four-game league winning streak for North Texas since 2001-02.

The South Alabama women’s basketball team split its two SBC games this past week. USA began the week with a 53-43 road victory at Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday. The Jaguars then struggled offensively on Saturday, falling 67-47 at West Division leader North Texas. USA has now been held to less than 50 points five times this season.

The Trojans (3-12, 0-5) played just one game last week, falling at home to ULM, 75-69, in what was the first game of the season on the Sun Belt Network. Troy is in the midst of a five-game losing streak, but in three of the games, the Trojans have held a halftime lead, including last week’s loss to ULM.

The Lady Toppers played just one game this week, rebounding from its first conference loss of the season to improve to 6-1 in league play with an 86-68 victory over Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon at Diddle Arena. With their sixth conference win of the year, the Lady Toppers surpassed the five wins they compiled last year in SBC play.

Check out www.sunbeltsports.org throughout the week for updated SBC basketball news, stats and scores.

Recent Results

January 9 (Wednesday)
South Alabama 53, Louisiana-Lafayette 43
Florida Atlantic 59, Middle Tennessee 73
North Texas 68, UALR 65
FIU 43, Arkansas State 49

January 10 (Thursday)
Louisiana-Monroe 75, Troy 69

January 12 (Saturday)
Middle Tennessee 66, Louisiana-Monroe 48
Florida Atlantic 68, Western Kentucky 86
FIU 55, UALR 53
South Alabama 47, North Texas 67
Arkansas State 48, Louisiana-Lafayette 39

Upcoming Games

January 16 (Wednesday)
Troy at Florida Atlantic 6:00 PM
UALR at Middle Tennessee 7:00 PM
Louisiana-Lafayette at Western Kentucky 7:00 PM
Louisiana-Monroe at South Alabama 7:05 PM

January 17 (Thursday)
North Texas at FIU 4:30 PM

January 19 (Saturday)
North Texas at Florida Atlantic 2:00 PM
UALR at Western Kentucky 2:00 PM
Louisiana-Lafayette at Middle Tennessee 3:00 PM
Troy at FIU 4:30 PM

Team News and Notes

UALR Trojans
UALR has moved into positive territory on rebounding margin thanks to a +28 rebounding edge in its last three games. That includes a 37-28 edge over FIU Saturday (Jan. 12), only the fourth time the Panthers have lost the rebounding battle this season. FIU came into the game with an average of a +5 rebounding edge over its opponents. With 26 points against North Texas Wednesday (Jan. 9) and 23 against FIU, sophomore Taylor Gault now has five games this season and 15 overall for her career with 20+ points. Freshman Carolee Dillard, who has started three games in a row, matched an individual season-high for UALR with 16 rebounds. Coupled with 10 points, Dillard recorded her first double-double and the second for a Trojan this season. Dillard received the start with fellow freshmen Shanity James and Morgan Bolton, the first time since Nov. 18, 2005 UALR’s starting line-up has featured three or more freshmen. Saturday’s game with FIU was the ninth time this season in NCAA Division I two coaches met up that has more than 600 wins. The road team is 5-1 in such contests.

Arkansas State Red Wolves
The Arkansas State women’s basketball team is on a three-game winning streak after recording Sun Belt Conference victories against Florida International and Louisiana-Lafayette this past week. The Red Wolves completed a season sweep of the Golden Panthers with a 49-43 victory on Jan. 9 in Jonesboro and then followed that up with a 48-39 win over the Ragin’ Cajuns on Jan. 12. A-State is now 8-9 on the year and 5-3 in conference play and is in sole possession of second in the SBC West Division. Freshman Jalen O’Bannon tied a career high with 13 points against FIU and senior guard Ashley Olvera scored eight points and recorded a team-high four assists, hit two big three-point shots near the end of each half to help propel ASU to the victory.  Sophomore guard Hanna Qedan just missed recording her first career double-double in ASU’s victory over ULL. Qedan scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds to help the Red Wolves pickup their second road victory of the year. ASU ranks 3rd in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense having allowed opponents to make just 22.8 percent of their attempts on the year. Junior forward Jane Morrill has made 50.6 percent of her field goal attempts this season. That mark ranks 52nd in the nation. According to realtimerpi.com, Arkansas State has the strongest strength of schedule among all Sun Belt Conference teams. A-State’s schedule ranks as the 70th toughest in the nation according to the site. Louisiana-Lafayette’s 43 points was an opponent season low for ASU on the season, while the Ragin’ Cajuns 28.1 field goal percentage was the second lowest of any A-State opponent this year. Q McDowell has started in 92 straight games. A-State has knocked down a 3-pointer in 106 straight games.

Florida Atlantic Owls
Florida Atlantic will look to end a two-game losing skid with a pair of home games this week against Troy on Wednesday, January 16 and North Texas on Saturday, January 19. The Owls stand in third place in the Sun Belt Conference's East Division with a 5-2 record and one game back of Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. The team is coming off two double-digit road losses to the Blue Raiders and Hilltoppers. FAU looks to sweep the season series with Troy after earning a 81-80 win over the Trojans on December 21. Junior guard Latavia Dempsey made a free throw with 1.2 seconds left to pick up the road victory. Senior guard Breana Turner scored 25 points. On the season, junior forward Chenise Miller leads the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and rebounds (7.3 rpg). She leads the SBC with 34 blocks. Junior guard Takia Brooks is scoring 11.9 points per outing and ranks among the league leaders with 40 steals. Turner is averaging 11.3 points to round out the double-figure scorers. FAU ranks sixth nationally in turnover margin (+7.3) and is second in the conference scoring 72.7 points per contest.

FIU Panthers
FIU went 1-1 on the road in Sun Belt Conference play this past week, falling to Arkansas State and defeating UALR. The Panthers' win over the Trojans marked their first since 2008, as well as FIU's first victory in Little Rock since 2006. Junior Jerica Coley has scored 1,676 career points, a mark which ranks fifth all-time at FIU. Coley has scored in double-figures in 15 of 16 contests this season and in 72 of 82 career games. With her 37 points at UALR (1/12/13), the St. Petersburg, Fla., native pushed her season 30-plus, point game total to five games, as she has now scored 20 or more points in nine contests in 2012-13. Senior Junior Finda Mansare is approaching the 100-game mark, as she has appeared in 96-career contests. Versus Arkansas State (1/9/13), junior Jerica Coley registered her second-straight double-doubles with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Coley has now posted two double-doubles this season and nine for her career. Head Coach Cindy Russo’s 680 career victories rank ninth among active Division I coaches and 16th on the all-time winningest coaches list.

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns
The Ragin’ Cajuns set out on the Western Kentucky-Middle Tennessee road trip…The trip marks the final road games in January…Middle Tennessee won the season’s first meeting, posting a 72-45 win at Earl K. Long Gym back on Nov. 24 in a contest that featured a combined 63 turnovers…The freshman class of Sylvana Okde (11.2), Keke Veal (10.7), Kia Wilridge (9.1), Jasmin Mills (4.4) and Adrienne Prejean (1.5) – the foundation class on which Garry Brodhead plans to rebuild the program – averages 36.9 points per game (64 percent of the team’s offensive production)…Okde and Veal lead the team with nine double digit scoring performances…Veal led UL in scoring for the fifth time this season and netted her ninth double digit scoring performance of her rookie season with 16 points off the bench against Arkansas State…Louisiana finished even in turnovers with ASU, and has now committed more turnovers than the opposition only four times in 17 contests…The Cajuns held an opponent below 60 points for the seventh straight home game and eighth time in nine home games by limiting Arkansas State to 48 at the Cajundome on Saturday…Louisiana shot 46.7 percent from three-point range on Thursday vs. South Alabama, the highest percentage from beyond the arc for a team with double digit attempts against the Jaguars defense this season...The seven triples made by the Cajuns was the most the Jaguars have surrendered, surpassing the six allowed to Florida Atlantic on Nov. 28…Since allowing a season-high 79 points at Florida Atlantic (Jan. 12), the Cajuns defense has steadily kept lowering the opposition’s production (63 vs. FIU, 53 vs. USA, 48 vs. ASU)…Sylvana Okde is on pace to make 76 three-point baskets, a tally that would land in the program’s single-season Top 5 ranking…The last Cajuns player to reach 70 three-point makes in a season was Rhonda McCullough (88 in 1989-90)…Okde is coming off one of her best weeks in Sun Belt action, knocking down six triples on the USA-ASU homestand (made four vs. USA, marking the seventh time this season with at least three triples in a game)…With last week’s departure of Byronesha Santiago, the Ragin’ Cajuns only have nine players available on their bench…Following the WKU-MT trip, the Cajuns return home for the final two January games – Jan. 23 vs. FIU and Jan. 30 vs. North Texas (both games at Earl K. Long Gym).

Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
The Warhawks will play at South Alabama on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. and Arkansas State on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. South Alabama won the first meeting of the season, 55-45. ULM went 1-1 this past week. Middle Tennessee handled the Warhawks on Saturday, 66-48. Junior forward Ashleigh Simmons collected her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Blue Raiders. ULM snapped a six-game losing streak at Troy on Thursday, 75-69. The Warhawks have now won three straight over the Trojans and five of the last six meetings. Five Warhawks scored in double-figures for the first time since Feb. 18, 2002 and just the 10th time in program history. The 0-5 SBC start was the longest ULM has gone without a conference win since joining the Sun Belt. Sophomore guard Jae Shin is 10-of-18 (.555) from three during the last three games including four triples at North Texas. Seven Warhawks have led ULM in scoring this season. At #18 Texas on Dec. 11, ULM attempted 41 free throws, it was the first time the squad tallied 40 or more FTs in a single game since Dec. 21, 1999 (W, 66-65 vs. New Orleans). The Warhawk program is three wins away from 600 all-time victories. Mona Martin needs five wins for 250 and ULM is four home wins away from 300 inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum. The next Sun Belt victory will the program’s 50th.

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (11-5, 6-1 Sun Belt) are in the midst of a five-game win streak after picking up victories over Florida Atlantic (73-59) and ULM (66-48). MT used a 15-0 second half run to give the Owls their first conference loss this season. Junior forward Ebony Rowe etched her 42nd double-double with 22 points and 15 rebounds in the win. The momentum carried over as MT forced 21 ULM turnovers in a road victory over the Warhawks. Rowe netted a career-best 32 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Icelyn Elie made her second double-double this season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Rowe ranks in the top-15 in scoring, averaging 21.6 points per game, while pacing the Raiders with 10.8 rebounds. Her 10 double-doubles is tied for fifth nationally in the NCAA. Rowe is just 38 points shy of reaching 13th on the MT all-time scoring list, as she currently has 1,414 points in two-plus seasons. MT is a remarkable 25-3 when Rowe notches 20 or more points. Elie and teammate Kortni Jones are also tallying double-figures with 13.9 and 13.0 points per game. Middle Tennessee has gradually increased its shooting percentage to 41 percent (407x995) this season, while shooting over 40 percent in the last four contests. Jones is pacing the Raider offense with 75 assists, while Shanice Cason has collected 43 steals in 16 games. Middle Tennessee returns home for a pivotal two-game homestand with UALR on Wednesday, Jan. 16 and Louisiana on Saturday, Jan. 19.

North Texas Mean Green
North Texas picked up its fourth straight win with a 20-point victory over South Alabama. It’s the first four-game winning streak for the Mean Green since the 2007-08 season. It was also the fourth straight Sun Belt Conference win for the Mean Green, and it’s the first four-game league winning streak for North Texas since 2001-02. Laura McCoy notched a career-high 23 points in the win over UALR and in the process became just the fourth player in school history to hit 100 3-pointers for her career. McCoy, knocked down six in the win, which is tied for the second most in a single game, and now stands with 104 for her career. North Texas is undefeated in the calendar year of 2013 and is looking for its first five game winning streak since the 2005-06 season. A win at FIU would also be the first five-game conference winning streak since 2001-02. True freshman Alexis Hyder and Loryn Goodwin are leading the Mean Green in scoring this season. The Mean Green is the only team in the Sun Belt Conference to be led in scoring by two true freshman. North Texas as a team is hitting 74.8 percent from the free throw line, which is on pace to set a new school record. Only twice has North Texas hit over 70 percent from the free throw in a single season and the school record is 73.5 percent, set in the 2001-02 season.

South Alabama Jaguars
The South Alabama women’s basketball team split its two Sun Belt Conference games this past week. USA began the week with a 53-43 road victory at Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday. The Jaguars then struggled offensively on Saturday, falling 67-47 at West Division leader North Texas. USA has now been held to less than 50 points five times this season. They are 0-5 in those games. Versus the Ragin’ Cajuns, USA trailed by four with 14 minutes to go, but led by Mansa El, rattled off a 15-0 run to take the lead for good. El recorded nine of her season-high 20 points during the Jaguar run and was 6-of-13 from the floor, including 4-for-8 from the three-point line in the game. She had 14 of her points in the second half and tied a career-high with nine rebounds. Junior forward Ronneka Robertson also set a new career-best versus ULL as the Louisiana native pulled down a career-best 13 rebound. With the win, South Alabama improved to 33-10 in the all-time series versus Louisiana-Lafayette and 19-3 under head coach Rick Pietri. Allowing just 43 points to the Ragin’ Cajuns, the Lady Jags have now held four Sun Belt opponents and six this season below the 50-point mark. On Wednesday, the Jaguars forced five shot clock violations in the first half. The seven three-pointers hit by ULL were the most allowed at that time by USA to an opponent, eclipsing the previous mark of six by Florida Atlantic. ULL’s Sylvana was also the first individual to hit more than two treys in a game versus the Lady Jags. Versus North Texas, the Lady Jag offense struggled to find its shooting touch as they shot just 19.4 percent in the first half and finished shooting just 25.4 percent for the game. With the loss, USA falls to 7-14 in the all-time series to the Mean Green and 2-9 in the 11 meetings in Denton. The 20-point victory is the largest for North Texas in the series since the Mean Green’s 34-point (87-53) win in Denton back during the 2007-08 season. The 36-point second-half deficit to UNT was the largest for the Lady Jags this season and the 18-point halftime was the largest for USA at the intermission this season. The nine three pointers by North Texas were the most by a USA opponent this season. Coming into the week, the Lady Jags entered play leading both the Sun Belt Conference and the NCAA in three-point field-goal defense, but over the last two games, USA has allowed its two opponents to shoot 16-for-30 from the arc. Through the first 15 games, the Jaguars had allowed just 40 treys and held opponents to 21.4 percent three-point shooting (40-of-187).

Troy Trojans
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WKU Hilltoppers
The Lady Toppers played just one game this week, rebounding from its first conference loss of the season to improve to 6-1 in league play with an 86-68 victory over Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon at Diddle Arena. With their sixth conference win of the year, the Lady Toppers surpassed the five wins they compiled last year in Sun Belt Conference play. WKU is now 7-0 all-time against Florida Atlantic at Diddle Arena. WKU is 13-3 or better to start a season for the eighth time in program history. WKU last started the season with wins in at least 13-of-16 games to start the season in 1998-99 when WKU was 13-3. WKU is 6-1 or better in Sun Belt Conference play for the just the fourth time in the last 15 seasons. The trio of Chastity Gooch (28), Bianca McGee (23) and Alexis Govan (20) gave WKU three players with 20-or-more points for the first time since Jan. 27, 2005 when Crystal Kelly (22), Tiffany Porter-Talbert (22) and Leslie Logsdon (20) each reached the mark against New Mexico State. Those were career-high scoring totals for both Gooch and McGee. Gooch also added 11 rebounds for her 15th double-double in 16 games this season. Govan also added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the year. Govan also scored her 500th career point in Saturday’s win. Chaney Means finished with a career-high seven assists. WKU had a season-high 54 points in the paint. WKU has forced at least 16 turnovers in 15-of-16 games this season after achieving the feat just 15 times in 2011-12. WKU scored 25 points off 22 FAU turnovers. With Govan posting a double-double, the Lady Toppers have had four different players record a double-double this season. WKU has now won 50 consecutive games when scoring 80 points or more. The team is now 410-23 all-time when reaching the 80-point plateau. WKU has won 81 of its last 82 games when reaching the mark, dating to the start of the 2002-03 season.