Trojans' Tournament Starts vs. Texas State on ESPN3

GM 30 >> Little Rock (18-11) vs. Texas State (12-18)
Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by First Bank and Trust Quarterfinals
Wednesday, March 9 • 5 p.m. (CST)
New Orleans, La. • Lakefront Arena
Live Stats | ESPN3 | Game Notes
Radio: Trey Schaap (PxP) 920 AM
TV: ESPN3 with Drew Fellios (PxP) and Steffi Sorensen (Color)
 
LITTLE ROCK – Tournament time is here. The Little Rock women's basketball team earned the Sun Belt's No. 2 seed, and they will take that No. 2 seed into the Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by First Bank and Trust on Wednesday evening. The Trojans will face No. 7 seed Texas State at 5 p.m. on ESPN3.
 
TIP OFF

• The Little Rock women's basketball team enters the Sun Belt Tournament on the hottest streak of any team in the league, winning 13 consecutive games. The team's 13-game winning streak is the 11th-longest active streak in the nation.
• The Trojans' defense has been its star all year, and the team ranks in the top 25 in the country in scoring defense, giving up just 51.4 points per game.
• Shanity James is Little Rock's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 15.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. She has six double-doubles on the year and has scored 20 or more points in eight games.
• The Trojans' No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament guarantees the team at worst a WNIT bid if the No. 1 seed wins the tournament.
• Little Rock has made the Sun Belt semifinals for eight straight years and is the defending tournament champion.
• Little Rock's opponent on Wednesday, Texas State, was the last team to beat the Trojans.

 
ABOUT THE TROJANS
After a slow start to the season that saw the team go 2-7 in non-league play against a difficult schedule, the Trojans had a tremendous conference season. Little Rock went 16-4 in Sun Belt play, earning the league's No. 2 seed. Currently on a 13-game winning streak, Little Rock enters the league tournament as its defending champions and the hottest team in the league. The Trojans closed out the regular season with a 5-point victory at Appalachian State on Thursday where Alexius Dawn led the way with 24 points.
 
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 but surpassed that with a second-place finish this year.
 
ABOUT TEXAS STATE

• The Bobcats, based in San Marcos, Texas, are 12-18 on the year and are on a six-game losing streak to end the season. They earned the Sun Belt's No. 7 seed with a 7-13 conference record.
• Texas State has lost consecutively to Louisiana, Arkansas State, Little Rock, UT Arlington, Troy and South Alabama by an average of 16.5 points per game.
• Kaitlin Walla is leading the Bobcats in scoring with 10.6 points per game, and Taeler Deer has 9.9 points per game. In rebounding, Ericka May tops the roster with 6.9 per game.
• The Bobcats are fifth in the Sun Belt in free-throw percentage with a .704 team percentage. They are also the second-best 3-point shooting team in the league, shooting .341 from distance.
• Ayriel Anderson is third in the conference at the charity stripe, making 81.1 percent of her free throws.
• Coach Zenarae Antoine is in her fourth year with the Bobcats in 2015-16. She has an all-time record of 72-83 with Texas State.

 
THE SERIES AGAINST TEXAS STATE
The Trojans and Bobcats have played 11 times, and Little Rock holds a 7-4 advantage all-time. The teams split their regular-season series in 2016, each winning their game at home. The Bobcats defeated the Trojans in San Marcos in late January, and the Trojans have not lost since. When the teams met in Little Rock in late February, the Trojans came away with a 57-45 victory.
 
A WIN AGAINST TEXAS STATE WOULD…
…be the team's 14th straight win overall…be the team's second straight win over the Bobcats…advance the Trojans to the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals for the ninth straight year…be Little Rock's fourth straight win in the SBC Tournament…be Joe Foley's 719th career win.
 
LITTLE ROCK VS. THE SUN BELT
In the last 10 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 145-37 in the league and have claimed the outright regular-season championship once and the tournament championship three times.
 
LITTLE ROCK IN THE SUN BELT TOURNAMENT
Since the Trojans joined the Sun Belt in 1999, the team holds a 19-12 record in conference tournament games. But since the 2009 Sun Belt Tournament, Little Rock is an incredible 16-4 in tournament games. Little Rock won the conference championship in back-to-back years in 2011 and 2012 as well as in 2015, earning automatic NCAA Tournament berths in those seasons. In 2009, 2010 and 2013, the Trojans advanced to the tournament final before losing. Little Rock has made the tournament semifinals for the last eight seasons and earned a national postseason trip in seven of the last eight seasons.
 
DAWN GOES OFF
Alexius Dawn had one of the best offensive games of her career to close the regular season on Thursday, putting up 24 points at Appalachian State. She went 4 of 6 from the 3-point line, tying a season high from that distance. She also went 6 of 9 from the field overall and made all eight of the free throws she attempted. Dawn's output marked the third time this season she has scored over 20 points. Her career scoring high was 25 points against Louisiana in January.

SEVEN AND SEVEN FOR TOWNSON
Monique Townson may have only scored 1 point at Appalachian State on Thursday, but the sophomore was a huge contributor to the Trojans in other statistical categories. Playing in 38 minutes, Townson dished out a game-high seven assists while also bringing down a career-best seven rebounds.
 
PERFECT DAY FOR KEYS
Keanna Keys had a perfect day from the field on Thursday, scoring a season-best 12 points on 5 for 5 field-goal shooting in 17 minutes off the bench. The junior was also 2 of 2 from the free-throw line to cap her perfect day.
 
HIGH PERCENTAGE QUARTER
Little Rock and Appalachian State exchanged baskets repeatedly in the third quarter on Thursday, and the teams each scored 22 points in the quarter by its end. Little Rock shot 8 of 12 in the period (66.7 percent) while the Mountaineers shot 9 of 13 (69.2 percent) in the third.
 
13 IN A ROW
The Trojans' victory against Appalachian State extended its season-long winning streak to 13 games. Little Rock's longest winning streak in 2014-15 lasted for 10 games. Little Rock has not had a winning streak this long since 2012-13. Little Rock's winning streak is now tied for the 11th-longest in the nation as of Monday morning.
 
STAYING IN THE GAMES
During Little Rock's current 13-game winning streak, the Trojans have only trailed by double digits once: against Troy by 15. In every other game of the winning streak, the Trojans' largest deficit of the game was 10 points or fewer. Little Rock trailed by a maximum of five points or fewer in 10 of those games and never trailed in one. The Trojans' average largest deficit in those games is 4.0 points per game.
 
DEFENSIVE JUGGERNAUTS
As Little Rock continues to hold teams to incredibly low offensive outputs, the team's national ranking in scoring defense continues to improve. As of Sunday morning, the Trojans' 55.1 points per game allowed ranks 24th in the entire nation. The Trojans have not allowed an opponent to breach 50 points in seven of the last nine games, holding teams to an average of 48.5 points per game in that span.
 
JAMES ON A SCORING ROLL
Shanity James has been on an amazing scoring streak of late, reaching at least 10 points in 12 of the last 13 games and leading the Trojans in scoring in all but three of those games. James has topped the Trojans in scoring in 14 games this year. She has scored in double figures in 24 total games out of 27 she has played in.
 
PERFECT FEBRUARY
With its win on Saturday over Texas State, the Trojans made it a clean sweep of the month of February. Little Rock went 8-0 in the year's shortest month and have not lost since Jan. 21.
 
HOLDING TEAMS UNDER 60
A trend has emerged in 15 of the Trojans' 18 victories this year: in those 15 victories, the Trojans' opponent has scored under 60 points. Little Rock is now 15-1 in games this year where the opponent has fewer than 60 points. When the Trojans' opponent scores 60 or more, Little Rock drops to 3-10.
 
JAMES PASSES CASH
Thanks to the 25 points she scored on March 1 against Arkansas State, Shanity James crossed the 1,300-point barrier in her career while also moving up to fifth all-time in Little Rock history in scoring. James ended the night with 1,303 points, moving past current assistant coach Alicia Cash's 1,282. She is still some distance away from fourth place all-time in Little Rock history. She would need 182 more points to surpass Jocelyn Love.
 
DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Shanity James and Kaitlyn Pratt teamed up for two double-doubles on March 1 night against Arkansas State, with James scoring 25 points and getting 14 rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Pratt had 14 points and 11 rebounds. The double-double was James' sixth of the season and Pratt's fourth of the year. The two also had double-doubles at the same time when the Trojans played Arkansas State in Jonesboro in January.
 
FOUR IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Little Rock had four people score in double figures on March 1, marking the first time this had happened for the team since it played Troy on Feb. 4. Besides James' 25 points and Pratt's 14, Little Rock got 13 points from Sharde' Collins and 12 from Alexius Dawn.
 
PAINT DOMINATION
Little Rock controlled the paint completely in its game against Arkansas State on Tuesday, scoring 46 points in the paint to just 24 for the Red Wolves. Little Rock also managed to outrebound Arkansas State by 11, winning that category 40-29. The Trojans' rebounding margin of +3.1 is second-best in the Sun Belt, and that number jumps to +6.2 when looking at league-only games.
 
ACCURATE SHOOTING
Little Rock players Kaitlyn Pratt and Shanity James both rank in the top five in the Sun Belt Conference in field goal percentage this season. Pratt is second in the league with a .548 shooting percentage, and James is fifth in the league with a .521 shooting percentage. In conference-only games, Pratt leads the Sun Belt with a .587 field goal percentage. James' .530 shooting percentage ranks 51st in the nation as of Monday morning.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
At Appalachian State:

• Monique Townson got her 100th career assist.

Coming soon:

• Sharde' Collins needs four more assists for 100.
• One more free throw made would be 300 in Shanity James' her career. Four more defensive rebounds would give her 500.
• Monique Townson will reach 200 points with 4 more.
• Keanna Keys is 10 rebounds shy of 300 and three points away from 400.

 
UP NEXT
With a victory on Wednesday, Little Rock will have one day off before the tournament semifinals on Friday. Little Rock would face either No. 3 seed Louisiana or No. 6 seed UT Arlington on Friday at 2 p.m. With a loss, the Trojans will await their postseason fate depending on the results of the Sun Belt Tournament.