Women’s Basketball Falls At UAPB Despite 41-Point Night From Gray

PINE BLUFF, Ark. – The Micah Gray show continued as the freshman shooting guard put on a clinic by setting a school record with 41 points in an 89-71 loss at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday afternoon.

Gray’s 41 points were the sixth time this season that she has attained at least 20-plus points and gives her the five highest totals including 33 at UCF (Dec. 29, 22), 30 against Grambling State (Jan. 04, 23), 27 at Texas A&M (Nov. 20, 22), 26 at UTEP (Nov. 16, 22) and 24 at Stephen F. Austin (Nov. 13, 22).

The previous record was 35 and most recently scored on Jan. 8, 2022, by Andriana Avent against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Previously, Joyce Kennerson (Nov. 19, 2017, against Sam Houston State) and Jazzmin Parker (Nov. 19, 2013, against McNeese State) also recorded 35 points in a single outing. Gray was 15-for-28 from the field, 7-for-13 from long range and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. She also added two rebounds and two steals to her performance as well.

UAPB (3-10, 1-2 SWAC) attempted put the game away midway through the second quarter by taking a 36-22 lead with 5:34 left before the halftime break, but the Tigers (0-14, 0-3 SWAC) clawed their way back to within 38-31 with 2:27 left in the quarter.

The production by both teams stalled out and remained at 38-31 going into the locker room.

Unfortunately, it was the Lady Lions that were able to regain the momentum at the beginning of the third quarter with a 9-0 run for a 47-31 lead within the first 2:11 of the stanza. The third quarter deficit would eventually balloon up to 61-41 on the final basket of the period,

Down 75-54 midway through the fourth quarter, Gray attempted to mount a comeback of her own by scoring all eight points in an 8-0 run that spanned just 33 seconds on clock time, but the Lady Lions would answer with an 8-0 run of their own. TSU then went on one final push to get to within 12 points at 83-71 thanks to a jumper by Zyan Reynolds and the final seven points for Gray to give her the single-game school record in the last 12 seasons before UAPB closed things out with six consecutive points all from the charity stripe.

TSU did have one of its best outings in the assist category using the extra pass to find open players to finish the play. Taniya Lawson (seven) and Kamryn Bates (six) combined for 13 of the team’s 16 assists.

When the Tigers finally break through and collect their first win, the rest of the team outside of Gray will need to put together a better shooting performance than they did today. Outside of Gray, the rest of the team was just 11-for-44 from the field, 1-for-20 from beyond the arc and 7-for-11 from the free throw line.
 
UP NEXT
The Tigers will make the nearly two-and-a-half-hour trip from Pine Bluff, Ark., down to Itta Bena, Miss., to take on Mississippi Valley State University on Monday, Jan. 9 at 5:30 p.m. CST. Fans can either tune into KTSU 90.9 FM to listen to the live radio broadcast or to the MVSU Athletics YouTube account at ValleyStateSportsNetwork.