Trojans Welcome App State for Thursday Showdown

GM 14 >> Little Rock (4-9, 2-2 SBC) vs. Appalachian State (5-8, 2-2 SBC)
Thursday, Jan. 14 • 5:15 p.m. (CST)
Little Rock, Ark. • Jack Stephens Center
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes
Radio: Trey Schaap (PxP) and Ron Jumper (Color) on 920 AM
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Trojan women's basketball team is coming off its second Sun Belt Conference victory and will be seeking a third when Appalachian State comes to the Jack Stephens Center on Thursday. Fans in attendance for the 5:15 p.m. tipoff are encourage to wear white to the game.
 
THURSDAY PROMOTIONS
Thursday's game will feature a White Out, where all Trojan fans in attendance are encourage to wear white clothing to the game. The first 250 fans in attendance will be given a free white Trojan T-shirt. Fans can purchase white T-shirts for just $8 at the Nike Team Store at the game.
 
Fans in attendance will also have a chance to take a half-court shot to win a year's supply of gas from Valero.
 
TIP OFF

• Little Rock had another tremendous scoring night from Alexius Dawn against ULM on Saturday, as the senior put up a team-high 23 points one game after scoring a career-best 25.
• Shanity James scored 7 points against ULM to move up to ninth all-time in program history in points. She also took over first place all-time at Little Rock on the free throws attempted list.
• Little Rock forced 26 ULM turnovers, tying a season high for a Trojan opponent.
• Shanity James is fifth in the Sun Belt with a .508 shooting percentage, and the team is fifth in the league with a .409 shooting percentage. That percentage puts James 68th in the nation in that category.
• Little Rock last started a season at 4-9 in 2011-12. The Trojans made the NCAA Tournament that season.
• The Trojans won both meetings against Appalachian State last year. Those were the teams' first two meetings ever. The teams enter Thursday's game tied for sixth in the league standings.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
Little Rock earned its second conference victory against ULM on Saturday thanks to a strong defensive night and another big offensive performance from Alexius Dawn. The Trojans held ULM to just 6 points in the first quarter, and the Warhawks never caught back up as Little Rock took the game 56-44. Alexius Dawn scored 23 points, Sharde' Collins had 14 and Shanity James had 10 in the win as Little Rock forced 26 turnovers by ULM. The team is currently tied for sixth in the Sun Belt standings with Appalachian State.
 
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 APPALACHIAN STATE

• The Mountaineers, based in Boone, N.C., have a 5-8 record on the year and are 2-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. The Mountaineers' league wins have come against ULM and Texas State while their losses came to ULM and UT Arlington.
• In non-conference play, Appalachian State defeated ETSU, Richard and Furman while suffering losses against Liberty, Alabama, South Dakota, Delaware State, College of Charleston and North Carolina.
• The Mountaineers have three players averaging double-figure points per game: Joi Jones (10.6), Madi Story (10.4) and Kalia Craven (10.2). KeKe Cooper (7.7) leads App State in rebounds per game and is fourth in the Sun Belt, and Mia Marshall (7.2) not too far behind.
• The Mountaineers are one of the nation's better rebounding teams, pulling down 43.1 rebounds per game to put them in 37th in that category.
• App State has the fifth-best scoring offense (64.8 ppg) in the Sun Belt and its second-best rebounding margin (+4.1).
• Angel Elderkin is in her second year leading the Mountaineers and has a 19-24 record with the team and as a college head coach overall.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE
Little Rock and Appalachian State's rivalry is a brand new one, as the Trojans and Mountaineers had never played before last season. Little Rock won both of those meetings by scores of 69-48 at home and 63-49 on the road. A win on Thursday would be the Trojans' third straight against the Mountaineers.
 
A WIN AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE WOULD…
…be the team's third straight win against the Mountaineers…be Little Rock's second consecutive win over…bring the Trojans above .500 in league play…be Joe Foley's 705th career win.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE SUN BELT
In the last nine years, Little Rock has done a tremendous job in its conference games, claiming at least 12 victories in each of those years. The Trojans have not finished below .500 in the Sun Belt since the 2005-06 season, Joe Foley's third year. Little Rock also won the West Division Championship for six consecutive seasons when the league still had divisions. Over the last 10 seasons including 2015-16, the Trojans hold a record of 131-35 in the league and have claimed the outright regular-season championship once and the tournament championship three times.
 
JAMES MOVES UP
With 7 points scored against ULM on Saturday, senior forward Shanity James moved up to 1,057 points in her career. That number surpassed Donna Thorton's 1,056 career points and now put James ninth all-time in Trojan history in that category. By the end of the season, James has a realistic chance to go as high as fifth in team history if she averages 13.3 points per game over a possible 17 more games.
 
JAMES REACHES THE TOP
While she was in the process of moving up to ninth on the all-time Little Rock scoring list, James reached the pinnacle of another Trojan record. She attempted seven free throws in Saturday's game against ULM, and with her seventh free throw became the Trojan with the most free throw attempts in her career. James now sits on top of the Little Rock record book with 461 attempted free throws, and her career average would put that number around 530 before her senior season is done. She surpassed Taylor Gault's 460.
 
EXACTLY EVEN REBOUNDING
Kaitlyn Pratt has been Little Rock's second-best rebounder this season and one of the team's top three rebounds since arriving in Little Rock in 2013. Pratt now has 330 career rebounds, and her remarkable consistency on the offensive and defensive glass has allowed her to split those 330 right down the middle. Pratt has 165 offensive and 165 defensive rebounds in her career. She is currently 15th in the league with 5.6 rebounds per game and third in the conference with 2.8 offensive rebounds per game.
 
DEFENSE STEPS UP
Little Rock managed to score only 56 points on offense against ULM on Saturday, but the Trojans' defense was more than capable of holding the Warhawks' offense to fewer points than that. ULM finished the game with just 44 points. The Warhawks shot only 10 free throws, the smallest number for a Trojan opponent this year. They also had just five assists all game and a season-high 26 turnovers. All of that combined led to a 44-point game and a shining defensive evening by Little Rock.
 
DAWN GETTING HOT
Alexius Dawn set a new season high on Saturday with four made 3-pointers, and she had those four makes on 10 attempts. Dawn now has 100 made 3-pointers in her Trojan career. More importantly, her scoring is becoming much more consistent in the last month. She began the year with just two double-figure scoring games in the first five. But in the last eight games, Dawn has scored in double figures six times and eclipsed 18 points per game in five of those six games. She set a new career high with 25 points against Louisiana on Jan. 7 and scored 23 on Saturday evening.
 
McKINNEY MOST MINUTES
One game after hitting her first career 3-pointer, freshman Deja McKinney got even more playing time against ULM on Saturday. McKinney played in a career-high 18 minutes, coming off the bench often to provide scoring potential from the perimeter. McKinney grabbed one rebound, had two steals and also picked up an assist with her 18 minutes. She had played just 17 total minutes in seven previous games before doubling that on Saturday.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against ULM:

• Shanity James moved to ninth all-time in Trojan history in scoring and first all-time in career free throws.
• Alexius Dawn made her 100th career 3-pointer and scored her 500th point.

Coming soon:

• Shanity James five more steals for 100.
• Alexius Dawn will reach 100 career 3-pointers with four more and 500 points with 11 more.
• Sharde' Collins will score her 300th point with 5 more.

 
UP NEXT
The Trojans' big rivalry game takes place early next week, as the team takes on Arkansas State at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro. Little Rock and the Red Wolves are set for a 5:05 p.m. tipoff.