PENSACOLA, Fla. – Ky'lie Scott and
Mayra Caicedo each scored 11 points but Little Rock's inspired run through the Sun Belt Tournament came to an end in the semifinal round with a 58-48 loss to top-seeded Louisiana.
The Trojans (15-11) were at a disadvantage with only eight available players and fell into the trap of foul trouble with
Teal Battle receiving her third foul early in the third quarter. That depleted an already shallow pool of players in the post for Little Rock after
Krystan Vornes suffered a season-ending injury on Friday.
But despite the lack of depth in the paint, Little Rock continued its uncharacteristically hot shooting from the perimeter. Scott and Caicedo combined for 6 treys in the game and the Trojans shot 35.3% from beyond the arc, a significant bump from the 29.9% the team shot in the regular season.
Even with the thinning roster of post players, the Trojans still managed a 26-22 advantage in points in the paint.
Louisiana (16-5), which features a senior-laden team, used a 17-3 run on either side of halftime to pull away in the game. The Ragin' Cajuns were led by Brandi Williams' game-high 16 points while Jomyra Mathis added 11 points as the league's regular season champions won their 15
th consecutive game.
"Experience won," Little Rock Head Coach
Joe Foley said. "They were just a little too tough for us. They have been through the mill and they have a great ball club. I thought we competed hard but the experience in that second half took over."
The Ragin' Cajuns were also the beneficiaries of foul disparity, getting whistled for only seven fouls to Little Rock's 13 fouls. Louisiana finished the game a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line while the Trojans made just one trip to the stripe when
Angelique Francis hit both free throw attempts with just 23 seconds left in the game.
Little Rock's appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals marked the 13
th time in the last 14 years the Trojans made it to the semis, including the pandemic-shortened tournament in 2020. But the trip to this year's semifinal round may have been the most improbable achievement yet with roster depletion forcing freshmen and sophomores to take leading roles.
"It gives an eye-awakening that we need to do some things to get even better," Foley said of his young team. "You learn through adversity and today had adversity, there's no doubt. But that is how you get better and that is the lesson they got today. Yeah, we beat two good ball clubs but we have to get better if we want to win the championship. It's not bad to be in that spot. A lot of teams never get there and figure out what it takes to win a championship. The only way you do that is to get in that situation over and over again and you learn all those things."
With just eight active players after the first quarter of the tournament's opening game, the Trojans still managed two hard-fought wins over the course of the weekend and even had a one-point lead entering halftime against Louisiana. But in Sunday's second half, exhaustion became a factor.
"With limited personnel it was really tough. We ran out of juice," lamented Foley. "I thought we fought really hard the last two games. Georgia State did a great job. We really played hard today then we had to come back today and compete against an even better ball club. It just wore us down a little bit. With not much time for preparation, young kids need some preparation. But for doing what we did in three days with as young as we are, I am proud of our kids."
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