Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

Arkansas State’s women’s basketball won in dominant fashion Saturday, defeating Sun Belt Conference foe Louisiana-Monroe. The game was a rematch of last Saturday’s Red Wolves 75-70 victory on a late fourth-quarter rally.

The Red Wolves are 6-0 since the start of the new year, defeating Marshall, Georgia Southern, Texas State, Louisiana and now ULM twice.

The Red Wolves got off to a quick start early taking a big lead and they never looked back. Points in the paint were immense in this game. A-State outscored ULM in paint points 38-20.

The Scarlet and Black defense was huge in this game with 10 blocks and 12 steals. 

Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

Forward Nissa Sam-Grant  was a huge asset for the Red Wolves defense, tallying 6 Blocks and 3 Steals. 

 “She’s going to get rebounds, she’s going to protect the rim. She’s a good passer as well. When you look at her stat line, nine rebounds, 3.2 assists, six blocks, and three steals. I mean, she’s giving us everything that she’s got,” Rogers said.

Third-year head coach, Destinee Rogers, emphasized finding Sam-Grant as the spark the Red Wolves need off the bench. She said her team played the best first half she had ever seen.

“I would brag about her all day. I’ll tell you one thing about Nissa. After we lost the Appalachian State game, I knew she needed to play,” Rogers said. “So that was a mistake on my part, and ever since she’s been playing, we haven’t lost the game because she comes in and she does her part.”

Forward Nissa Sam-Grant  was a huge asset for the Red Wolves defense, tallying 6 Blocks and 3 Steals. 

 “She’s going to get rebounds, she’s going to protect the rim. She’s a good passer as well. When you look at her stat line, nine rebounds, 3.2 assists, six blocks, and three steals. I mean, she’s giving us everything that she’s got,” Rogers said.

This game marked the fourth game this season A-State had 5 or more blocks. The Lady Wolves were one block shy of a team record of 11 blocks in a game.

Guard Zyion Shannon added 13 points, 4-10 from the field and 2-4 from three. In addition, guard Bella Weary dropped 16 points, 3-9 from the field, and led the team in free throws shooting 9-10.

Wynter Rogers, who was player of the game, helped score 17 points on 8-12 field goals with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

“We have a bunch of shooters, and that just draws the defense out,” Wynter Rogers said. “Our practice was a lot more focused on defense because we realized we’ve got to get stops on defense, then to go into our transition game.”

At the beginning of the season, Coach Rogers said playing a new style essentially playing “40 Minutes of Hell” where she forces her team to press their opponents and she subs a new five in every 2-4 minutes. 

Photo by Abigail Leggett | Staff Photographer

“We’re going to press for 40 minutes and we’re going to play fast, so it just keeps fresh legs coming at you the whole game,” Coach Rogers said. “So if you watch their demeanor, I think they couldn’t score in the first half because they were really tired. We just got five fresh, or sorry, fresh legs coming in every two minutes. So for us, we know that we have depth,” 

The Red Wolves have now won 6 straight games for the first time since 2015-2016. They are currently ranked third in the Sun Belt Conference. 

A-State will go on the road on Jan. 23 for their next game and will take on the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. 

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