Arkansas State women’s basketball win Sun Belt Championship
The Arkansas State Red Wolves now punch their ticket to the program’s first NCAA Tournament.
PENSACOLA, Fla. — At first, no one outside of Jonesboro believed.
The Arkansas State women were picked to finish second to last place in the Sun Belt preseason poll.
Head coach Destinee Rogers and her squad put together a special season, finishing second overall in the conference, earning the #2 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament.
They handled Troy with ease in the semifinal game, setting up a championship game showdown with James Madison (JMU), a spot in the NCAA Tournament on the line.
After building an early lead, disaster struck in the second quarter for A-State. JMU put together a 17-3 run to take a 15-point lead. The ever-resilient Red Wolves managed to get the deficit to just 8 points going into halftime.
In the second half, the Red Wolf run continued, and with six minutes to pay in the fourth quarter, the game was tied. Arkansas State had a shot to win with six seconds left, but it was blocked, and the teams headed to overtime.
In the extra period, the Red Wolves scored first and never looked back, leading for all of overtime. When the final buzzer sounded, it was an 86-79 Arkansas State victory, giving the program its first-ever Sun Belt Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The selection show will air on ESPN on Sunday, March 16th at 7:00 p.m. central where Arkansas State will learn their tournament seed and first-round matchup.