UALR defeats FIU 63-58 on Pink Zone Night

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—The UALR women’s basketball team stayed on top of the Sun Belt West Division Wednesday with a 63-58 victory over FIU for Pink Zone Night at The Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans improve to 14-12 overall and 9-4 in conference action.

Taylor Gault and Marian Kursh each led the team in points with 14, while Janette Merriex added 12 points including four three-pointers. Britteni Williams led the team in rebounds with nine, and Taylor Ford led the team in assists with seven.

For the Golden Panthers, Jerica Coley led all scorers with 24 points.

UALR shot 51 percent from the field while holding the lead the entire game. The Trojans out rebounded FIU 37 to 25 but committed a game high 21 turnovers.

FIU (17-9, 7-6 SBC) scored almost half of the team’s points off of UALR turnovers, while UALR’s bench scored 26 points of the Trojans total.

Both teams opened the first half with points, until six-straight points by Kursh gave UALR a 20-10 lead with 9:11 until the half.

The Trojans would lead by as many as 17 points and end the half 35-19 on a last second free throw by Kiera Clark.

FIU opened the second half with seven-straight points including a three-pointer by Fanni Hutlassa to cut the Trojan lead to nine. With 11:54 remaining, Merriex knocked down a three-pointer to bring the UALR lead to 47-35.

The Golden Panthers recorded nine-straight points to narrow the Trojan advantage to three with 8:22 on the clock. A three-point play by Kursh shifted the momentum as UALR scored six-straight and the team’s first field goal in five minutes.

UALR pushed the Trojans lead to 12 at the 2:50 mark on a free throw by Ford, before Coley scored eight-straight points including back-to-back three-pointers to cut the home lead to four.

Kursh knocked down a free throw with three seconds on the clock to secure the 63-58 Trojan victory.

UALR continues conference action on Saturday as the Trojans travel to Troy. Tip-off is set for 5:15 p.m.