STATESBORO, Ga. - Clutch free-throw shooting and late-game defense led the Little Rock women's basketball to a tight 50-45 victory over Georgia Southern at Hanner Fieldhouse on Saturday evening.
The win, Little Rock's ninth in a row, was in doubt for almost the entirety of the contest as the Eagles made Little Rock struggle on offense and turn the ball over 21 times.
But in the late game, with Little Rock trailing by 1, it was the Eagles' offense that went cold.
Leading 39-38, Georgia Southern missed eight consecutive shots from the field in the last eight minutes as the Trojans scored the next three points to take a 42-39 lead.
Two free throws by the Eagles' Patrice Butler made it a 42-41 lead for Little Rock with 3:50 to play, but the Eagles could not get a basket to retake the lead. Instead,
Shanity James and
Kaitlyn Pratt combined for five free throws in their next six attempts, and the Trojans took a 47-41 lead with 40 seconds left to play.
Three more free throws from
Alexius Dawn sealed the Little Rock win despite the Eagles making two field goal attempts with under a minute left.
Little Rock (14-11, 12-4 Sun Belt Conference) was led on offense by James and her 22 points. She also topped the team with seven rebounds. Pratt was the only other scorer in double figures for Little Rock, coming up with 10 points and five rebounds. The Eagles (7-18, 4-12) had just one double-figure scorer: Butler with 12.
The Trojans remain in second place in the Sun Belt Conference standings with the victory, their fourth straight against the Eagles. Little Rock - who has never lost to Georgia Southern - now has 12 conference victories for the ninth straight year.
But Saturday's victory was in doubt almost from the very start.
Georgia Southern scored the first points of the night, but Little Rock followed with an 8-0 run that saw the Trojans take the lead. James and
Sharde' Collins had 4 points each during that run, and the Eagles went five minutes without scoring and had six turnovers in the quarter. When the home team finally did score, it went on a smaller 5-0 run of its own to cut the Little Rock lead to 8-7. A Dawn layup broke that run and gave the Trojans a 10-7 lead entering the second quarter.
The second quarter belonged to the Trojans at first, as James got 5 straight points and Collins followed with two free throws to give the visitors an 18-9 lead. But from there, Georgia Southern took over. The Eagles scored the final 12 points of the half, taking a 21-18 lead into the break. Little Rock had 11 total turnovers in the first half and shot just 2 of 8 from the field in the second quarter.
Georgia Southern would hold that lead the first nine minutes of the third quarter, with Little Rock carrying a narrow 36-35 edge into the final quarter because of a Dawn 3-pointer with 56 seconds left on the clock.
The first two minutes the fourth quarter saw the lead change four different times before the both teams got cold from the field. The home team finished the fourth quarter just 3 of 14 from the field, but Little Rock was even worse in the quarter, making just one shot - a Pratt layup with 4:03 left - on five attempts.
The difference came in the Trojans' aggressive play. Little Rock earned 10 free throws in the final 2:39 that accounted for their last 8 points in the victory.
Dawn scored 8 points in the game, and Collins added 6 while also grabbing four rebounds. James and Pratt led the way with three steals each, and James had two blocks.
During the contest, Dawn scored her 600th career point while Pratt earned her 50th steal.
After two weeks on the road, the Trojans return home on Thursday for the first of three straight home games. Little Rock tips off its homestand with a 5:15 p.m. game against UT Arlington. The contest will be the Trojans' annual Pink Game.
