Little Rock Scores 51 in Second Half to Defeat Troy

LITTLE ROCK – A halftime pep talk turned into a second-half blowout for the Little Rock women's basketball team on Thursday night.
 
Trailing by 12 at the break, Little Rock exploded for its best-ever offensive half under coach Joe Foley in a 79-64 victory against Troy at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Little Rock (9-11, 7-4 Sun Belt Conference) put up 51 points in the second half against Troy (10-10, 5-6), tying the team's record for points in a half since Foley took over in 2003. The team last scored 51 points in a half against Oral Roberts on Nov. 21, 2012.
 
The team got 18 points each from Sharde' Collins and Shanity James, and Alexius Dawn had a double-double with 15 points and a career-high 11 assists. Monique Townson also registered double-figure scoring with 11 points and led all players with five steals. Kaitlyn Pratt led the team with 12 rebounds and just missed a double-double with 9 points.
 
Most of Little Rock's damage was done in the second half, as it outscored Troy 51-24 in the third and fourth quarter combined. The home team had a 27-10 edge in scoring in the third quarter and a 24-14 edge in the fourth. The team's 79 points scored was a new season high.
 
The Troy offense, which averaged a league-best 81.5 points per game in Sun Belt play entering Thursday, seemed unable to get points on Little Rock in the second half. Troy managed just 8 of 31 shooting from the field in the second half and missed all eight of its 3-point attempts in the final 20 minutes.
 
The win was Little Rock's fourth straight win overall, fifth straight at home and eighth straight against Troy in Little Rock. It also marked the first time Little Rock won a game this season when allowing its opponent to score more than 60 points (0-10 previously).
 
Little Rock's prospects seemed bleak entering the third quarter, as Troy's offense put up 40 points and Little Rock was in a 12-point hole. But the home team erased that deficit in just five minutes as it got hot from beyond the arc. Collins had the first 5 points of the half on a jumper and a 3-pointer, and that was followed by a Pratt layup, a Townson 3-pointer and a Dawn 3-pointer to bring the Trojans within 3 points. Collins sank another 3-pointer 40 seconds later, and that tied the game at 44-44.
 
Troy would score the next 6 points to silence the home crowd, but Little Rock blitzed Troy for 11 straight points in the final 2:30 of the quarter. Collins started the 11-0 run with a jumper, Dawn and Townson added two free throws apiece, Pratt hit a jumper herself and then Dawn finished things with a buzzer-beating banked-in 3-pointer to close the quarter with a 55-50 lead.
 
Troy scored the first 4 points of the fourth quarter to make it 55-54, but Little Rock scored the next 6 and never led by fewer than 5 points again. Troy got within 67-62 with 3:28 to play, but James immediately capitalized with a fast-break layup that broke the Troy full-court press to retake a 7-point lead.
 
Little Rock scored 10 of the final 12 points. Trailing by as many as 15 in the first half, Little Rock would go on to win by 15.
Besides her 18 points, James had six rebounds, three assists and three blocks on the night to move up to fourth place all-time in Little Rock history in that category. Kira Shepard and Keanna Keys had four points each off the bench, and Little Rock used just 8 players in the game.
 
After giving up just 9 points to Georgia State in the first half on Saturday, Little Rock allowed Troy to score 40 in the same amount of time on Thursday. The visitors shot 51.7 percent from the field in the period, making 15 of their 29 attempts from the floor including three 3-pointers. Troy also made all seven of its free throws as it built a 40-28 lead at the break.
 
Little Rock hung with Troy for the first five minutes, as the teams were tied at 12-12 at the first media timeout. But from there, Troy pulled away and led by 7 after the first quarter while the home team's offense cooled.
 
Little Rock closes its four-game homestand on Saturday when South Alabama comes to the Jack Stephens Center. Game time is set for 4 p.m.