Little Rock women fall behind early, can't catch up to first-place Southern Indiana

Little Rock's women's basketball team suffered an 88-51 loss to first-place Southern Indiana on Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center, dropping the Trojans out of a tie for second place in the OVC and into a four-way tied for third with four games remaining in the regular season.
 
Little Rock (9-16 overall, 8-6 OVC) trailed by as many as 42 points, matching their largest of the season dating back to Nov. 14, 2023 when the Trojans lost to Arkansas in Fayetteville. Little Rock never led and trailed by 21 after the first period, 24 at halftime, and 35 entering the final frame. Faith Lee led the Trojans with 16 points and Jayla Brooks added 15 points and five rebounds. Little Rock made just 1-of-14 shots in the first quarter and 7-of-29 in the first half. They finished the day at 36.2 percent shooting from the field (21-of-58).
 
Southern Indiana (18-6, 13-1) opened the game with a 15-0 run and ended the opening period with 11 straight points to take a 26-5 after the first 10 minutes. Ali Saunders led USI with 18 points and eight assists, Chloe Gannon added 16 points and Meredith Raley had 12 points to go with eight rebounds. USI shot 65.4 percent from the field (34-of-52), and absurd 72.2 percent from behind the arc (13-of-18) and hit all seven of their free throws. All three shooting marks are the highest against Little Rock this season.
 
The Trojans go on the road next week to take on SEMO on Thursday and Lindenwood on Saturday. Little Rock wraps up the regular season with home games against Tennessee State on Feb. 29 and Tennessee Tech on March 2.