MARTIN, Tenn. – Sali Kourouma scored 22 points, Little Rock shot nearly 54% from the field and the Trojans moved into a tie for first place after leaving UT Martin with a 53-49 win Saturday afternoon at the Elam Center.
Little Rock (16-9, 13-1 Ohio Valley) recorded its 10
th consecutive win over a team from Tennessee but, despite leading for over 37 minutes, was never able to fully pull away from the host Skyhawks (10-15, 6-8).
Kourouma's 22 points led all players while she added five rebounds and a career-high five steals in the win, while
Tia Harvey's 12 points put her in double figures for the third straight game.
Jayla Brooks set a pair of career-highs with nine rebounds and nine assists while drawing her 10
th charge of the season.
The Trojans led by as much as 14 early in the fourth quarter before UT Martin methodically began chipping away at that margin. A 6-0 Skyhawk run brought the Trojan lead down to four with 2:12 to go with a 51-47 Little Rock advantage.
But Harvey hit a pull-up jumper with 1:37 to go and Little Rock's defense, which held an OVC opponent under 50 points for the 11
th time in 14 tries this season, allowed just one field goal attempt from UTM in the final 97 seconds of action, a 3-pointer from Paige Pipkin. Pipkin scored 12 points for the Skyhawks while Anaya Brown led UTM with 13 points and nine rebounds. Sharnecce Currie-Jelks and Seygan Robins both scored 11 points.
Little Rock's defense continues to wreak havoc on the league, holding the Skyhawks to just six assists while forcing 17 turnovers courtesy of 11 steals.
In a day where upsets were the norm across the Ohio Valley Conference, Little Rock proved to be the exception. Thanks to SIUE's 82-77 upset of Eastern Illinois, Little Rock moved into a tie for first with EIU with identical 13-1 league marks. The Trojans host the Panthers next Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center.
In another upset in the OVC, Tennessee State took down Tennessee Tech, 81-72, to drop the Golden Eagles to 9-5 in league play. That mathematically secures Little Rock a finish in the top two in its first season in the OVC and a double-round bye in the OVC Tournament. Tennessee Tech, the preseason pick to win the league, remains in third place.
Before the Trojans host the Panthers, however, they will host Southern Indiana on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. Tickets for both games are currently on sale at LRTrojans.com/tickets.
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