A number of area high school graduates were in action last week for college athletics programs.
Akasha Westbrook, Arkansas State
The Red Wolves (10-10, 5-4 Sun Belt Conference) picked up a road win in a two-game trip to the Carolinas last week in conference play. Redshirt junior Akasha Westbrook, of Malvern, earned her fourth double-double of the season Thursday in a 70-63 victory at Coastal Carolina (11-10, 5-5).
Westbrook scored 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds in 30 minutes. Arkansas State was led by a season-high 23 points from sophomore guard Jada Ford, from Muskogee High School in Oklahoma.
Ford and Westbrook tied for the team-lead with 17 points on Saturday, but the Red Wolves fell 68-66 at Appalachian State (6-15, 4-6). It was the 13th straight game Westbrook scored in double figures.
Arkansas State had possession with 1.3 seconds on the clock. Westbrook released a shot after the buzzer and a foul was called as time expired. Referees determined after an official review the foul occurred after time expired and the Red Wolves would not shoot free throws for a chance to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Westbrook shot 8-for-13 in the game. She leads the team with 14 points and 32.2 minutes per game.
Her 643 minutes ranks first on the team this season. Senior Lauren Bradshaw, from Mesquite, Texas, is second on the team with 506 minutes.
Arkansas State will be at home twice this week in Jonesboro to face Georgia State (5-15, 1-8) at 5 p.m. on Thursday and Georgia Southern (4-16, 1-8) at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Andre Jones, Little Rock
A season of painful losses continued for Little Rock (5-17, 2-7) Thursday as the Trojans lost 72-67 on the road at Appalachian State (9-14, 4-6). Little Rock had a 13-point lead in the first half and led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but could not hold on to the lead.
Little Rock had a chance to win the game in regulation, but freshman guard Jaizec Lottie, from Aurora, Colo., had his layup attempt blocked in the waning seconds. Costly turnovers and key free throws by the Mountaineers preserved the victory for the hosts.
Senior Wadly Mompremier, from Miami, played 25 minutes off the bench to lead Little Rock with 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting and rebounds. Sophomore Andre Jones, of Malvern, was second on the team with 15 points, but shot just 6-for-23 (26 percent) from the floor.
The Trojans shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half Saturday at Coastal Carolina (10-13, 4-6), but made just 8 of 29 attempts (27.6 percent) in the second half of a 72-62 Sun Belt Conference loss.
Sophomore guard Ryan Pippins, from Little Rock Parkview, led Little Rock with a career-high 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers. Jones had 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting and six rebounds.
Jones bounced back from a slump in December to score in double figures in each of the last six games, averaging 15.7 per game during that stretch. He increased his team-leading scoring average to 12.2 points per game.
Little Rock will have two home games this week with Georgia Southern (15-7, 6-3) at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Georgia State (16-6, 7-2) at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Tiffany Murdock, Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Senior Tiffany Murdock, of Malvern, has played in 13 of Arkansas-Pine Bluff's 18 games this season, starting one. She transferred to Pine Bluff from Paris Junior College in Texas before her junior season.
Murdock played her most minutes in back-to-back games in early December. She played 19 minutes and scored four points in an 87-37 loss to Tulsa (8-13, 2-6 American Athletic Conference) on Dec. 5. She played a season-high 24 minutes and scored three points against Iowa (16-6, 4-5 Big 10) in an 85-45 loss on Dec. 9.
Pine Bluff (3-15, 1-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference) lost 66-57 to Grambling State (8-11, 5-3) on Saturday and hosted Jackson State (10-7, 5-3) on Monday. Up next for the team is a pair of home games Saturday and Monday against Alabama A&M (8-11, 3-5) and Alabama State (5-14, 3-5).
Eli Fisher, Hendrix
Hendrix sophomore guard Eli Fisher, from Magnet Cove, is averaging 8.2 points in 23 minutes per game in six games this semester. The Warriors (4-16, 2-7 Southern Athletic Association) lost 77-56 to Sewanee (11-8, 7-2) on Sunday.
Fisher averaged just seven minutes per game in the fall semester. He started 2018 with seven points in 29 minutes against Southern-leading Oglethorpe (13-7, 7-2) on Jan. 5. Fisher followed up with 18 points in 28 minutes in a 94-91 win over Berry (6-14, 1-8) on Jan. 7 and 14 points in 26 minutes against Birmingham Southern (9-11, 6-3) in a 104-92 loss on Jan. 12.
Hendrix will be on the road this week to face Oglethorpe on Friday and Berry on Sunday.
Exavian Christon, Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech (13-9, 4-5 Conference USA) recently bounced back from a 1-5 start in conference play to win three straight games at home. an 88-66 on Saturday over Southern Miss (11-11, 4-5) was the largest conference win so far this season for the Bulldogs.
Freshmen Anthony Duruji and Amorie Archibald have cemented themselves as starters. Duruji averaged 13.7 in 26 minutes in the three games, including 25 points and a game-winning basket in a 66-65 win over North Texas (12-10, 5-4) on Jan. 18. Archibald is averaging 15.7 points in 35.7 minutes during the winning streak.
Freshman Exavian Christon, from Hot Springs, scored two points in 17 minutes against North Texas, seen points and three rebounds in a 69-54 win over Rice (5-17, 2-7) on Jan. 20 and five points 19 minutes against Southern Miss.
The Bulldogs return to the road this week with games at Florida Atlantic (10-11, 4-5) on Thursday and Florida International (9-13, 3-6) on Saturday.
Tatum Rice, Arkansas
The No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks women's tennis team dropped two matches this weekend in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kick-Off Weekend at Ohio State University's Varsity Tennis Center in Columbus.
The Razorbacks (1-2) won the doubles point for the third straight match, but the Jayhawks (1-2) won four of six singles matches to earn the overall match victory. Arkansas led 3-2 late in the match, before Kansas claimed the final two singles victories.
"We have played plenty of fantastic matches during ITA Kick-Off Weekend over the 10-year history of the event, and tonight's ranks right up there among the best," head coach Michael Hegarty said. "The level from both teams was extremely high tonight, and the way our team competed was very special."
Freshman Tatum Rice, a graduate of Lakeside High School, partnered with Ana Oparenovic to win the No. 1 doubles match 7-5 over Nina Khmelnitckaia and Tatiana Nikolaeva. Rice lost the No. 6 singles match 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) to Maria Toran Ribes.
Rice and Oparenovic won 6-2 against No. 42 Eliza Omirou/Anna Ulyashchenko from Wake Forest on Friday in the first round, but Arkansas lost 4-2. Rice lost 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 6-1 to Joanna Zalewski in the No. 5 singles spot.
"Hats off to Wake Forest today," Hegarty said. "We played a beautiful doubles point, and I was extremely proud of the efforts we had in singles as well."
Sports on 01/30/2018