Trojans Head on the Road to Battle No. 21 Sooners

GM 5 >> Little Rock (2-2) at Oklahoma (5-1)
Wednesday, December 2 • 7 p.m. (CST)
Norman, Okla. • Lloyd Noble Center
Live Stats | Game Notes
Radio: Trey Schaap (PxP) on 920 AM
Television: Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports Southwest+
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Trojan women's basketball team is sporting a two-game winning streak heading into Wednesday's game against its toughest opponent yet: No. 21 Oklahoma. Little Rock and the Sooners are set for a 7 p.m. tipoff in a game televised on Fox Sports Oklahoma and Fox Sports Southwest+.
 
TIP OFF

• For the second straight game, the Trojans used a dominant third-quarter run to take control and claim a victory. Friday night saw the team go on an 11-0 run in the third quarter and eventually defeat Memphis by 8.
• Shanity James is on the scoring roll of her life, scoring 24 points on Tuesday at Oral Roberts and following that with a 22-point showing against Memphis.
• James is the second-leading scorer in the Sun Belt, averaging 18.3 points per game.
• Alexius Dawn got her 3-point stroke going against the Tigers, sinking three 3-pointers and finishing with a season-high 12 points.
• Little Rock has been very strong in the third quarter this season, outscoring its opponents by a combined 71-50. That is the only quarter where the Trojan have an advantage this year.
• Oklahoma will be looking for revenge on Wednesday as the Trojans defeated the Sooners 66-62 in Little Rock last year. Last season's win was Little Rock's first ever against Oklahoma.
   

ABOUT THE TROJANS
Little Rock earned its second straight victory on Friday night, defeating Memphis by a 61-53 tally after an 11-0 third-quarter run sparked the Trojans. Little Rock went from trailing by 4 points to leading by 7, and the team held on in the fourth quarter for the win. Shanity James nearly got her second straight double-double with 22 points and 8 rebounds, and the Trojans forced 19 Tiger turnovers that resulted in 20 points.
The Trojans are riding a huge wave of success over the last decade, making the national postseason for seven of the last eight seasons including four NCAA Tournament berths and three WNIT trips. Little Rock was picked third in the Sun Belt's preseason coaches poll and received two first-place votes.
 
ABOUT OKLAHOMA

• The Sooners, based in Norman, Okla., hold a 5-1 record this season and are coming off a tournament victory at the Junkanoo Jam in Freeport, Bahamas, last week. They knocked off Utah and Boston College for the tournament title.
• Besides the Junkanoo Jam, Oklahoma has also claimed victories over Winthrop, BYU and Bradley this year. The Sooners' lone loss came at home against North Texas.
• Oklahoma is ranked No. 21 in this week's AP Poll, and the Sooners have an edge in every team statistical category against the Trojans.
• Oklahoma's offense is led by Peyton Little and her 15.8 points per game, but the Sooners are also getting double-digit scoring from Kaylon Williams at 12.3 points per game. Williams is the team's leading rebounder with 7.0 boards per game.
• Three different Sooners players are passing the ball extremely well with over 20 assists on the year. Little has 20 while T'ona Edwards leads the team with 24 assists and Maddie Manning has 21.
• Sherri Coale is the Sooners' head coach for the 20th season, and she has a 425-207 record with the team.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST OKLAHOMA
The Trojans' lifelong season against Oklahoma is greatly slanted in favor of the Sooners. Oklahoma won the first four meetings between the teams dating back to 1988, but last year marked a huge victory for the Trojans at the Jack Stephens Center. Little Rock claimed a 66-62 win on its home court thanks to 16 points from Taylor Gault and 12 each from Sharde' Collins and Alexius Dawn. Little Rock shot 58 percent from the field in that game and sank 12 of its 13 free throws.
 
A WIN AGAINST MEMPHIS WOULD…
…be the team's second consecutive victory over the Sooners…be the team's third consecutive victory…mark Little Rock's fifth straight win in the state of Oklahoma…be Joe Foley's 703rd career win.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE BIG 12
The Trojans have played 15 contests against current Big 12 schools in their history, holding a 4-11 record in those games. Little Rock has two of those three wins against Oklahoma State, whom it holds a 2-3 record against. Little Rock is 1-1 all-time against Kansas State, 0-1 against Baylor, 1-4 against Oklahoma and 0-1 against Texas and Texas Tech. The Trojans have never faced Iowa State, Kansas, TCU or West Virginia.
 
JOE FOLEY VS. RANKED TEAMS
Since Joe Foley began coaching at Little Rock before the 2003-04 season, his teams have taken on 11 ranked opponents. In those previous nine games, the Trojans have a 3-8 record, with two victories coming in 2014-15. The Trojans defeated then-No. 24 LSU in the 2014-15 season opener back and topped No. 20/21 Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament's first round Oklahoma comes into Wednesday's game ranked No. 21 in the nation, and the Trojans' Sunday opponent, Texas, is No. 6.
 
ANATOMY OF A 11-0 RUN
One game after posting a 17-0 run that turned around the game against Oral Roberts, the Trojans had an equally impressive 11-0 run on Friday against Memphis. The run began after Memphis took a 36-32 lead with 4:12 left in the third quarter. From there, the Trojans got a Shanity James layup, a Sharde' Collins jumper, an Alexius Dawn 3-pointer, a Keanna Keys jumper and two free throws from Kira Shepard with 16 seconds left in the quarter.
 
Those 11 points were scored by five different players and turned the score from a 4-point deficit to a 7-point lead. Memphis turned the ball over two times in that span and missed five shots.
 
JAMES SCORING IMPRESSES
Senior Shanity James has had the greatest offensive performances of her career in back-to-back games. Following a career-high 24 points at Oral Roberts on Tuesday, James put up 22 points against Memphis on Friday. Before last week, James' career high in points was 20 way back in her freshman year against Rice. James' 18.3 points per game leads the Trojans, is the second-best scoring average in the Sun Belt and is 69th in the nation as of Monday morning.
 
PINPOINT SHOOTING
Shanity James' big shooting night on Friday came at a very high percentage of shooting from the field. In the first half, James went 7 of 9 from the floor, and her only two misses were desperation 3-pointers that came at the end of the first quarter and with the shot clock expiring in the second quarter. James did not miss a 2-point shot until the second half. She finished the game shooting 10 of 16 – tying her career record for made field goals – and shot an impressive 20 of 38 (.526) last week in games at Oral Roberts and against Memphis.
 
THIRD QUARTER CONTROL
Thanks largely to the team's 17-0 run against Oral Roberts and its 11-0 run against Memphis, the Trojans are outscoring opponents 71-50 in the third quarter this season. The third quarter is the only one where Little Rock has an advantage this year.
 
DAWN BACK ON TRACK
After a slow start to her year offensively, Alexius Dawn got back on track against Memphis by sinking three 3-pointers. The senior, who finished last season with an incredible 76 made 3-pointers, had just four made 3-pointers in the first three games of the year before Friday night. Dawn shot 3 of 8 from long range against Memphis and scored a season-high 12 points.
 
PLENTY OF HELP
Over the last two games, Little Rock has seen multiple players rack up assists to contribute to scoring. Against Memphis on Friday, Monique Townson and Sharde' Collins picked up five assists apiece while Shanity James threw in four. Three days earlier, Townson, Kira Shepard and Alexius Dawn all led the team with five assists. Five different Trojans have at least seven assists this year.
 
TOWNSON MAKING NOISE
A little-used guard off the bench last season, then-freshman Monique Townson played in 103 total minutes in her first year with the team. Through three games with Little Rock as a sophomore, Townson has already seen 111 minutes of action while starting in all three Little Rock games. With her increased role has come increased stats: Townson is averaging 7.5 points per game and is leading the team with 16 assists. She has also put up a .625 shooting percentage from downtown, tops in the Sun Belt as of Monday morning. Also as of Monday, Townson is in the top 10 in the conference in assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and minutes played.
 
SHEPARD TAKES FLIGHT
Kira Shepard was the only new player to the team to see action on Friday against Memphis, and she continues to be the team's go-to newcomer. She has 24.5 minutes played per game this year – 18 minutes more than the next-closest newcomer, Raeyana DeGray – and she has even earned two starts. She has one double-figure scoring game to her name and has averaged 5.5 points per game so far in her Trojan career.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Memphis:

• Shanity James moved up to sole possession of sixth all-time in Trojan history with her 73rd career block.
• Sharde' Collins picked her 50th assist.
• Monique Townson scored her 50th point.

Coming soon:

• Shanity James is two blocks away from fifth all-time in Trojan history and 27 points away from 1,000.
• Shanity James will be playing in her 100th career game on Wednesday.
• Keanna Keys needs three more defensive rebounds for 100.
• Sharde' Collins is 12 points shy of 200.
• Alexius Dawn needs two defensive rebounds for 100.

 
UP NEXT
The task does not get any easier for the Trojans on Sunday as they welcome No. 6 Texas to the Jack Stephens Center. Little Rock and the Longhorns are set for a 2 p.m. tipoff.