Little Rock suffered its first conference home loss Tuesday – a 64-58 decision against visiting UT Martin – putting the Trojans and Skyhawks back into a tie for second place in the OVC and muddling up the postseason picture a little more with Little Rock's first loss at the Jack Stephens Center since Dec. 10, 2023 against Auburn.
UT Martin (10-12, 7-4 OVC) shot 40 percent in the opening period but hit 65 percent in the second and 64 percent in the third to open a 10-point lead as the game headed into the fourth. From there, the Skyhawks never let Little Rock (8-14, 7-4 OVC) get closer than six and earned a split of the regular season series, with each school winning on the others' floor.
Faith Lee put in 18 points on an efficient 9-of-17 shooting to lead four Trojans that reached double digits.
Jayla Brooks added 14 points and five rebounds,
Sug Williams came off the bench to score 10 points and grab six rebounds, and
Leilani Wimbish-Gay scored 10 points to go with four rebounds – all in the second half.
Sha'Nequa Henry led the team with five assists in her second start and
Trinity Hudson had a pair of blocks.
UT Martin put just six different players on the floor, four of which would go on to play all 40 minutes. Kenley McCarn scored 13 of her game-high 23 points in the second half and Anaya Brown posted a 16-point, 11 rebound double-double. The Skyhawks finished 28-of-49 from the floor (57.1 percent) and scored 44 of their 64 points in the paint.
Little Rock scored the last five points of the opening period to take a 14-10 lead after the first 10 minutes. Williams scored an early layup in the second to put the Trojans ahead by five – their largest lead of the contest – with 8:08 until halftime. UT Martin scored five straight to tie the game soon after and took the lead for good with 5:10 left in the first half. Lee made a jumper to get Little Rock within one, but a 9-2 Skyhawks run to end the half put the Trojans in a 35-27 hole at intermission.
After scoring the first basket of the second half, the Trojans allowed seven straight UT Martin points and fell behind by 13 – the largest deficit of the night. Little Rock got as close as eight points twice but McCarn ended the period with a layup to make it 52-42 as the game went to the fourth. From there, the Skyhawks led by as many as 12 and Little Rock could get no closer than six.
UT Martin has won three in a row and improved to 5-1 in conference road games. Little Rock has dropped two of three overall and is now 4-1 at home during OVC play. The Trojans have a short turnaround before their next game on Thursday night on the road against Western Illinois.
