JONESBORO -- Akasha Westbrook, of Malvern, paced Arkansas State with 19 points and Lauren Bradshaw collected her third double-double of the season, but it was not enough as the Lady Red Wolves lost to Texas State, 67-55, Thursday evening at First National Bank Arena.
Westbrook scored in double-figures for the eighth straight game, while Bradshaw scored 11 points and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds to lead the Arkansas State (8-8, 3-2 in the Sun Belt Conference). Lycia Peevy also tied a career-high with seven rebounds, while Bradshaw also tied a season-high with four blocks.
Arkansas State led throughout much of the first half until Taeler Deer drained a mid-range jumper to put Texas State (11-5, 4-1) ahead 25-23 with eight seconds to go in the half. The Red Wolves tied the game briefly to start the third quarter, but the Bobcats' pulled away with a strong third quarter and held on in the fourth period as Arkansas State closed to within single digits late in the game.
"We failed to capitalize on a great opportunity tonight," said Lady Red Wolves head coach Brian Boyer. "I really didn't see it coming because we had a really good week of practice, and it was just very disappointing to see what we did offensively when we had been playing so good on the offensive end of late. We were just out of sync the entire game it felt like."
Deer led the Bobcats with 24 points, while Toshua Leavitt added 16 points and Ericka May finished with 11 to round out the scoring.
Westbrook scored in double-figures for the 13th time this season and for the eighth straight game. Her 19-point performance was one point shy of her career high.
Arkansas State will host UT-Arlington (8-8, 2-3) today at First National Bank Arena. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
The women's team will tip off a double header Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. Arkansas State will face Little Rock (8-8, 5-0) at 3 p.m. and the men's teams are scheduled for 5 p.m.
Little Rock pulled out a narrow 59-57 victory over Arlington on Thursday in Little Rock. The Lady Trojans moved to 40-1 against Sun Belt opponents at the Jack Stephens Center since 2013-14. The victory was the Trojans' 21st consecutive against league opponents at the Jack and 10th consecutive against Sun Belt opponents on the road or at home dating back to last season.
Ronjanae DeGray led the Trojans with 14 points while bringing down five rebounds. Monique Townson and Tori Lasker each scored 10 points. Townson had five rebounds and two assists, while Lasker had three assists and two rebounds. Raeyana DeGray was the Trojans' leading rebounder as she came down with seven boards in addition to nine points and three assists.
Little Rock shot 44.2 percent, 23-for-52, from the field, 45.5 percent, 5-for-11, from 3-point range and 66.7 percent, 8-for-12, from the foul line.
The Trojans will look to extend their winning streak to six games today when they host Texas State at 3 p.m.
Sports on 01/13/2018