Tulsa's Offense Puts Up 74 in Win Over Little Rock

LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock women's basketball team made a fourth-quarter run, but it wasn't enough as Tulsa defeated the Trojans 74-63 at the Jack Stephens Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
Little Rock (2-5) trailed by as many as 19 during the third quarter but managed to cut the lead to just 6 points early in the fourth. But the offense for Tulsa (3-7) continued excel like it had all afternoon, and the Trojans could not make up the deficit.
 
The Golden Hurricane shot 51 percent from the field on the afternoon including a 55.6 percent showing in the first half. The Trojans, meanwhile, were 35 percent from the floor in the first half before getting hot in the second half and draining 64 percent of their second-half atetmpts. The team finished the game shooting 51 percent overall, but Tulsa had six more makes in its 51 percent game.
 
Alexius Dawn was Little Rock's leading scorer in the game, putting home 16 points including two 3-pointers. She was joined by Shanity James (13 points), Sharde Collins (13) and Keanna Keys (10) in double-figure scoring, making Sunday's game the first time all year that Little Rock had four double-figure scorers in a game.
 
Keys led the Trojans with seven rebounds including her 100th career defensive rebound. Monique Townson and Dawn tied for the team lead with four assists, and freshman Amber Landing had two blocks.
 
Tulsa became the first team to score 70 or more points on Little Rock this year, and in the process the Hurricane snapped a six-game losing streak to the Trojans.
 
Trailing by 14 points entering the fourth quarter, Little Rock showed signs of life as it went on an 8-0 run over the first two minutes of the period to cut Tulsa's lead to 58-52. Shanity James had two layups and a free throw during that span, and Dawn added a 3-pointer.
 
Little Rock remained within 6 points at 60-54 after a Collins layup, but Memphis brought its lead back up to double digits with the next two baskets and never led by fewer than 7 again.
 
The Trojans got off to a very slow start, and Tulsa was on fire from the field. The Golden Hurricane made six of its first seven field goal attempts and scored the first 7 points of the game. Tulsa held a 14-4 lead at the first media timeout as Little Rock made only two of its first eight shots and posted five turnovers in six minutes.
 
Tulsa cooled off in the second part of the quarter, making just one more field goal. But Little Rock equaled that, connecting on just one attempt to go into the second quarter trailing 17-9. Both teams had eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes.
 
Little Rock began to cut into the Tulsa lead at the start of the second quarter, scoring the first 4 points and eventually bringing its deficit down to just 3 points with a James layup with 6:19 showing on the clock. But from there, the Golden Hurricane took over the quarter, scoring 17 points in the final six minutes to inflate their lead to double digits. A 3-pointer by Erika Wakefield at the buzzer made it a 38-23 advantage for the visitors at the break.
 
In the third quarter, Tulsa continued to pour in the baskets, scoring 11 points in the first five minutes. But the Trojans also showed signs of life as Collins scored 8 quick points including the team's first 3-pointer of the game. Dawn got one to go from long range right after that, and the Trojans' deficit was 49-35 midway through the quarter.
 
That deficit stayed the same over the last part of the third. Despite the Trojans putting 9 more points on the board, the Golden Hurricane equaled that number and went into the final quarter leading 58-44.
 
Little Rock has another full week off between games after playing Tulsa, as the Trojans are set to take on Missouri State on Dec. 20 at 3 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader with the undefeated Little Rock men, as the men will take on Northern Arizona at 1 p.m.