LSU Surges Late for Win Against Little Rock

LITTLE ROCK – A double-digit lead with six minutes to play evaporated for the Little Rock women's basketball team on Wednesday night, and visiting LSU came back for a victory at the Jack Stephens Center.

The Tigers used a 20-6 run in the fourth quarter to erase the Trojans' 10-point advantage, and LSU eventually claimed a 57-51 win over Little Rock.
 
Little Rock (0-2) got a game-high 13 points from Shanity James, and Monique Townson had a new career high with 12 points. Sharde' Collins also scored 11, going 3 of 3 from downtown. But LSU (2-1) was led by Jenna Deemer's 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range as her Tigers outscored the Trojans 23-11 in the fourth quarter.
 
James also topped the team with six rebounds while Kaitlyn Pratt and Townson had four each. Townson was the team's top passer, picking up four assists.
 
Little Rock was six minutes away from its third consecutive win against Southeastern Conference opponents while LSU picked up the pace and started forcing Little Rock turnovers and fouls.

With the Trojans leading 44-34 with 6:36 left in the game, LSU scored five straight points on two free throws and a Deemer 3-pointer. A Townson jumper stopped the small run and brought Little Rock's lead back up to 7 points at 46-39 with 5:27 to play. Those would be the Trojans' last points for nearly three full minutes. In that span, LSU scored seven straight points to tie the contest at 46-46 and forced four Trojan turnovers.
 
Little Rock briefly regained the lead at 48-46 on a James layup with 2:50 to play, But LSU then rattled off 8 consecutive points to take the lead for good. The Trojans had a chance to tie the game with 19 seconds on the clock, but a wide open 3-pointer by fresh-off-the-bench Raeyana DeGray went wide. LSU hit a free throw on its next possession to ice the game.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Trojans coughed up the ball nine times and LSU scored 13 points off those turnovers.
 
Things looked much brighter earlier in the night as the teams stayed very close throughout.
 
The Trojans came out on fire, earning a 10-2 lead over the Tigers with 3:30 remaining in the quarter. But the Tigers recovered quickly, putting together a 9-0 run in a span of 85 seconds that forced a timeout by Little Rock and gave the Tigers an 11-10 lead. They went into the break leading 14-10 as Jenna Deemer hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter, the last one from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer.
 
The second quarter began favorably for the Trojans as James made two layups and Pratt hit a jumper in the first two minutes to tie the game at 16-16. Neither team scored again until after the media timeout three minutes later when LSU took a small lead on a free throw.
 
Collins got the lead right back for Little Rock with back-to-back 3-pointers, causing the Tigers to take a timeout with the home crowd getting on its feet. The defense held strong for the rest of the quarter, and the Trojans went into halftime ahead 24-20. Collins had 11 points at halftime to lead all players.
 
The third quarter was fairly even, with the Trojans scoring early, LSU controlling the middle and Little Rock scoring some at the end. Little Rock extended its lead by 2 points during the quarter and heading into the final frame ahead 40-34. James scored 7 consecutive points for the Trojans during the quarter, and she and Townson reached double-figure scoring on the night in the third.
 
Little Rock would score the first four points of the fourth quarter before the Tigers shifted the momentum and won by six.
 
The final score of 57-51 was just one point away from the score of the teams' 2013 game at the Jack Stephens Center. LSU won that contest 58-51 before Little Rock defeated the Tigers by 16 in Baton Rouge last year.
 
During Wednesday's game, Keanna Keys scored her 250th career point, and Alexius Dawn brought down her 100th career rebound.
 
Newcomer Kira Shepard played 16 minutes and scored four points and added three rebounds. Ronjanae DeGray saw five minutes of action, pulling down one rebound and blocking one shot. Freshman Deja McKinney played her first career minute in the final minute of the game, picking up one block.
 
The Trojans have this weekend off before traveling to Tulsa early next week. Little Rock is set to play Oral Roberts on Tuesday at 7 p.m.