Bears Come from Behind for Win Over Trojans

LITTLE ROCK – Missouri State used a 14-8 run over the final four minutes of the game to claim a 64-58 victory over Little Rock women's basketball at the Jack Stephens Center on Sunday evening.
 
Little Rock (2-6) led by 7 points entering the fourth quarter and by 4 points with under five minutes to go before the Missouri State (7-5) rallied for the comeback win.
 
Leading 54-50 with 4:32 to play, the Trojans stopped scoring. Missouri State went on a 6-0 run to take a 56-54 lead and never trailed again. Two Aubrey Buckley layups and a Tyonna Snow layup gave the Bears that lead, and they extended it to 5 points at 60-55 with 40 seconds to go on two free throws by Kenzie Williams.
 
An Alexius Dawn 3-pointer went down with 30 seconds to play, briefly giving Little Rock hope. But Snow and Liza Fruendt hit all four of their free throws in the final 25 seconds to preserve the victory for the visitors.
 
Dawn led all Little Rock players with 19 points – a season high – on 8 of 14 shooting from the field. She was also 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. No other Trojan scored in double figures, though Kaitlyn Pratt and Sharde' Collins had 9 points apiece.
 
Pratt led the Trojans in rebounds with six, and freshman Kira Shepard had five assists to top the team.
 
Despite the loss, the team had a decent shooting night, going 22 of 49 from the field for a 44.9 percent effort. The Trojans held Missouri State to just 36.2 percent shooting, but the Bears had 17 made free throws to Little Rock's eight.
 
The first half began in Little Rock's favor, as Collins nailed a jumper on the first possession, Keys sank a layup and Dawn followed with a jumper and 3-pointer to put the team ahead 9-4 early.
 
The Trojans maintained their lead throughout most of the second half mostly thanks to a stingy defense that kept the Bears off the board. With five minutes left in the half, Little Rock was ahead by 7 points at 21-14, forcing Missouri State into a field goal percentage of just 18.2 percent. The Trojans also spread the ball around on offense, as four different players had at least 4 points at the quarter's media stoppage.
 
But by the halftime break, Missouri State had taken its first lead of the evening. The Bears used a 10-2 run over the last five minutes of the half, getting 4 points at the free-throw line and holding Little Rock to just 2 in that span. Dawn led all Trojans with 7 points at halftime.
 
The Trojans regained that lead early in the third quarter, evening the game at 28-28 on an and-1 play by Ronjanae DeGray and then taking the lead at 29-28 on a DeGray free throw. The lead increased to 5 points at 40-35 on a Shepard fast-break layup with two minutes left in the half and then 7 when Pratt hit two free throws right afterward.
 
That's where Little Rock's lead would stay entering the final quarter, as the team was up 44-37 on the Bears with 10 minutes to play. Dawn had 6 points in the quarter to bring her total to 13 at that point.
 
The Trojans' lead nearly vanished early in the fourth quarter. Missouri State and Little Rock traded 3-pointers to begin the period before 5 straight Bears points made it a 47-45 edge for the Trojans. The teams then went back and forth in the next minute, and the Trojans' lead was 52-50 before a Ronjanae DeGray layup made it 54-50 with 4:30 to play.
 
DeGray got her first points since the season opener at Tulane, putting in 6 on the night. Freshman Deja McKinney scored her first career points with a basket in the first half, and classmate Amber Landing had her fourth block of the year in just 21 total minutes.

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.