Collins Blasts Jaguars for 29 Points in Trojan Win

LITTLE ROCK – Sharde' Collins had the best offensive night of her career, scoring 29 points to lead the Little Rock women's basketball team to a 71-54 win over South Alabama at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday evening.
 
Collins ripped off 16 points in the first half and tied her previous career high of 24 points at the end of the third quarter. As Little Rock continued to pull away from the Jaguars later in the fourth, Collins hit another jumper and a 3-pointer to reach 29 points.
 
The Trojans (13-6, 7-0 Sun Belt Conference) remained undefeated in league play with the victory over the Jaguars (7-11, 2-5) and maintained their sole possession of first place in the conference. Little Rock has now won all seven games lifetime against South Alabama at the Jack Stephens Center, five straight in the series and 14 straight Sun Belt games at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Collins – already leading the Sun Belt with 18.8 points per league game before Saturday – added three assists, two rebounds and a steal to her career night as she shot 12 of 21 from the field and 3 of 7 from behind the arc. Collins is now averaging 20.3 points per game against Sun Belt competition.
 
Classmate Kaitlyn Pratt scored 17 points for the Trojans, all in the second half after playing just nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Despite scoring just 3 points, freshman Kyra Collier loaded up the stat sheet in other categories, leading Little Rock with eight rebounds and three steals and finishing second on the team with six assists. Monique Townson had 4 points, six rebounds and a team-high seven assists in 38 minutes.
 
Freshman Anna Hurlburt scored 8 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting, setting a new career scoring high. The freshman tied her career high with four rebounds and had a block in 14 minutes off the bench.
 
Little Rock was also able to maintain its current streak of 70-point games, reaching six consecutive games with at least 70 points to extend the program record.
 
Neither team was able to get going offensively in the first quarter, with the teams combining to shoot 6 of 21 from the floor. The Trojans committed six turnovers while the Jaguars committed four, and the teams were tied at 10-10 after 10 minutes.
 
Late in the second quarter, though, Little Rock opened up the scoring as Collins continued to nail jump shots. The senior had 16 points at the end of the half, the Trojans scored 21 points in the quarter and held their largest lead of the game to that point at 31-23 at the break.
 
The third quarter belonged to Pratt. After sitting much of the first half with foul trouble and not getting a single point, Pratt made her presence felt in the third quarter when she scored 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting. A Collins 3-pointer with 1:18 left in the period capped an 8-0 Little Rock run, tied Collins' career high at 24 points and forced a South Alabama timeout with the Trojans ahead 56-40.
 
Little Rock scored 27 points in the third quarter, the most the team had managed in a quarter all season.
 
Little Rock has not had a 30-point scorer in a game since Taylor Gault tallied 31 in November 2012.
 
The Trojans are hitting the road next week, traveling to Louisiana for rematches against the Warhawks of ULM and the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana. Tipoff Thursday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum against ULM is set for 6 p.m.