Little Rock Takes Over Second Place in Sun Belt

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Little Rock women's basketball team was in ninth place in the Sun Belt standings after its last meeting with Louisiana. Now the Trojans are in second.
 
Little Rock (12-11, 10-4 Sun Belt Conference) earned a hard-fought 58-49 victory over Louisiana (16-7, 9-5) at the Cajundome on Saturday afternoon, taking sole possession of second place in the league standings in the process.
 
The Trojans have now won seven consecutive games and are six games above .500 in Sun Belt play. The Trojans are also above .500 overall for the first time all season.
 
Little Rock can thank its big winning streak and Saturday's victory to stellar defensive efforts. The Trojans held the Cajuns to 37 percent shooting in the game, and they kept guard Keke Veal to just 12 points after she scored 30 in the Jack Stephens Center in early January.
 
Shanity James earned her second consecutive double-double, scoring a team-high 22 points and adding 12 rebounds. James was 8 of 11 from the field. Kaitlyn Pratt also had a huge night offensively, scoring 19 while pulling down seven rebounds. Pratt shot 7 of 13 from the field. Together, their 41 points accounted for nearly 71 percent of Little Rock's offense.
 
Saturday's contest was tight throughout, with neither team holding a lead larger than 6 points until the fourth quarter. That was Little Rock's advantage entering the final period, but the Cajuns quickly cut that lead to just 2 points at 41-39 with 7:39 to play.
 
Little Rock picked that moment to go on a 6-0 run to make it a 47-41 lead, but the Cajuns were not going away easy. Louisiana scored 6 of the next 8 points, closing the gap to 2 points yet again at 49-47 with 2:43 to play.
 
Little Rock would score next, getting a layup from Pratt with 1:29 to play and taking a 51-47 lead. Veal missed a jumper on the Cajuns' next possession, and Little Rock expanded the lead to 4 points with two Alexius Dawn free throws – her only points of the game – to make it 53-47 with 42 seconds to play.
 
Pratt, James and Kira Shepard combined for the final five free throws and the Trojans took its largest lead of the game right before the buzzer.
 
Little Rock closed the game by making 5 of its 8 field goals in the fourth and going 9 of 10 from the free-throw line.
 
The Trojans managed to survive a game that saw them turn the ball over 17 times and that saw the Cajuns score 18 points off those turnovers. Louisiana, though, had 15 turnovers of its own that resulted in 13 Little Rock points.
 
The first quarter's defensive battle set the tone for the rest of the night. Little Rock led 9-7 at the end of the period, and the teams combined for just 6 of 22 from the field and 11 turnovers.
 
The second quarter saw more of the same with low shooting percentages, tight defense and plenty of turnovers. Little Rock took a 15-11 lead midway through the quarter, but Louisiana fought back with a 6-0 run to take a 17-15 lead. Little Rock scored 4 of the quarter's final 6 points, though, and the teams were tied at 19-19 heading into halftime. James led all scorers with 9 at the break.
 
The teams' offenses picked up considerably in the third quarter. In the first five minutes, James scored the first 7 points for the Trojans and Pratt added 3 more on an and-1 layup. But Louisiana got 10 points of its own, and the teams were tied 29-29 at the media timeout. From there, the Little Rock offense stayed in rhythm, scoring 10 more points before the quarter ended. Monique Townson hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded – the only 3-pointer for either team in the entire game – and Little Rock led 39-35 entering the fourth. James had 19 points in the first three quarters.
 
Besides James and Pratt's big scoring nights, the Trojans got 7 points from Townson, 4 points from Shepard and 2 each from Dawn, Sharde' Collins and Keanna Keys. Collins had 4 rebounds, and Pratt led the Trojans with two blocks.
 
James scored her 1,200th career point during the game, and Pratt got her 200th career offensive rebound. Dawn picked up her 100th career steal.
 
The Trojans will stay on the road next week, heading to Georgia State on Thursday and Georgia Southern on Saturday. The game against the Panthers is first on Thursday and is set for a 4 p.m. central tipoff.