TROY, Ala. – In the final regular-season game of her career,
Sharde' Collins could not be denied.
The Little Rock guard had 27 points on 12-19 shooting, leading Little Rock to a 74-63 victory over Troy at Trojan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Little Rock (23-7, 17-1) flustered Troy's league-best offense all game, allowing Troy (19-10, 12-6) to score a conference-season-low 63 points. Troy also committed 19 turnovers that resulted in 21 Little Rock points.
Many Little Rock's points came from Collins. The senior had 14 points at halftime and added 13 more in the third and fourth quarters to come 2 points shy of her career high. Collins did tie her career high with 12 made field goals.
Kaitlyn Pratt also scored in double figures, reaching 15 points and grabbing five rebounds.
Ronjanae DeGray had 10 points and four rebounds, and
Kyra Collier had 8 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Carolee Dillard led Little Rock with eight rebounds.
Little Rock has now won two consecutive games against Troy, and Saturday's win was Little Rock's 11th straight in a regular-season finale. Saturday also gave Little Rock a 17-win Sun Belt regular season for just the third time in program history.
Little Rock will open the Sun Belt Tournament on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. as the No. 1 seed, where it will play the winner of Tuesday's game between Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina.
With a 53-32 lead entering the fourth quarter, Little Rock still could not coast to the finish as Troy made things difficult. Troy scored 31 points in the final period and got Little Rock's lead down to just 9 points with 1:49 left. But Pratt scored 6 points in a three-second span to put Troy at bay, getting a layup, two free throws after a flagrant foul and another layup on the inbounds after those free throws.
Little Rock played an excellent defensive first half, forcing Troy into committing 11 turnovers and only allowing Troy to shoot 29 percent from the field (7-24) in the period. Little Rock, meanwhile, got 14 points from Collins and took a 29-22 lead into halftime. Troy's 22 points scored in the half was the team's second-worst scoring half of the season.
Little Rock got its lead up to as many as 21 points in the third quarter when it outscored Troy 25-10.
With the regular-season now complete, Little Rock will head to the Sun Belt Tournament at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, La., next week. The Trojans are the league's No. 1 seed and will take on either No. 8 seed Coastal Carolina or No. 9 seed Appalachian State in the tournament's quarterfinals on Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
