Trojans Looking for Third Straight Win Saturday

GM 19 >> Little Rock (7-11, 5-4 SBC) vs. Georgia State (8-10, 3-6 SBC)
Saturday, Jan. 30 • 4 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
TV Commentary: Drew Fellios (PxP) and Steffi Sorensen (Color) on ESPN3
 
LITTLE ROCK – With a two-game winning streak active, the Little Rock women's basketball team will look to make it three in a row as Georgia State arrives at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday evening. The game is set to tip at 4 p.m. and can be watched live on ESPN3.
 
SATURDAY PROMOTIONS
Saturday's game is all about filling the Jack Stephens Center. We invite you to come out and help Little Rock's Team PACK THE JACK. Saturday is also Greek Night where members of fraternities and sororities will be recognized.

Giveaways for Saturday include the Sara Lee bread giveaway and the tech wallet giveaway. Sara Lee will be giving away 3,500 loaves of bread at the conclusion of the doubleheader, and Edward Jones financial advisor Tommy Howard will be giving away 250 tech wallets that attach to the back of your mobile phone at the start of the doubleheader.
 
Governor Asa Hutchinson will also be in attendance on Saturday and will present the Trojans with their Sun Belt Community Service Award.
 
TIP OFF

• Little Rock had its most dominant victory of the season on Thursday against Georgia Southern, claiming the win by a season-best 33 points. The Trojans trailed for the game's first five minutes before completely taking control.
• The Trojans outrebounded the Eagles by 20, the first time Little Rock has done that since December 2013.
• Three different Trojan players scored in double figures including Keanna Keys. Keys is 15 of 16 from the field in her career when playing against Georgia Southern at home.
• Little Rock is now in the top five in the Sun Belt in scoring defense, field goal percentage, rebounding margin and assists.
• The Trojans have used 12 different starting lineups this season and have given three different freshmen their first careers starts in the last three games.
• Little Rock enters Thursday's game in fourth place in the league standings while Georgia State is in eighth.
• The Trojans led the all-time series with the Panthers 4-1 and are on a four-game winning streak against Georgia State.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
Little Rock got off to a slow start on Thursday against Georgia Southern, trailing 8-4 after five minutes. From there, though, Little Rock closed the half on a 27-11 run and never looked back. Shanity James had a game-high 15 points, Little Rock outrebounded the Eagles 36-16 and Georgia Southern had 23 turnovers. The Trojans played their most complete game of the season on offense and defense and now sit in fourth in the Sun Belt standings nearing the second half of league play.
 
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 GEORGIA STATE

• The Panthers, based out of Atlanta, are 8-10 this season with a Sun Belt Conference record of 3-6. They have beaten Appalachian State, ULM and UT Arlington in league play.
• Most recently, Georgia State is coming off a 75-54 loss to league-leading Arkansas State. In non-league play, the Panthers defeated Kennesaw State, Howard, North Florida, Bethune-Cookman and Stetson.
• The Panthers will be without five total players when they come face the Trojans, and three of those five are usual starters. Leading scorer Makeba Ponder did not travel with the team to Arkansas.
• Instead of Ponder, Alaysia Mitchell is the team's leading scorer who will be with them, as she averages 9.6 points per game. Mitchell is also the team's leading rebounder with 6.1 boards per game.
• Georgia State ranks third in the Sun Belt in scoring offense, putting up 68.0 points per game. But they are ninth in scoring defense, allowing 71.2 points per game.
• Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener is in her sixth year leading the Panthers, and she has a 66-103 record with them in her career.

THE SERIES AGAINST GEORGIA STATE
Little Rock and Georgia State kicked off their rivalry just two seasons ago when the Panthers joined the Sun Belt. Georgia State won that first meeting in January 2014, but the Trojans have won four straight. When the teams last met, Little Rock defeated Georgia State 71-54 in the first round of the 2015 Sun Belt Tournament. Alexius Dawn hit six 3-pointers in that game as the Trojans would eventually roll to a Sun Belt title and an NCAA Tournament berth.
 
A WIN AGAINST GEORGIA STATE WOULD…
…be the team's fifth straight win against the Panthers…be the team's third straight win overall and fourth straight at the Jack Stephens Center…put the Trojans two games above  .500 in league play…be Joe Foley's 708th 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 134-37 in the league and have claimed the outright regular-season championship once and the tournament championship three times.
 
BIGGEST BLOWOUT
The Trojans' 69-36 victory over Georgia Southern on Thursday was the team's largest win of the season. Little Rock's previous biggest victory was a 17-point win against Appalachian State earlier in January. The 33-point win is the team's largest since defeating Texas State by 43 in the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
 
DEFENSIVE STOPPERS
Little Rock's defense was a huge reason for the victory on Thursday as it held the Eagles to just 36 points. That's the second-lowest score for a Trojan opponent all season with the lowest being the 34 points South Alabama scored in Mobile on Dec. 30. The Trojans kept the Eagles to just 38.2 percent shooting and held them under 10 points per quarter in three of the game's four quarters.
 
BIG TIME RUN
Trailing 8-4 in the very early going against Georgia Southern, Little Rock turned the game around with a huge 11-0 run and never looked back. That 11-0 run was part of a larger 27-4 run that spanned the end of the first quarter and all the way to the end of the second.
 
REBOUNDING MARGIN
On Thursday night, for the fourth time in five games, the Trojans outrebounded their opponent by at least 10 rebounds. On this occasion, though, the final rebounding tally of 36-16 favored the Trojans by 20. That marked the first time Little Rock had outrebounded an opponent by 20 since December 2013 when the team played Incarnate Word. Little Rock allowed the Eagles to get just three offensive rebounds. On the other side, Little Rock had 14 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points.
 
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS
A big key in the Trojans' win against Georgia Southern was turnovers by the Eagles. Georgia Southern had 23 turnovers – 10 forced by steals from the Trojans – and Little Rock got a total of 28 points off of them. That was more than enough to doom the Eagles in game where they only scored 36 points.
 
JAMES TIES OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING RECORD
With 281 career offensive rebounds entering Thursday, senior Shanity James was close to taking over the top spot in Little Rock history in that category. James needed just two more to tie Eplunus Brooks for the all-time lead in offensive rebounds with 283, and she got those two against the Eagles. With her next offensive rebound, James will stand alone atop the Trojan record books for offensive rebounding. She is also third all-time in total rebounds with 720 and fourth all-time in defensive rebounds with 437. The offensive/defensive rebounding statistic has only been tracked since the 1999-2000 season.
 
NEW FACES IN ACTION
Little Rock sophomore Alivia Huell had never played a game entering Thursday night against Georgia Southern, but the Malvern native's patience paid off when Coach Foley called on her with three minutes left in the game. Huell saw her first action as a Trojan, picking up one rebound and swatting away one Georgia Southern shot. Huell had missed all 51 previous games played while she was on the roster.
 
FIRST CAREER POINTS
Raeyana DeGray got her first career points on Thursday night in exciting fashion, streaking down the court for a fast-break layup after a steal. She got the layup and made an and-1 free throw, giving her three points in her career.
 
BENCH EMPTIED
Coach Joe Foley used 13 different players during Thursday's game, the most during any single game this year. Only one player on the roster did not get into Thursday's game.
 
FOLEY EARNS LITTLE ROCK WIN #250
Joe Foley has reached many, many milestones in his career, and he picked up another one on Jan. 23 at UT Arlington. When the final buzzer sounded on a 59-55 victory for Little Rock, Foley earned his 250th win as the Trojans' head coach. That number is far more than any other coach in Little Rock women's basketball history and is also more than any coach in Little Rock men's basketball history. Foley needed 12 1/2 years to reach the 250-win mark at Little Rock, averaging 20 wins per season.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Georgia Southern:

• Shanity James moved into a tie for first place all-time at Little Rock in offensive rebounds with 283.
• Kaitlyn Pratt scored her 500th point.

Coming soon:

• Shanity James needs one more offensive rebound to set the program record at 284.
• Alexius Dawn needs four more made field goals to reach 200.
• Kaitlyn Pratt will reach 200 made field goals with three more.

 
UP NEXT
The Trojans remain at home for their next two games, as they will face their conference rivals from Alabama in the Jack Stephens Center next. First up is a Thursday-night contest against Troy scheduled for 5:15.