The Little Rock women's basketball team played one of its better games of the season Thursday night. The Trojans (3-8, 1-0 OVC) routed Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 80-63, at the Jack Stephens Center. Coach
Steve Wiedower's club is hoping for another solid effort and a 2-0 league start when they play host to Eastern Illinois at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center.
The game can be heard on 920 AM The Sports Animal with Trey Schaap on the call. ESPN+ is also streaming the game featuring the broadcast team of Michael Westbrook and JB. Brazeal.
LAST TIME OUT
Faith Lee was the big story in Thursday's win. The junior guard torched the Cougars for 31 points.
Jordan Holman added 17 points and
Sug Williams and
Emerald Parker chipped in with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Holman and Parker also grabbed 10 rebounds each.
The Trojans shot a season-high 51.6% from the field and 40% from the three-point line. Little Rock also forced 13 turnovers, scoring 18 points off the miscues.
GOTTA HAVE FAITH
Lee continued her stellar campaingn with the season-high Thursday night. Lee is averaging 19.4 points per game and hit for more than 20 points for the fourth time this season. She scored 20 points in a 67-45 loss at Missouri State last Saturday. She will try to score 20-plus points for the third straight game for the first time this season against the Panthers.
ON THE REBOUND
Freshman center
Emerald Parker raised eyebrows with 16 rebounds in a loss to Arkansas in the second game of the season. She hadn't reached double figures in rebounds since but changed that Thursday night when she pulled down 10 boards. She had 8 in a loss to Missouri State last Saturday. For the season, she's averaging 6.6 rebounds with 5 points per contest. The 10 points she scored Thursday equaled a career high.
PROTECTING HOME COURT
The Trojans are 2-0 all-time in games against EIU at the Jack Stephens Center.
THE SERIES
Little Rock has only played EIU four times in school history – all in the past two seasons in OVC play. The Trojans are 3-1 in those games and won 53-49 at home and 55-48 on the road last year.
EIU: FIRST LOOK
The Panthers won their seventh straight OVC opener Thursday night with a 71-55 route at Southeast Missouri State. It was the second straight season EIU opened with a league road win.
It's easy to see by the stat sheet that post player Macy McGlone is EIU's go-to player. The 6-foot-3 senior averages 17.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. The only other EIU player scoring in double figures this season is reserve guard Lalani Ellis, who averages 10 ppg.
Starting point guard Alex Rouse is a Little Rock native and is averaging 5.7 ppg and 2.7 rpg. The Joe T. Robinson graduate also dishes out just more than an assist per contest.
