Trojans Knock Off Bobcats to Advance to SBC Semis

NEW ORLEANS, La. – A hot-shooting second half made up for a slow first half and helped the Little Rock women's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament at Lakefront Arena on Wednesday evening.
 
The No. 2 seeded Trojans shot 56 percent from the field in the second half against No. 7 seed Texas State, leading the team to a 62-50 victory over the Bobcats in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship presented by First Bank and Trust.
 
The win – Little Rock's 14th straight – means the Trojans (19-11) will play again on Friday at 2 p.m. in the league semifinals against either No.  3 seed Louisiana or No. 6 seed UT Arlington. That game will be aired live on ESPN3.
 
After beginning the contest shooting just 33 percent in the first half, Little Rock made 9 of 15 shots in the third quarter. Sharde' Collins, who finished with a team-high 17 points, had 10 points in the third quarter on 5 of 7 shooting.
 
Little Rock outscored Texas State 19-8 in the third quarter, helping turn a 1-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage.
 
Collins was one of four Trojans who finished the day with double-digit scoring efforts. Kaitlyn Pratt had her fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and a season-best 13 rebounds, while Shanity James just missed a double-double with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Alexius Dawn also finished with 13 points and had four assists and three steals.
 
The Trojans have now advanced to the league semifinals for nine straight years and have won four straight games in the Sun Belt Tournament.
 
The first half was slow for both teams offensively, as they combined to shoot 33 percent from the field. Texas State got the first 6 points of the night and led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter. Dawn committed two fouls in the first four minutes and sat for the rest of the period.
 
In the second quarter, though, the Bobcats' offense could not score until nearly seven minutes had gone off the clock. Little Rock had the first 6 points of the quarter and took a 16-13 lead before the Bobcats scored again. At the break, James led Little Rock with 9 points including a layup at the buzzer to give the Trojans a 23-22 lead heading into the locker room. She had five rebounds at halftime while Pratt had 8 points and seven rebounds.
 
Collins opened the third quarter on fire, driving to the basket for one early layup and then sinking two jumpers to force the Bobcats into a timeout trailing 29-24. Those three baskets brought Collins up to 10 points on the evening. After the timeout, the Trojans forced a turnover and Dawn sank a 3-pointer to give the Trojans the largest lead of the night for either team at 32-24.
 
Texas State would cut that lead down to 4 points at 32-28, but the Trojans scored 10 of the final 12 points in the quarter to take a 42-30 lead into the final period. Pratt completed her double-double in the quarter, ending the third with 10 points and a to-that-point-season high 12 rebounds. Collins had 10 of her eventual 17 points in the third quarter.
 
The Bobcats, trailing 49-36 with seven minutes left in the game, briefly threatened to tie the game thanks to an 8-0 run in a span of just 75 seconds. But a James layup broke the run, and the Bobcats never got closer than 7 points after that. Little Rock shot 5 of 10 from the field in the fourth quarter and closed things out by making 8 of 10 free throws in the final period.
 
During the game, James made her 300th career free throw and grabbed her 500th career defensive rebound. Monique Townson also scored her 200th career point while leading the Trojans with five assists.
 
Little Rock will now have one day off before the tournament semifinals on Friday. Little Rock will face either No. 3 seed Louisiana or No. 6 seed UT Arlington on Friday at 2 p.m. That game will air on ESPN3.