Little Rock's Season Ends With Loss to Saint Louis

ST. LOUIS – For the second straight game, a potential game-winning shot did not go down for the Little Rock women's basketball team. This time, it ended the Trojans' season.
 
A Sharde' Collins jumper from just inside the 3-point line hit off the front of the rim as time expired, giving Saint Louis a 70-69 victory in the opening round of the WNIT at Chaifetz Arena on Thursday night.
 
Little Rock trailed 70-63 with just over two minutes left in the game, but the Trojans (20-13) held the Billikens (25-7) scoreless for the rest of the game as they went on a 6-0 run.
 
Saint Louis had the ball with 35 seconds left and wound the clock down as much as it could before taking a shot. Trojan senior and St. Louis native Shanity James blocked that shot, giving Little Rock one last chance with 3.4 seconds to play.
 
After three timeouts, Little Rock's final play was a pass in to Collins. The junior got an open look after curling around the 3-point line and going just inside the perimeter, but her attempt clanged off the rim as the buzzer sounded on the Trojans' season.
 
James, in the final game of her career, tied a career high with 25 points while also picking up a double-double with 13 rebounds. Little Rock's other senior, Alexius Dawn, had 12 points on the night to go along with three assists.
 
Kaitlyn Pratt scored in double figures with 12 points and added seven rebounds while Collins had 11 points.
 
Little Rock remains winless in the WNIT all-time, as Thursday marked the team's fourth straight loss in this tournament dating back to 2008.
 
The Trojans' season was still a memorable one, as the team began just 2-7 in non-conference play and was 5-11 after seven Sun Belt Conference games. But the Trojans went on a 15-game winning streak after that thanks to a solid defense, and they just missed out on the NCAA Tournament with a championship game loss in the Sun Belt Tournament on Sunday. Little Rock was able to make the national postseason for the eighth time in the last nine years.
 
James caps off her Little Rock career with 1,384 points and 853 rebounds. She ranks No. 1 all-time in Trojan history in free throws attempted and offensive rebounds and is second in the Little Rock record books in free throws made and total rebounds. She also ranks in the top five all-time in defensive rebounds, field goals made, blocks, games started and points.

Dawn leaves the Trojans ranking third all-time in free-throw percentage and in the top 10 all-time in assists, 3-pointers made, steals per game and assists per game. She broke 700 career points on Thursday night and made 126 3-pointers in just two years.
 
Fouls were a big problem for the Trojans throughout the night, and four the team's starters had four fouls by the time the game ended. Dawn played just nine minutes in the first half as she picked up two fouls quick, and Keys had three fouls in the first half as well. Little Rock's 22 fouls against were the most the team committed since Jan. 7 against Louisiana.
 
Little Rock played a strong game in the post during the first half, picking up 18 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes. James was the biggest contributor to that total, putting up 12 points in her hometown and finishing the half with six total rebounds including four on the offensive glass.
 
Little Rock also got 6 points from Keys and 6 from Pratt in the first half, meaning 24 of the team's 33 first-half points came from its forwards.
 
But Saint Louis stayed close with Little Rock throughout, using three 3-pointers to not let the Trojans' lead get too large. Down 27-20, the Billikens responded with 10 of the next 16 points to close the half down by only 3 points, 33-30.
 
In the second half, though, Saint Louis got the better of the Trojans' defense. The Billikens scored 16 points in the paint in the third quarter and made six consecutive field goals in the fourth quarter to build up their 70-63 lead with 2:13 left. Despite that, Little Rock still had an opportunity to win at the buzzer on Collins' deep 2-pointer.