A-State continues stellar play, off to best start in school history

The Arkansas State women’s basketball team continued road play with a 78-64 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. The Red Wolves captured their best start in school history at 20-3 and tied a school consecutive win streak with 14. Arkansas State remains unbeaten in the Sun Belt Conference.

“It was never our goal to be 20-3 and win 14 straight,” A-State head coach Brian Boyer said. “Our goal is to win the conference tournament and get to the NCAA Tournament, but when you look back when this is all said and done, this is a pretty cool deal. When you look back at the history of women’s basketball at Arkansas State, no other team could do this and this is something this team should be proud of.”

Khadija Brown-Haywood tied a career-high with 29 points and grabbed seven boards to pace the Red Wolves (20-3, 14-0 SBC), who have now won 20 games for the 12th time in their history and for the sixth time in the Boyer era.

Arkansas State continues to win as they extend their winning streak to 14 games. Their last loss was on Dec. 21. Last week the Red Wolves defeated both UL-Lafayette and UL-Monroe as they became the first team in the Sun Belt to clinch a berth into the 2016 Sun Belt Women’s Basketball Championships.

The Red Wolves are currently 20-3 overall and 14-0 in league play and have climbed up to No. 44 n NCAA RPI and are now receiving votes in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll.

Senior, Aundrea Gamble, served as the hero for the Red Wolves during last week’s match-ups and is the Preseason Student-Athlete of the Year. Gamble produced the seventh 30-plus point game of her career in a 74-62 win over then second-place UL Lafayette on Thursday.

A-State will continue their road swing this weekend, when they travel to Georgia Southern on Thursday and Georgia State on Saturday.

Georgia Southern has lost five out of their last six games, and currently sits in ninth place in the conference standings. The Eagles will come into the game with a record of 7-16 (4-10.) They currently would not qualify for the Sun Belt tournament.

Georgia Southern averages 53.1 points per game, while allowing 61.8 points per game, a scoring margin of -8.7.

The Eagles are led in scoring by Angel McGowan who averages 14.8 points per game, to go along with 41 percent shooting.

After taking on the Eagles, the Red Wolves will matchup with Georgia State on Saturday morning.

Georgia State currently has an overall record of 9-14 (4-10) and are currently tied with Georgia Southern for ninth in the conference. Georgia State averages 65.1 points per game, and allows 71.7 points per game.

The Panthers are led in scoring by Makeba Ponder, who averages 12.4 points per game on 31 percent shooting.

Arkansas State will tip-off with Georgia Southern on Thursday at 4 p.m., while Saturday’s matchup with Georgia State will tipoff at 11 a.m. Saturday’s game can be seen on WatchESPN.