Trojans' Championship Hopes Fall One Point Short

NEW ORLEANS – A final-minute shot for Troy went down, a last-second Little Rock shot was blocked, and the Little Rock women's basketball team just missed out on its second consecutive Sun Belt Tournament championship on Saturday night.
 
Troy guard Ashley Beverly Kelley sank a runner with 21 seconds left to give the No. 4-seeded Troy a 61-60 victory and the Sun Belt championship at Lakefront Arena.
 
After Beverly Kelley's shot went down, No. 2 seed Little Rock had time to take one final shot. A Monique Townson driving layup was blocked, and the buzzer sounded as Troy rushed the court.
 
Little Rock (20-12) will now await a potential bid to the WNIT. Arkansas State owns the Sun Belt's automatic WNIT bid as its regular-season champion. Little Rock could also get an automatic WNIT bid if Arkansas State earns an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Sharde' Collins and Shanity James were named to the Sun Belt's All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of Saturday's contest, a first-time honor for Collins and a second-time honor for James (2013).
 
Saturday's loss snapped Little Rock's 15-game winning streak, the second-longest streak in program history.
 
Collins topped Little Rock with 19 points on the night, while James had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Kaitlyn Pratt had 9 points and nine rebounds. Alexius Dawn had a team-high eight assists and also scored 9 points.
 
Unlike most games Little Rock has played this year, Saturday's contest saw a fast pace throughout. Troy opened the night with a 5-0 scoring run, but Little Rock answered right back with 5 points of its own in the paint by James and Pratt. Little Rock gave up an and-1 layup to Beverly Kelly after that but put home the next 4 points to take an 11-8 lead. Little Rock would eventually lead 11-10 at the first media timeout with 3:13 left in the first. After a 1-for-8 start to the night from the field, Little Rock made its next three field goals to take that 11-10 lead.
 
Little Rock's lead improved slightly by the end of the quarter, as the team scored 4 of its final 6 points to take a 15-12 lead into the second quarter. Troy – the league's best offense – scored 32 points in the first quarter in Friday's semifinal against Arkansas State.
 
Little Rock kept Troy well below its scoring averages for the rest of the half, but Troy seemed to get hot as the second quarter went on. Troy trailed 28-25 with 4:32 left in the quarter before scoring 8 of the final 10 points of the half to take a 33-30 lead into the break. Beverly Kelley had 11 points for Troy and ArJae' Saunders had 15 while Little Rock was led by Collins' 12 and James' 9 points.
 
Troy scored the first basket of the second half to take a 35-30 lead, but Little Rock caught fire after that. Little Rock went on a 15-2 run that included 9 straight points in one minute, taking a 45-37 lead and forcing Troy to take a timeout with 5:55 left in the quarter. In that run, Dawn had two layups and a 3-pointer while Collins had a jumper while Townson and Pratt made two free throws each. That marked the largest lead of the game for either team to that point.
 
Little Rock made it an 11-0 run on another Dawn layup before Troy ended the run with a 3-pointer, but James converted a layup after that to make it a 49-40 Little Rock lead.
 
From there, though, Troy closed the quarter on a 7-0 run, making another 3-pointer and sneaking in two layups to make Little Rock's lead a narrow 49-47 entering the final quarter. Little Rock missed its final eight field goal attempts of the quarter after starting 7 of 9.
 
In the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, Little Rock managed to regain a 5-point lead thanks to some Townson free throws, a James layup and a Collins 3-pointer. But Troy came right back, tying the game with 3:13 left and then taking a 1-point lead on a Saunders free throw. A James layup got Little Rock back on top 58-57 with 2:50 to go, but two more Troy free throws gave Troy a 59-58 lead with 1:46 left.
 
Collins made a jumper to give Little Rock its final points of the night and a 60-59 lead with 1:19 to play, but Troy would get the final basket when Beverly Kelley hit the runner with 20 seconds to go. Townson's layup at the buzzer was blocked, and Troy was crowned champions.
 
The Trojans will now await their postseason fate, as the team has a chance at an at-large berth in the WNIT. Little Rock will find out if its season continues when the WNIT releases its participants on Monday night around 9 p.m.