LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Kyra Collier scored her 1,000
th career point,
Teal Battle registered her first career double-double and Little Rock secured its 37
th consecutive home conference win in a 58-46 decision over Georgia Southern Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
However, those accomplishments didn't come easy. Collier's 10
th point – and really points for the Trojans (4-10, 2-1 Sun Belt) in general – did not come smoothly after Little Rock was just 2 of 19 (10.5 percent) in the first quarter. But the Trojans regrouped after the first frame, shooting 46.5 percent for the remainder of the game.
Collier was included in that, finally scoring her 1,000
th career point while reaching double figures in the game with a jump shot early in the fourth quarter.
Georgia Southern (5-9, 2-1) dropped its first Sun Belt game of the year and fell from the ranks of the league's unbeatens as it struggled to contain not just Collier, but also
Teal Battle and
Alayzha Knapp. Battle registered her first career double-double with 14 points and a career-best 15 rebounds while Knapp's 12 points gave her double figures for the fifth time in her freshman season.
Krystan Vornes was also strong in the battle for rebounds as she grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. In all, the Trojans came away with a 43-40 advantage in rebounds.
More than just winning the battle of rebounds, the Trojans put forth a defensive effort that kept Georgia Southern 18 points under their season average. One game after setting a school record for 3-pointers in a game, the Eagles were limited to just 2 of 18 (11.1 percent) shooting from beyond the arc and missed their first 16 attempts.
"That was a grind-it-out game," Little Rock Head Coach
Joe Foley said. "It was a good defensive effort on our part to hold that team to 46 points after the way they shot the ball last week. Especially in the second half, we did a good job of getting good, open looks and grabbing offensive rebounds. Overall, I thought we played a good second half."
That second half witnessed Little Rock go on an 11-2 run midway through the third quarter to pull away. The Trojans would out-score Georgia Southern in the frame, 21-10, and the closest the Eagles would come would be cutting the Trojan lead to seven with under four minutes to go in the game.
That came just 30 seconds after Collier was recognized during the fourth quarter media timeout for scoring her 1,000
th career point and becoming just the eighth player in program history to record at least 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.
"It is a great thing to do. It is a blessing and I'm grateful for it but right now I am just focused on the next game," the laser-focused senior guard said following the contest.
That next game comes Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Trojans host Georgia State (4-10, 1-2) in the first game of a women's-men's doubleheader. The women, currently in third place in the Sun Belt, host a Panther squad that just dropped an overtime decision at Arkansas State while the first-place men's team returns home to host South Alabama.
For the latest information on Little Rock Basketball, make sure to check out
LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWBB on
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