Little Rock women's basketball had a strong night in the paint, leading the Trojans to a 60-52 win over Southeast Missouri.
Faith Lee led the Trojans with 13 points and five rebounds.
Jordan Holman and
Emerald Parker both contributed 12 points each and 13 combined rebounds.
Mesi Triplett,
Sug Williams and
Jayla Brooks all scored seven points.
Little Rock dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring SEMO 21-16.
Jayla Brooks drained a three with 4:44 left in the fourth, giving the Trojans the lead back. Defensive pressure stopped the Redhawks on the next play with a shot clock violation.
After the final media timeout, SEMO's Sophie Bussard missed a jumper with a rebound by Lee, who pushed it up the court. Parker had a massive play in the paint with 3:19 left in the game assisted by Williams, giving the Trojans a 51-47 lead.
Parker followed that play with a jumper in the paint pushing the lead to 53-47 with 2:30 left to play.
Parker then had a rebound put back after a missed shot by Holman, putting the score at 55-47.
The Trojans came out hot, shooting 6-of-12 shots against SEMO's 3-of-15. Little Rock outscored the Redhawks 19-12 in the first quarter. But the Redhawks fought back in the second quarter of play, holding the Trojans to just three shots for six points.
The matchup was a tight contest going into halftime, 25-22.
The same push from the Redhawks carried over into the third, after a good three-pointer drained by Lexi McCully cutting the Trojan lead to just one.
Little Rock outscored SEMO 32-24 in points in the paint.
Southeast Missouri was led by Lexi McCully with 18 points and six rebounds. Next in line was Ainaya Williams with 10 points and six rebounds.
Little Rock moves to 13-11 overall, 11-4 in conference play. SEMO falls to 4-20 overall, 2-13 in the conference.
With this win, Little Rock seals a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. The Trojans are sitting in fourth place behind Tennessee Tech, Lindenwood, and Eastern Illinois.
