Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

All that kept All-American Elena Delle Donne from outscoring UALR on Sunday was that she sat on the bench for the last nine minutes as third seed Delaware ran away from the 14th-seeded Trojans 73-42 Sunday in the NCAA Women's Tournament first round at the Jack Stephens Center. Delle Donne, a 6-foot-5 swing player, scored 39 points in 30 minutes, and when she exited for good with 9:12 to play, the Blue Hens were already cruising with 58-30 lead.

Delaware advanced to play Kansas, a 57-49 winner over sixth-seed Nebraska in Sunday's second game. The 11th-seeded Jayhawks and the Blue Hens tip off at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the second-round matchup at the Jack Stephens Center.

WHY UALR LOST: No one in Delaware's 31-1 season has had an answer for the 6-5 Elena Delle Donne, but UALR also failed to match Delaware offensively. Taylor Gault, the Sun Belt Conference freshman of the year and first-team all-conference guard, suffered through a miserable 3-for-19 shooting day and scored 7 points, more than 9 below her average. Senior post Marian Kursh, 6-0, gave UALR an early spark with her physical presence inside and scored 4 of UALR's first 6 points asthe teams hit the first media timeout with the Trojans up 6-4. That break woke up Delaware, which ran off the next 13 points to take command. Kursh was the only UALR player in double figures for the game with 12, and Gault was next in line with 7. UALR shot 32 percent (8 of 25) in the first half and 30.8 percent (16 of 52) for the game. Six missed free throws and seven turnovers also hurt in the first 20 minutes, and the mistakes kept mounting in the second half as UALR finished with 19 turnovers. UALR point guard Taylor Ford, who seemed worn out late in the game, all but handed the ball to a Blue Hens defender on successive possessions and had 6 turnovers for the game.

CONVINCING PERFORMANCE
The ESPN2 viewers and the 3,500 fans on hand had to be impressed with Delaware's do-it-all Elena Delle Donne. She hit 14 of 27 field goals and was even better on three-pointers, hitting 5 of 8. Typically a 90-percent free throw shooter, she was 6 of 7 at the line (she missed a chance to hit 40 points for the fifth time this season), and Delle Donne also finished with 11 rebounds, 10 on defense. About all she did wrong was fail to remember her great-uncle's name in the media interview room after meeting him for the first time Sunday at the team hotel, the Peabody Little Rock. David Sixbey is from Flippi, and attended the game to see his great-niece for the first time. She was great, indeed.

Fran Fraschilla, a former coach and the color analyst for ESPN2 alongside Holly Rowe, said later Sunday night that Delle Donne was the Larry Bird of the women's game.

UALR tried to guard Delle Donne with their posts, first Britteni Williams and then Marian Kursh, since Delle Donne typically starts a game setting up in the post. She simply adjusted and took the post defender outside.

"When we see that matchup, we automatically know which plays we're going to run," said Delle Donne, who was making her first appearance in an NCAA Tournament. Delle Donne originally signed with UConn out of high school but spent less than a week at the powerhouse before quitting college for a year, then enrolling in Delaware.

TWITTER TRENDER
Sean Saunders, a Hot Springs reporter, noted to Elena Delle Donne that during the game, she was a trending topic on Twitter. She was asked if she thought she did a good job introducing herself to the nation with Sunday's performance, shown on ESPN2.

"I think we did a good job of introducing ourselves to the country, not just myself but this team," she said. "This team hasn't really been seen nationally and I'm really glad we finally were. More than anything I think our defense was incredible tonight, and is why our offense was flowing so well. So, it's pretty cool about Twitter and everything, but I'm more excited that our whole team is talked about nationally."

WHERE WAS GAULT?
Delaware played UALR freshman Taylor Gault from Conway man-to-man mostly with Lauren Carra (pronounced car-RAH) on her. Gault hit her second shot, a jumper in the lane, and then could barely buy another two baskets the rest of the day. She spent a considerable amount of time on the bench in the second half when the game had gone south for UALR. The Trojans trailed 32-22, at the break, then Delle Donne took over and the Delaware lead quickly grew to 39-22.

"I think Taylor got a little freshman nervousness out there," UALR Coach Joe Foley said. "She didn't hit some shots early and I think she got frustrated. It was a tough night for her, but it was a good experience for her."

Carra said of her defensive effort: "She's a great jump shooter. She's going to be a great player. She's only a freshmen, but we were mainly going man, staying in front of her, forcing her to go to her right. She likes to go left and shoot a pull-up. We forced her more to her right and contested the shot the best we could."