Little Rock ends season with loss at Florida State in NCAA Tournament
Little Rock Athletics
Tyler Morrison, Associate Director of Communications
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A great 2017-18 season came to an end for No. 14 seed Little Rock women’s basketball as it fell 91-49 to No. 3 seed Florida State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.
Freshman Tori Lasker was one of three Trojans (23-10) in double figures as she led the team with 13 points and came down with three rebounds. Lasker became the first freshman in program history to lead Little Rock in points in an NCAA Tournament game. Keanna Keys tallied 11 points and three rebounds in her final game as a Trojan while making a game-high seven free throws on eight attempts. Ronjanae DeGray had 10 points to go along with three rebounds. Terrion Moore had a game-high six assists. Little Rock finished went 17-for-47 (36.2%) from the field, 3-for-11 (27.3%) from three and 12-for-14 (85.7%) from the charity stripe.
The Seminoles (26-6) were led by Shakayla Thomas as she led the game with 26 points and three steals while earning three steals. Chatrice White tallied a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Nicki Ekhomu put up 13 points and five rebounds, and AJ Alix finished with 12 points, five assists and five rebounds. FSU was 35-for-60 (58.3%) from the field, 3-for-9 (33.3%) from three and 18-for-29 (62.1%) from the foul line.
Little Rock trailed Florida State 22-15 at the end of the first quarter. The Trojans shot 7-for-16 (43.8%) from the floor while the Seminoles went 10-for-20. Ronjanae DeGray led Little Rock with six points and was 3-for-6 from the field. Lasker put up five points and had the quarter’s only three-pointer. Florida State’s Thomas led the quarter with eight points. The Trojans went up 8-4 after back-to-back jumpers by DeGray and Monique Townson. That’s when the Seminoles went on their longest scoring streak of the quarter as they went up 16-8 with an 11-0 run.
Florida State outscored Little Rock 31-15 in the second quarter and ended the period on a 10-0 run. The Seminoles made seven of their last eight field goals for the period and shot 73.3 percent (11-for-15) from the floor. The Trojans were 4-for-9 (44.4) in the quarter, but they committed six turnovers. After 20 minutes, Lasker was the Trojans’ leading scorer with 10 points while Moore had a game-high five assists.
The Trojans were just 2-for-11 in the third quarter as Keys led Little Rock with four points. FSU outscored Little Rock 24-7 after shooting 72.7 percent (8-for-11) from the field. The Seminoles extended their scoring streak to 24 consecutive points as they began the third quarter with a 14-0 run.
The Seminoles had the slight edge in the fourth quarter as they outscored the Trojans 14-12. Little Rock was 4-for-11 (36.4%) from the field as Keys and Lasker each tallied three points. Florida State was 6-for-14 (42.9%) with 11 rebounds as Savannah Wilkinson led the quarter with five points. Little Rock’s longest scoring run in the second half occurred in the final quarter as it went on a 5-0 run with a three by Lasker and a jumper by DeGray.
Townson wrapped up her four-year career with a team-high two steals in addition to two points and one rebound. Yanina Inkinahad six points with two offensive rebounds, and Raeyana DeGray tallied three points with one rebound. Anna Hurlburt and Teal Battle each put up a basket while Hurlburt earned three boards in seven minutes.
With the 2017-18 season complete, Little Rock will now focus on next season as it brings back a wealth of experience with 12 returners.
“I think that there are two freshmen for us that have been starting for us all year (Tori Lasker and Terrion Moore), so they got a lot of experience this year,” Little Rock head coach Joe Foley said. “This is just another great experience for them and that’s what I told them. I said, ‘You guys see what it’s like and it’s not going to be a guessing game.’ We got some seniors coming back, Ron’s (Ronjanae DeGray) played a lot now for a couple of years. She had a heck of a year this year. I think we can pretty good and possibly be better next year than we were this year.”