Streaking Trojans Seek Fifth Straight Win vs. Jaguars

GM 21 >> Little Rock (9-11, 7-4 SBC) vs. South Alabama (9-11, 5-6 SBC)
Saturday, Feb. 6 • 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
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Trojan women's basketball team had its best offensive performance of the season on Thursday and will look to duplicate that success against South Alabama on Saturday. Little Rock will be seeking its fifth straight win with a 4 p.m. tipoff.
 
SATURDAY PROMOTIONS
Saturday's game will see the Tiny Trojans Dance Camp performing at halftime. The Junior Trojans Club will be open throughout the doubleheader.
 
TIP OFF

• Little Rock is now on a season-long four-game winning streak and is solidly in third place in the Sun Belt Conference after a win against Troy on Thursday.
• The Trojans have won 29 of their last 30 Sun Belt Conference home games dating back to January 2013.
• Shanity James has led Little Rock in scoring in each of the last three games, totaling 17, 16, and 18 points in those games.
• Alexius Dawn set a new career best with 11 assists against Troy on Thursday and had a double-double with 15 points.
• The Trojans tied a program record with 51 points scored in the second half against Troy. The team's 79 points scored was its most of the year.
• The Trojans are in the top five in the Sun Belt in scoring defense, field goal percentage, rebounding margin and assists. Shanity James is third in the league with a .535 field goal percentage.
• The Trojans have used 12 different starting lineups this season.
• Little Rock defeated South Alabama 47-34 when the teams met in Mobile earlier this year.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
After a rough start to the season that saw the team go 2-7 in non-league play against a difficult schedule, the Trojans continue to improve every game as Sun Belt play goes into its second half. Little Rock, now third in the league standings with a 7-4 conference record, knocked off the Sun Belt's highest scoring offense on Thursday by scoring a season-high 79 points including 51 in the second half. Little Rock had four double-figure scorers and overcame a 15-point deficit to eventually win by 15.
 
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 SOUTH ALABAMA

• The Jaguars, based in Mobile, Ala., currently sit sixth in the Sun Belt standings with a league record of 5-6 and an overall mark of 9-11.
• South Alabama most recently is coming off a 58-51 loss at Arkansas State. Before that, the Jaguars had won three straight against ULM, Troy and Appalachian State.
• Marquita Daniels is the team's leading scorer, averaging 10.8 points per game as the only double-figure scorer on the team. Chyna Ellis averages 7.7 points per game but also pulls down 7.7 rebounds per game.
• The Jaguars' offense is ninth in the conference at 57.3 points per game, but its defense is fifth allowing just 60 points per game in league play.
• Terry Fowler is at the helm of South Alabama for the third straight year. Fowler has a 22-55 record with the Jaguars and a 228-232 record overall.

THE SERIES AGAINST SOUTH ALABAMA
In the 25 meetings between Little Rock and South Alabama all-time, the Trojans hold a narrow 13-12 lead. Little Rock won every game in the series from 2011 to January 2014, and the Trojans defeated the Jaguars by 34 and 22 points when they met last year. Little Rock held South Alabama to only 34 points when the teams met on Dec. 30 as the Trojans won by 13.
 
A WIN AGAINST SOUTH ALABAMA WOULD…
…be the team's fifth straight win overall…be the team's fourth straight win against South Alabama…be the team's sixth straight win at the Jack Stephens Center…put Little Rock four games above .500 in league play…be Joe Foley's 710th 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 136-37 in the league and have claimed the outright regular-season championship once and the tournament championship three times.
 
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
Dating back to January 2013, the Trojans have an incredible home-court advantage at the Jack Stephens Center for Sun Belt Conference games. Little Rock has posted victories in 29 of its last 30 league games in that span, with the only blemish being a loss to Louisiana in early January of this year. The Trojans have now won five straight games at the Jack Stephens Center since that loss.
 
AMAZING SECOND HALF
Little Rock entered halftime against Troy on Thursday trailing by 12 points. But in the second half, the Trojans erupted for 51 points and wound up winning by 15. Little Rock's 51-point half tied the program record for most points in a half. The team last scored 51 points in a half against Oral Roberts in November 2012.
 
HIGHEST POINT TOTAL
With its 51-point second half, Little Rock was well on its way to its highest point total of the season. The Trojans scored 79 points against Troy, bettering the 71 it had scored on the road at Troy back in January. Little Rock made a season-high 28 field goals to help it reach that season-best 79 points.
 
FOUR IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Little Rock had four players reach double-figure scoring against Troy on Thursday. Shanity James and Sharde' Collins each led the way with 18 points while Alexius Dawn scored 15 and Monique Townson had 11. That was the first time since playing Troy on Jan. 2 that Little Rock had four in double figures. The team nearly had a fifth, as Kaitlyn Pratt had 9 points. Collins set a career high in the process by making four 3-pointers.
 
SHUTTING DOWN THE BEST OFFENSE
In the battle between offense and defense on Thursday, Little Rock's league-best defense won out over Troy's league-best offense. Troy came into the game averaging more than 80 points per game but scored just 64 against Little Rock. Troy was held more than 17 points below its season average while Little Rock scored more than 20 points above its season average.
 
DAWN DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Alexius Dawn earned her first career double-double on Thursday against Troy, scoring 15 points while adding a career-best 11 assists. The senior nearly had the second triple-double in school history, as she came up just two rebounds shy of 10. Dawn's 11 assists on Thursday are tied for fourth all-time in Little Rock history in a single game. She becomes the first Trojan to use assists as a double-double stat since Ka'Nesheia Cobbins did it twice last year including in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament on March 11.

DISHING OUT THE BALL
Besides Alexius Dawn's career-best 11 assists, the Trojans as a team compiled seven more assists. That total of 18 assists against Troy is a new season high for Little Rock.
 
REBOUNDING MARGIN
On Thursday against Troy, for the sixth time in seven games, the Trojans outrebounded their opponent by at least 10 rebounds. The final tally against Troy was 42-31 in favor of Little Rock. On Jan. 28 against Georgia Southern, Little Rock outrebounded the Eagles by 20, marking the first time Little Rock had outrebounded an opponent by 20 since December 2013 when the team played Incarnate Word.
 
JAMES SETS OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING RECORD
With 283 career offensive rebounds entering the Jan. 30 game against Georgia State, senior Shanity James was tied for the all-time lead in program history in that category. But she pulled away from Eplunus Brooks in that game, grabbing four offensive rebounds to take sole possession of first place all-time with 287. James now leads Little Rock all-time in offensive rebounds and free throw attempts. She is also third all-time in total rebounds with 735 and fourth all-time in defensive rebounds with 445. The offensive/defensive rebounding statistic has only been tracked since the 1999-2000 season.
 
RECORD-TYING DEFENSIVE HALF
Little Rock earned its victory against Georgia State thanks to an incredible defensive effort, holding the Panthers to just 32 points. Included in that defensive mastery was a first half that saw the Trojans give up just 9 total points. Those 9 points allowed in a half tied a program record set in February 2007 in a game against New Orleans. Little Rock allowed 10 points in the first half during last season's first game against South Alabama, which is the most recent instance of a team scoring 10 or fewer in a half against the Trojans.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
Against Troy:

• Alexius Dawn reached 200 made field goals.
• Shanity James attempted her 500th free throw.

Coming soon:

• Sharde' Collins needs three more defensive rebounds for 100.
• Alexius Dawn is five steals away from 100.
• Keanna Keys is one rebound away from 250.
• Kaitlyn Pratt needs five more offensive rebounds for 200, one more defensive rebound for 200 and six more total rebounds for 400.

 
UP NEXT
With a four-game homestand now behind it, Little Rock opens up a four-game road trip on Thursday. The Trojans travel to Monroe, La., to take on the ULM Warhawks with a 5:15 p.m. tipoff.