Foul Trouble Trips Up Little Rock in OVC Tournament Championship Game

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Tia Harvey scored 13 points and Jayla Brooks added 12 but a short Little Rock roster, depleted even more by foul trouble, was unable to overcome a halftime deficit in a 54-46 loss to third-seeded Tennessee Tech in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship Game Saturday afternoon at the Ford Center in Evansville.
 
The top-seeded Trojans (21-10) shot just 34% (18 of 53) from the floor while Tennessee Tech (22-9) found a way to break through the nation's third-best scoring defense, shooting 20 of 44 (45.5%) in the game.
 
The Golden Eagles were led by Kiera Hill's double-double effort with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Jada Guinn added 12 points while Reghan Grimes contributed 10.
 
Little Rock found itself without the services of Sali Kourouma for most of the game. The OVC's Player of the Year played just over 12 minutes and contributed six points, four rebounds and three steals before sitting most of the second and third quarters in foul trouble and eventually fouling out with 3:15 to play. Kourouma received OVC All-Tournament honors following the game.
 
"I think our kids prepared themselves as good as any team I've ever had," Trojans head coach Joe Foley said. "If we hadn't gotten in the foul situation we had, I would've liked to have seen that outcome."
 
As Kourouma exited with the maximum foul count, freshman phenom Faith Lee entered with four fouls, drawing her fifth less than two minutes later.  Lee, who only played 14 minutes due to foul trouble, finished the game with five points and three rebounds.
 
Little Rock's defense did hold Tennessee Tech without a 3-pointer, despite the Golden Eagles entering the game as the OVC's leader in 3-point shooting.
 
"It's all about preparation," Harvey said, reflecting on how this loss will affect the team. "Regardless of how early it is or far away it is. This is just going to motivate us to fight even harder next year, to work on our offense and to get even more aggressive on defense."
 
The game started out like so many others had this year with the Trojan defense frustrating its opponents and forcing an opposing timeout before the first quarter ended. Tech was forced to regroup less than three minutes into the game, trailing 6-2, having committed four turnovers in their first five possessions, courtesy of four Little Rock steals.
 
But the timeout worked to Tech's advantage and the Golden Eagles responded by ending the quarter on a 9-0 run. Trailing 11-8 after the first period, Little Rock spent the rest of the game attempting to play catch-up.
 
Little Rock cut a Tennessee Tech lead that had grown to as much as 12 in the third quarter down to just five with a Harvey layup with 2:21 remaining but Tech was able to bleed the clock and responded with four straight points after that.
 
The Trojans now await their WNIT opponent with the full bracket due to be released on Monday, Mar. 13. This will mark the sixth WNIT appearance for the Trojans and 12^th postseason appearance overall for Little Rock.
 
"We are looking forward to it," Foley said of his team's upcoming WNIT appearance. "I think this team needs that experience, playing in the postseason. We haven't gotten able to do that the past couple of years because of COVID. I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
 
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.
 
Get the latest Trojan news – including the weekly Trojan Report – delivered to you direct to your inbox by signing up for Little Rock Trojan E-News here.
 
#LittleRocksTeam