Senior guard
Tia Harvey said it best during Saturday's postgame media session – when asked of the key to Little Rock's 53-47 conference win over Southeast Missouri, she replied with, "playing
Joe Foley defense." That defense held the visiting Redhawks to just 27 percent shooting at the Jack Stephens Center, the lowest single-game total allowed by the Trojans this season.
One could also argue that rebounding played a huge role in the victory as well, since Little Rock (
7-12, 6-2 OVC) outrebounded its opponent for just the second time this season, grabbing a season-high 45 boards as a team to finish with a plus-5 advantage. Another dominant second half by
Faith Lee was also a major contributor as the sophomore led all scorers with 19 points and scored 15 in the second half just two days after putting in 18 in the second half of a win over Lindenwood.
Whatever the case may be, Little Rock entered the day in a three-way tie for second in the Ohio Valley Conference but is now tied with only Eastern Illinois for the same spot – two games behind first-place Southern Indiana. The Trojans have won five of their last six and seven of nine after an 0-10 start against one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules. Little Rock finished 5-1 in the month of January, winning all three games at home.
Lee went 7-of-15 from the floor Saturday to lead the scoring,
Leilani Wimbish-Gay added 11 points, seven rebounds and a block, while
Jayla Brooks tallied seven points, nine rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
Mesi Triplett also posted career-bests of nine rebounds and four blocks. Five different players – Brooks (9), Triplett (9),
Jordan Holman (8), Wimbish-Gay (7), and
Sug Williams (6) – grabbed at least six rebounds. The previous team-best rebounding game was surpassed by nine (
36, at Tennessee State).
SEMO fell to 6-13 overall and 3-5 on OVC play after failing to come up with buckets despite a high volume of shot opportunities in the critical fourth period. The Redhawks shot an ice-cold 17.4 percent from the field (4-of-23) in the final 10 minutes and made just 42.9 percent from the free throw line during the game (9-of-21).
Little Rock has a road trip into Illinois next week, taking on SIUE on Thursday (5 pm) in Edwardsville before finishing at Eastern Illinois in Charleston (1 pm). The Trojans return home for a rare Tuesday game (Feb. 6) against UT Martin at 5 pm.
