After a tough loss at Eastern Illinois Thursday, the Little Rock women's basketball team looks to get one last win in the regular season against SIU-Edwardsville Saturday.
Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at First Community Arena in Edwardsville, Ill. Trey Schaap has the call on The Sports Animal 920 AM. The game will also be live streamed on ESPN+.
LAST TIME OUT
The Eastern Illinois Lady Panthers sealed a third-place seed in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with a win over the Trojans on Thursday night.
Little Rock was led by
Sug Williams with another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Jordan Holman pitched in 13 points and grabbed eight boards.
Jayla Brooks followed with nine points.
It was a defensive battle after the first quarter between the Trojans and Panthers. Little Rock was down 15-6 going into the second quarter, but fought back relentlessly, holding EIU to just six points scored in the quarter.
After the halftime break, the Trojans cut the Panther's lead to just three with 57 seconds left in the third. Holman hit a layup, making the score at 34-31.
EIU's Macy McGlone was called for an offensive foul, giving the ball back to the Trojans with 9:22 on the clock.
With 8:54 left, Williams cut the lead to just two, 35-33, with a jumper.
Brooks found herself in foul trouble with 6:34 left, after two back-to-back fouls were called on her, giving her four fouls.
With free throws from Williams and a layup from Holman, the Trojans trimmed the lead 47-41, but EIU's Lalani Ellis immediately made a three, pushing the lead back to nine.
Annemarie Batista hit a bucket with 1:26 left in the game, cutting the lead to 10, 53-43 but ran out of time.
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
With the regular-season finale coming Saturday, Little Rock is fighting for a fourth-place spot in the OVC standings. Tennessee Tech holds the No. 1 spot with a 17-2 conference record. Lindenwood follows closely behind in the No. 2 spot with a 16-3 record. Eastern Illinois sealed the No. 3 spot last night with the win over the Trojans. Southern Indiana and Little Rock are tied for fourth, both with 12-7 conference records.
The Trojans' Saturday opponent, SIUE, is not eligible for the conference tournament with a 3-16 conference record. With a win on Saturday, Little Rock would claim the fourth seed for the tournament. The OVC tournament begins next week, March 5-8.
LAST TIME OUT VS SIU-EDWARDSVILLE
The Trojans came out hot in the OVC opener against SIUE back in December.
Faith Lee recorded a career-high 31 points, while three other Trojans recorded double-doubles.
Holman scored 17 points, Williams added 14 points, and
Emerald Parker had 10 points. All three Trojans grabbed 10 rebounds apiece.
Little Rock shot a season-high 51.6 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc. The Trojans' fourth quarter push sealed the deal, as they outshot the Cougars 61.5 percent to 14.2 percent.
The Trojan defense forced 13 turnovers, turning those into 18 points. Little Rock held SIUE to just 33 percent shooting.
The Cougars were led by Molly Sheehan, who shot 5-of-7 from the field and drained three triples for 15 points. Brianna Wooldridge helped the Cougars effort with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting and five free throws. SIUE's bench outscored Little Rock, 22-7.
THE SERIES
Little Rock leads the series with SIUE, 4-1. The Trojans grabbed the last win on the opening day of conference play on Dec. 19 with a final score of 83-60.
