Little Rock pulled off its second road win in three tries Thursday night with a 65-60 victory against Western Illinois at Western Hall.
After splitting two road games last week at Southeast Missouri State and Tennessee Tech, respectively, the Trojans (9-9, 7-2) got back on the winning track and will try to end the four-game road stint with a back-to-back wins at Lindenwood Saturday.
Thursday night,
Sug Williams led the Trojans with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
Jordan Holman broke a single-game school record with 9 steals and also chipped in 15 points.
Jayla Brooks added 12 points and
Faith Lee 11.
Little Rock held a 42-41 lead and WIU never was able to take the lead, but it wasn't easy finishing the Leathernecks (9-9, 3-6) off. A quick 4-0 run capped off by Williams' layup gave the Trojans a 46-41 lead with 7:58 to play in the game.
WIU cut the lead to three, and it jumped to five again, but the Leathernecks tied the game at 48 with 5:32 to play when Allie Meadows canned a three-pointer. Lee answered immediately, and Holman scored on a fast-break layup to extend the advantage back to four with 4:37 remaining.
But WIU wouldn't give in and Mia Nicastro's free throws tied the game again at the 3:29 mark, but Brooks responded with a three-pointer. She capped off her own 5-0 run with a layup with 2:31 left.
The lead eventually grew to six, but one last charge by the Leathernecks cut the advantage to three when Addi Brownfield hit one of two free throws.
With 34 seconds left, Holman was fouled but fouled out as she was whistled for an intentional foul when she was tied up. Freshman
Brenna Burk came off the bench to hit one of two free throws, and Meadows got to shoot two free throws and made one to cut the lead to 61-58. WIU also was awarded possession following the flagrant foul.
Brownfield was fouled on that possession and made both free throws to make it a 61-60 game with 20 seconds left. WIU full-court pressed but Little Rock broke it easily and Williams was wide open for an easy bucket in the lane with 12 seconds left. WIU missed a three-pointer and then turned the ball over. Little Rock in-bounded it and Williams was fouled with one second left and made them both to make the final margin five.
OVC leading scorer Raegan McCowan scored 16 points to lead WIU. Little Rock forced 24 Leatherneck turnovers and scored 30 points off the miscues.
