Trojans to Seek Second Straight Win vs. Bears Sunday

GM 8 >> Little Rock (2-5) vs. Missouri State (6-5)
Sunday, December 20 • 3 p.m. (CST)
Little Rock, Ark. • Jack Stephens Center
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Radio: Trey Schaap (PxP) and Ron Jumper (Color) on 920 AM
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock women's basketball team will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak on Sunday when Missouri State comes to the Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans and the Bears are set for a 3 p.m. tipoff following the men's basketball game between
 
SUNDAY PROMOTIONS
Trojan fans will have plenty of opportunities for discounted tickets at Sunday's doubleheader. Any fan bringing in a new toy will get a free ticket with the purchase of another ticket. That offer is valid for all locations in the building.
 
Also, all UALR faculty and staff will get into Sunday's games for free, and anyone joining those staff members can get $5 tickets.
 
Finally, Little Rock-branded earmuffs will be given away free to the first 250 fans. The earmuff giveaway starts before the men's game at 1 p.m.
 
TIP OFF

• Little Rock fell behind early against Tulsa on Sunday and was never able to regain the lead, falling by a 74-63 margin for the team's third straight loss.
• For the first time all year, the Trojans had four double-digit scorers against Tulsa. Alexius Dawn (16) led the team while Sharde' Collins (13), Shanity James (13) and Keanna Keys (10) also reached double figures.
• Little Rock shot the lights out in the second half against the Golden Hurricane, sinking 16 of its 25 field goal attempts for a percent of .640. Little Rock finished the game shooting over 50 percent for the first time this season.
• Senior Shanity James has scored in double figures in every game this season including a career-high 24 points against Oral Roberts.
• Freshman Amber Landing has played just 12 total minutes this season, but she already has three blocks and is averaging 1.5 blocks per game.
• Missouri State has historically controlled the series against Little Rock and has a 10-2 lead, but the Trojans won at the Jack Stephens Center last year.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
In the Trojans' most recent game, Tulsa jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first few minutes and never looked back. The Trojans, trailing by 19 early in the third quarter, tried to mount multiple comebacks but fell short each time. The team got as close as 6 points in the fourth quarter, but Tulsa pulled away again for the victory. Four different Trojans – Alexius Dawn, Shanity James, Sharde' Collins and Keanna Keys – scored in double figures in the loss while the team shot over 50 percent for the first time all year.
 
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 MISSOURI STATE

• The Bears, based in Springfield, Mo., are 6-5 this season after losing by 16 points at Middle Tennessee on Thursday afternoon.
• Before that loss to MTSU, Missouri State had won four consecutive games against Marist, Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky and Oral Roberts.
• The Trojans and Bears have just one opponent in common this year: Oral Roberts. Little Rock defeated the Golden Eagles by 12, and Missouri State picked up an 8-point victory in that matchup.
• Tyonna Snow is Missouri State's leading scorer with 14.1 points per game this season. Kenzie Williams (12.9) and Liza Fruendt (11.5) are also in double figure scoring. The Bears' leading rebounder is Hillary Chvatal, and she scores 8.9 points per game.
• The Bears as a team are outscoring the opposition by 4.1 points per game, though they are being outrebounded by one rebound per game.
• Kellie Harper, a 1999 graduate of Tennessee, is Missouri State's head coach for the third season. Her teams have an all-time record of 205-166.

THE SERIES AGAINST MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State has a large advantage all-time against Little Rock, winning 10 of the teams' 12 meetings since they first faced off in 1986. Since the Trojans' return to women's basketball in 1999, the Bears have won seven of nine meetings. Little Rock's second-ever victory in the series came just last year, though. The Trojans held the Bears to just 48 points of offense and four Trojans had double-figure scoring in a 13-point Little Rock win at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
A WIN AGAINST MISSOURI STATE WOULD…
…be the team's second straight victory over the Bears…snap a three-game losing streak…be Joe Foley's 703rd career win.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE
The Missouri Valley Conference is not home to familiar opponents for the Trojans. Besides Missouri State, Little Rock has only played Bradley and Drake, holding a 2-0 record against the Braves and a 0-1 mark against the Bulldogs. Little Rock has never faced Evansville, Indiana State, Illinois State, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois or Wichita State.
 
FOUR REACH TEN
For the first time all year, the Trojans had four players reach double-figure scoring against Tulsa on Sunday. Little Rock was led by 16 points from senior guard Alexius Dawn. Fellow senior Shanity James had 13 points, as did junior guard Sharde' Collins. Junior forward Keanna Keys completed the double-figure scoring with 10 points of her own, a season high. The Trojans had not four players score in double figures since the Sun Belt Championship game in 2015 against Arkansas State.
 
DAWN SETS SEASON HIGH
Alexius Dawn got off to a slow start this season, putting up just 7 points in her first two games. But she has been putting up scoring numbers in the last few games, reaching at least 10 points in four of her last five appearances. The senior scored a team-high 16 on Sunday against Tulsa, making six of her eight field goal attempts including two of four from long range. Dawn's field goal percentage is up to .299 on the year from .192 after the first three games.
 
COLLINS SCORING IN DROVES
Much like Dawn, junior guard Sharde' Collins had a slow offensive start to her year, recording a combined 16 points in three games. But since the Trojans played Memphis on Nov. 27, Collins has reached double figures in four straight games. She had 10 points against Memphis, 13 against Oklahoma, 21 against Texas and 13 more against Tulsa on Sunday. Collins' career high in points was just 12 before this season began.
 
JAMES STILL DOUBLE FIGURES
The most impressive double-digit scoring streak on the roster still belongs to senior forward Shanity James. With her 13-point effort against Tulsa on Sunday, James continued her run of games this year reaching at least 12 points. Her lowest point total of the year came against Texas when she scored 12 points, but James has three 20-point games in 2015-16 and is leading the Trojans with 17.0 points per game. As of Wednesday morning, those 17.0 points per game are good for fourth in the Sun Belt and 94th in the nation.
 
LANDING BLOCKS
Despite not seeing her first action of the year until the Texas game on Dec. 6, and despite only playing in 12 minutes total in two games, freshman Amber Landing is tied for the Little Rock team lead in blocks for the year with three. Senior Shanity James, who has played 20 times as many minutes as Landing, also has three blocks. Landing is averaging four minutes per block while the rest of the roster is averaging 35 minutes per block.
 
MID MAJOR RANKINGS
Despite holding a 2-5 record, the Trojans are still receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll. Little Rock is ranked No. 20 this week and remains the only team in the rankings with a winning percentage at or below .500. In fact, the team in the poll with the smallest winning percentage besides the Trojans is Ohio at 5-3 (.600). This week's opponent, Missouri State, checks in at No. 23 with a record of 6-4. Arkansas State (11) and Louisiana (19) are the two other ranked Sun Belt schools in this week's poll.
 
SHUTOUT QUARTER
The Trojans may have had the best defensive quarter of any team in the nation on Dec. 6, shutting out No. 6 Texas completely in the third quarter. Little Rock posted an 11-0 edge in points during the third quarter as the Longhorns turned the ball over seven times and missed 10 field goal attempts. Little Rock even got a blocked shot by Shanity James during that stretch. The 11-0 third quarter helped the Trojans expand their 2-point halftime edge to 13 points at 48-35 entering the final quarter.
 
1000TH POINT
All that scoring James has been doing allowed her to reach a career milestone on Dec. 6. When she scored her sixth point of the day, that translated to the 1,000th point of her career. James is just the 10th Trojan to ever reach 1,000 career points as she sits 10th on the team's all-time scoring list now with 1,019. She will move up to ninth with 37 more points and could realistically go as high as sixth on the all-time list by the end of this season with 1,245 points. James accomplished this feat in her 101st career game.
 
HOT SHOOTER
Even more remarkable than James' point totals is her accuracy in accruing those points. James shot 60 percent against Oklahoma and Texas, combining for 15 made baskets on 25 shots. If you discount 3-pointers she took when she was forced to put them up at the end of shot clocks, James shot 65.2 percent those two games. This season, James' field goal percentage is .521, the best on the Little Rock roster.
 
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
Little Rock has had an incredible home-court advantage over the last two seasons, going 13-1 in 2013-14 and 2014-15 for a .929 winning percentage. The Trojans were also 9-0 at home in conference play in 2014-15, finishing their Sun Belt slate undefeated at home. The team has done this four times in its history now under Joe Foley, going 9-0 in 2007-08, 2009-10, 2013-14 and 2014-15. Overall at the Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock is 127-25, a winning percentage of .836. The Trojans last lost a home conference game in January 2013, a streak of 24 straight wins.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Tulsa:

• Keanna Keys pulled down her 100th defensive rebound.
• Shanity James moved up to fifth all-time in defensive rebounds with 395.

Coming soon:

• Shanity James is one block away from fifth all-time in Trojan history and five defensive rebounds shy of 400.
• Kaitlyn Pratt needs 10 more rebounds for her 300th.
• Sharde' Collins will reach 100 rebounds with seven more and 100 made field goals with four more.

 
UP NEXT
For the first time in three weeks, Little Rock will be heading on the road for its next game. The Trojans are set to take on a No. 18 Texas A&M squad in College Station, Texas, on Tuesday at 12 p.m.