Trojans to Take on #16 Texas A&M in NCAA Rematch

GM 9 >> Little Rock (2-6) at No. 16 Texas A&M (8-3)
Tuesday, December 22 • 12 p.m. (CST)
College Station, Texas. • Reed Arena
Live Stats | TV: SEC Network | Game Notes
Radio: Trey Schaap (PxP) on 920 AM
Television: SEC Network
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock women's basketball team will close its non-conference schedule with yet another challenging matchup on Tuesday, traveling to No. 16 Texas A&M for a noon tipoff. The Aggies will be Little Rock's third top-25 opponent it has played this year.
 
TIP OFF

• Little Rock held leads as large as 9 points on Sunday against Missouri State but could not hold onto it, letting the Bears come from behind for a 64-58 victory at the Jack Stephens Center.
• Alexius Dawn set a new season high with 19 points on Sunday, going 8 of 14 from the field and 3 of 6 from downtown. The senior's eight made field goals also tied her career high.
• Dawn has scored in double figures for three straight games and has double-figure scoring in five of the last six.
• Texas A&M will be the Trojans' third ranked opponent this year and fourth team from a major conference. Little Rock already played then-No. 21 Oklahoma and then-No. 6 Texas. The Trojans also took on LSU early in the year.
• Freshman Amber Landing has played just 21 total minutes in three games this season, but she already has four blocks and is averaging 1.3 blocks per game.
• The Trojans knocked off Texas A&M in their last meeting in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Little Rock, then a No. 11 seed, defeated the No. 6 seed Aggies.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
In the Trojans' most recent game, they led for 31 of the game's 40 minutes. But Missouri State came from behind late, pulling out a 66-58 win despite shooting 36 percent from the field. Little Rock got a season-high 19 points from Alexius Dawn as well as 9 points apiece from Kaitlyn Pratt and Sharde' Collins. Little Rock's blown lead was its fourth blown second-half lead this 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 TEXAS A&M

• The Aggies, based out of College Station, Texas, hold an 8-3 record on the year and are ranked No. 16 in the nation as of Monday's AP Poll. They are most recently coming off a win against Oklahoma by a 74-68 score.
• Texas A&M has defeated Sun Belt Conference team Texas State earlier in the year and also has wins against Southern, Duke, TCU, Cal, Hawaii and SMU. The Aggies' losses came against Ohio State, BYU and DePaul.
• Courtney Walker is the Aggies' leading scorer with 16 points per game, but Courtney Williams is right behind her with 15.7 points per game. No other Aggie is in double-digit scoring, but three others have at least 7.9 points per game. As a team, Texas A&M scores 76.1 points per game, ranking them 46th in the nation.
• Walker is also the Aggies' leading rebounder, pulling down 5.5 boards per game. Jordan Jones tops the team with 66 assists, and walker leads the way with 20 steals. Rachel Mitchell has 12 total blocks to lead all Texas A&M players in that category.
• Gary Blair is the Aggies' head coach, and he has been with the team for 12 years. He has a 703-285 record lifetime and a 295-122  mark with Texas A&M.

THE SERIES AGAINST TEXAS A&M
The Aggies have owned the lifetime series against Little Rock, claiming five of seven contests in the teams' history. Little Rock won the first meeting in 2001, defeating the Aggies 80-68 in Little Rock. After that, though, Texas A&M won five straight. But when the teams met in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the No. 11-seeded Trojans upset the No. 6-seeded Aggies in Tempe, Ariz., and came away with a 69-60 victory. Little Rock led for 32 minutes of that came and outscored the Aggies 42-32 in the second half.
 
A WIN AGAINST TEXAS A&M WOULD…
…be the team's second straight victory over the Aggies…be the team's first win over a ranked opponent since defeating Texas A&M in the 2015 NCAA Tournament…snap a four-game losing streak…be Joe Foley's 703rd career win.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
Despite being geographically close to many of the Southeastern Conference's 14 teams, Little Rock has only played four of them. The Trojans' have four victories in 23 games against SEC schools: Two against Texas A&M in 2001 and 2015, another against Ole Miss in 2008 and one in the season opener against then-No. 24 LSU in 2014. The Trojans are 1-5 against Texas A&M overall, 1-0 against Ole Miss, 1-2 against LSU, 0-7 against Mississippi State and 0-1 against Auburn.
 
JOE FOLEY VS. RANKED TEAMS
Since Joe Foley began coaching at Little Rock before the 2003-04 season, his teams have taken on 13 ranked opponents. In those previous 13 games, the Trojans have a 3-10 record, with two victories coming in 2014-15. The Trojans defeated then-No. 24 LSU in the 2014-15 season opener and topped No. 20/21 Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament's first round in 2015. Texas A&M comes into Tuesday's game ranked No. 16 in the nation.
 
DAWN GETTING HOT
Little Rock senior Alexius Dawn torched Missouri State for 19 points on Sunday, setting a new season high in that category. She tied her career high for made field goals in the process with eight and was 3 of 6 from downtown. Dawn has scored in double figures and set a new season high in three straight games, putting up 12 against Texas on Dec. 6, 16 against Tulsa on Dec. 13 and 19 against the Bears on Sunday.
 
CHALLENGING SCHEDULE ON TAP
The 2015-16 non-conference slate for Little Rock may be among the most challenging in the nation. After taking on Texas A&M on Tuesday, the Trojans will have played three top-25 teams and four teams from major conferences. Little Rock played LSU in its second game of the year and played then-No. 21 Oklahoma on the road as well as then-No. 6 Texas in Little Rock. Of the Trojans' nine non-conference opponents, five made the NCAA Tournament in 2014-15 while two more reached the Women's NIT. The nine opponents won 58 percent of their games last year.
 
LANDING BLOCKS
Despite not seeing her first action of the year until the Texas game on Dec. 6, and despite only playing in 21 minutes total in three games, freshman Amber Landing has sole possession of the team lead in blocks with four. Senior Shanity James, who has played 11 times as many minutes as Landing, is next closest with three blocks. Landing is averaging one block every five minutes.
 
NEWCOMER PLAYING TIME
Plenty of new Trojans saw increased playing time on Sunday against Missouri State, with Ronjanae DeGray setting new career highs in multiple categories. She played in 25 minutes and picked up 6 points and three rebounds, all career highs. Kira Shepard saw 24 minutes of action and scored 7 points while dishing out five assists, and Amber Landing played a career-best nine minutes while earning two rebounds and a block. Raeyana DeGray (five minutes) and Deja McKinney (9) played as well, with McKinney getting her first career points in the first half. Shepard has the most points per game of the newcomers, picking up 4.1 per game. Ronjanae DeGray is averaging 2.0 points per game.
 
MID MAJOR RANKINGS
Despite holding a 2-6 record, the Trojans are still receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25 poll. Little Rock is ranked No. 20 as of the Dec. 15 poll 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). Arkansas State (11) and Louisiana (19) are the two other ranked Sun Belt schools in this week's poll.
 
FOUR REACH TEN
For the first time all year, the Trojans had four players reach double-figure scoring against Tulsa on Dec. 13. 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.
 
COLLINS SCORING IN DROVES
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 of five games. She had 10 points against Memphis, 13 against Oklahoma, 21 against Texas and 13 more against Tulsa on Dec. 13. She also put in 9 against Missouri State on Sunday, just missing her fifth straight double-digit scoring game. Collins' career high in points was just 12 before this season began.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
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 four more rebounds for her 300th and 7 more points for 400.
• Sharde' Collins will reach 100 rebounds with three more and 100 made field goals with one more.
• Keanna Keys is six rebounds shy of 200.

 
UP NEXT
Little Rock has a season-long seven days off before its next game, as the Trojans do not return to action until Dec. 30 at South Alabama. The Trojans and Jaguars will play their game in Mobile, Ala., at 5 p.m.