The Little Rock women's basketball team came close to pulling off a classic case of possum Monday, playing dead until the last minute before snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, Missouri State sank four clutch free throws in the final minute to hand the Trojans a 52-47 loss in their season opener at the Jack Stephens Center.
Jayla Brooks converted a steal into a fast break layup with 1:08 to play, pulling the Trojans (0-1) within a point at 48-47, but missed a pair of shots in the final minute, forcing them to send the Lady Bears (1-0) to the line, where the visitors would seal the deal. Ironically, Missouri State had made just 8-of-19 free throws before calmly sinking four of their last five.
Preseason All-Conference selection
Faith Lee led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Jordan Holman added 10 points and five boards in her first game as a Trojan. Little Rock was without returning starters
Tia Harvey (All-OVC) and
Jaiyah Harris-Smith, who missed the game with injuries.
Little Rock never led in the contest and trailed by as many as 14 midway through the second period. The Trojans started slow and fell behind 17-5 after one frame, shooting just 20 percent (2-of-10) in the opening stanza and 29 percent (4-of-14) in the second. Fortunately, the Trojans were able to stay close, outscoring the Lady Bears in the second to pull within 26-19 at the break.
Missouri State increased its lead to 41-32 after three periods but were held to just 11 percent shooting (1-of-9) in the fourth, helping the Trojans chip away at the lead until Brooks' layup with 68 seconds to go.
Lee and Holman combined to make 12-of-22 shots from the floor (55 percent) but the rest of the team connected on just 4-of-23 attempts (17 percent). Brooks was the next high scorer with 8 points and added four steals and three assists.
Little Rock will be home again Saturday for another tough non-conference contest as the Trojans welcome Kansas State (1-0) to the Jack Stephens Center for a 1 pm tip-off.
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