Little Rock Uses Dominant Second Quarter on Way to Win

LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock had a dominating second quarter against Appalachian State on Thursday evening, riding that to a 67-50 over the Mountaineers at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
The Trojans (5-9, 3-2 Sun Belt Conference) outscored their opponent 23-8 in the second quarter, getting points on the fast break and keeping Appalachian State (5-9, 2-3) out of a comfortable offensive rhythm. Other than the second quarter, Little Rock held just a 44-42 edge on the scoreboard.
 
The 17-point margin of victory was Little Rock's largest of the season.
 
Kaitlyn Pratt led the Trojans in scoring with 16 points, and she nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds. Senior Shanity James also just missed a double-double, putting up 10 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Monique Townson was the other Trojan in double-figure scoring, coming through for 12 points.
 
Little Rock is now on a two-game winning streak in league play and is above .500 in the conference standings after slipping to 1-2 earlier in the year. The Trojans have a rare Saturday off this week before heading to Jonesboro for their rivalry game at Arkansas State on Monday.
 
The Trojans prepared for Monday's game well on Thursday on defense, holding the Mountaineers to just 34 percent shooting all night and forcing them into 23 turnovers. Those turnovers became 21 Trojan points.
 
Little Rock also noticeably improved on its passing and post play, picking up 15 assists. Alexius Dawn, who scored 9 points, added a season-best seven assists. Two other Trojans – James and Sharde' Collins added three assists each. Little Rock used multiple fast breaks in the second quarter to gain the edge for good, and the Trojans finished the night with 14 fast-break points to Appalachian State's 2.
 
The win was Little Rock's third straight win against the Mountaineers and the 705th of Joe Foley's career.
 
The Mountaineers started with the first basket of the night, but Little Rock immediately went on a 5-0 run thanks to a banked-in 3-pointer by Dawn and a steal-and-score layup by James to make it a 5-2 lead. Freshman Kira Shepard added a 3-pointer after that, and a Pratt transition layup gave Little Rock a 10-6 edge at the first media timeout.
 
The Little Rock offense got ice cold after that, finishing the quarter hitting just one of its final 13 field goal attempts. But 4 points from the free-throw line and a stout defense helped the Trojans to a 16-10 lead after the first 10 minutes.
 
The Trojans took over completely in the second quarter, ballooning their lead to 21 points at the halftime break thanks to inside scoring, fast-break layups and terrific passing. Little Rock went on a 12-0 run at one point during the middle of the quarter and forced two Appalachian State timeouts. Dawn, James and Collins al l had at least three assists in the first half, and Pratt ended the half with a team-high 12 points.
 
The Mountaineers, meanwhile, could not find their shooting touch and made just seven of 30 field-goal attempts in the first half. Little Rock had five steals, and 11 App State turnovers led to 9 Trojan points. Little Rock's lead at halftime at 39-18, and the Trojans led by as many as 24 at one point.
 
The third quarter saw the Mountaineers outscore the Trojans by a 17-13 margin, but Little Rock still maintained a 17-point lead heading into the final quarter. Little Rock shot just 25 percent in the quarter while the Mountaineers shot 38.5 percent.
 
In the fourth, the Mountaineers made things briefly interesting when they got the Trojan lead down to just 14 points with 5:40 to go. But back-to-back 3-pointers from Deja McKinney and Collins ended that hope for the visiting team. That 3-pointer brought Collins over 500 points in her Trojan career.
 
Pratt picked up two blocks in the game while Townson and McKinney had one apiece. James, Shepard and Collins all had two steals.
 
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.