Little Rock Heads to OVC Championship Game with 49-35 Win over Southeast Missouri

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sali Kourouma registered a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds and Little Rock's defense limited Southeast Missouri to just one field goal over the final 14 minutes as the Trojans advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship Game with a 49-35 win over the Redhawks.
 
The win earned the Trojans, the OVC's top-seeded team, the 10^th championship game appearance in program history. Little Rock (21-9) will face the No. 2 Eastern Illinois vs. No. 3 Tennessee Tech winner on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
Little Rock continued to exert its defensive dominance, holding Southeast Missouri (16-15) to a season-low 35 points. It marked the Redhawks' lowest scoring output since a 74-32 loss at Missouri on Dec. 2, 2015 and the fewest number of points SEMO has ever scored in an OVC Tournament game.
 
The Trojans held the Redhawks to 12 of 44 (27.3%) shooting while forcing 18 SEMO turnovers, turning that into 14 points. The game was also decided by long stretches where the Redhawks struggled to score. Southeast Missouri scored the first basket of the game – just 22 seconds into the contest – then was not able to score again for nearly eight minutes.
 
Held to single digits in three of the four quarters, Southeast Missouri scored only one field goal over the final 14 minutes of action and would have only had two points in the final quarter had they not been sent to the free throw line four times, hitting six of their nine attempts from the charity stripe.
 
Kourouma had 13 points by halftime while SEMO's Jaliyah Green led the Redhawks with 12 points in the game. If it wasn't Kourouma cutting them up with her 25 points, it was Tia Harvey adding 11 points with three steals and two blocks.
 
Despite the defensive dominance, Little Rock didn't put SEMO away until late. The Trojans had an 11-point lead early in the second half but saw Southeast Missouri cut that to a three-point LR advantage midway through the quarter. Little Rock responded with a 6-0 run and did not allow the Redhawks to score over the ensuing eight minutes, well into the final quarter.
 
Angelique Francis finished the game with five points and six rebounds as she and Kourouma combined to draw 14 of Southeast Missouri's 23 fouls.
 
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 Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 
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