Guard Bella Weary lines up a jumper against the Trojans. She scored 14 points and nabbed three rebounds in the loss to Troy.

After a victorious Sun Belt Championship week in 2025 ending in a trophy ceremony and NCAA tournament bid, the Arkansas State women’s basketball team fell short in the semifinals of this year’s tournament against rival Troy.

Earning a bye until the quarterfinals of the SBC tournament, the Red Wolves had high hopes to go for back-to-back conference titles and earn their second NCAA tournament bid in program history. They seemed to be realizing their hopes after their first game ended with a 76-68 win against ULM.

The Red Wolves kept their foot on the throttle throughout the matchup against the Warhawks, keeping their opponents at bay through smothering defense. 

While the offense had some rough shooting, the pressure on the opposite side of the ball kept the team afloat. While forcing fewer turnovers than average with 23 on the night, shot contesting gave the defense a boost. The Warhawks shot an abysmal 16.7% from the three-point line and 38.5% from the field, showing the disruption on offense by the Red Wolves. 

The trio of guards, Mia Tarver, D’arrah Allen, and forward Wynter Rogers, carried the scoring weight, combining for 41 points together. Guard Crislyn Rose took a backseat on shot-making and opted to act as floor general, dishing out a game-high nine assists. 

While the Red Wolves fired on almost all cylinders against ULM, their weakness on the glass carried over from the regular season. The Warhawks outrebounded A-State by 20, tallying up nine more offensive boards as well. A-State allowed two ULM players to grab double-digit rebounds as well, with forward Keshunti Nichols and guard J’Mani Ingram grabbing 10 and 12, respectively. 

This small downside in the win against the Warhawks turned into the Red Wolves’ Achilles heel during their next game against the Troy Trojans.

A-State came into the game having lost their previous two matchups to Troy this season, with both losses carrying a heavy disadvantage on the glass. While it wasn’t as glaring as in the past games against their rivals, the rebounding deficit still crippled the A-State defense. 

While the first quarter seemed to spell out a close fight for the two teams with A-State leading 25-23, it wasn’t long before the Trojans jumped out to an 11-point lead at the end of the half. In this game, the Red Wolves caught the brunt of a suffocating defense, only scoring seven points in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, A-State’s usual ball pressure disappeared, leaving the team with fewer opportunities in the full court to score easy points. The Red Wolves only forced 20 turnovers this game compared to their season average of 27. 

The lack of defensive pressure, added with the usual rebounding issues, combined to give the Trojans easy points throughout the game and allowed them to pile on plenty of unanswered baskets. 

The second half didn’t fare any better for A-State as the Trojans’ lead grew to a game-high 19 points halfway through the third quarter. But when all seemed lost, a spark of life shot into the 

Red Wolves and helped the team cut into the deficit with a 12-0 run. Even so, Troy dismantled any comeback hopes in the fourth quarter by backing up their defense with a well-rounded offense.

In the end, the Red Wolves failed to recover from the deficit and ended up losing 83-73 to their rival for the third time this season. 

Trojans forward Zay Dyer did it all to carry her team to the SBC finals, putting up game-highs with a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Allen continued her scoring streak from the quarterfinals to lead the Red Wolves with 18 points while tacking on two assists and two rebounds. 

In what could’ve ended with back-to-back Sun Belt titles, the Red Wolves fell to the same mistakes in the SBC tournament as they did in the regular season, dashing their hopes of another March Madness visit and bringing their year to a close.

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