NEW ORLEANS – Survive and advance. Top-seeded Little Rock women’s basketball punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament as it won the Sun Belt Tournament Championship for the fourth time with a 54-53 victory over No. 2 Texas State on Sunday night at Lakefront Arena.

The victory sends Little Rock to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history and for the first time since 2015. This is the third time that Little Rock has won the regular-season championship and tournament championship in the same season.

Monique Townson was the star for the Trojans (23-9) with a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds in 40 minutes. She finished 7-for-13 from the field and 3-for-4 from three. Tori Lasker had nine points to go along with five rebounds and four assists while knocking down three three-pointers. Sisters Raeyana and Ronjanae DeGray each tallied eight points. Ronjanae had eight rebounds while Raeyana tallied five. Little Rock was 21-for-54 (38.9%) from the field, 6-for-17 (35.3%) from three and a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

Townson and Ronjanae DeGray earned All-Tournament Team honors for their performance throughout the tournament.

The Bobcats (23-9) had three players in double figures as Tournament MVP Taeler Deer led the game with 20 points and eight assists. Toshua Leavitt tallied 11 points with three steals, and Brooke Holle had 10 points with seven rebounds. Texas State shot 35.2 percent (19-for-54) from the field, 29.4 percent (5-for-17) from three and 90.9 percent (10-for-11) from the foul line.

As it entered the fourth quarter with an 11-point lead, Little Rock’s offensive struggles from the third quarter carried over while Texas State’s offense continued to flourish. After Ronjanae DeGray made a jumper to put Little Rock up by 13 at the beginning quarter, it was all Texas State from there as the Bobcats went on a 13-0 run from 7:42 to 4:10. Yanina Inkina stopped the bleeding with a jumper, but Leavitt hit a three right after to give Texas State the 53-52 lead.

The Trojans’ defense finally stepped up in the final three minutes of action as it didn’t allow a single Bobcat point. The lead returned to Little Rock at the 2:30 mark as Townson put up the go-ahead layup. With Little Rock up 54-53, both sides missed three shots each in the final two minutes. With two seconds remaining in the game, Deer missed the go-ahead layup by mere inches. With 0.2 seconds left and Little Rock inbounding, the Trojans threw the ball into play off the Texas State defender’s leg to run off the clock and win the championship.

Texas State came out of the locker room ready to play in the third quarter as it outscored Little Rock 17-10 after shooting 58.3 percent (7-for-12). The Trojans shot just 21.4 percent (3-for-14) in the period. The Bobcats’ biggest run of the quarter occurred with 5:53 left in the period as Texas State went on a 9-0 run.

The Trojans ended the first half with an 18-point lead over the Bobcats after shooting 53.6 percent (15-for-28) in the first 20 minutes. Townson ended the half with a game-high 12 points as she went 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Little Rock held Texas State to 20 percent (6-for-30) in the half and kept the Bobcats’ three-point shooting at bay as they shot just 1-for-10. Up 33-20, Little Rock ended the half on a 5-0 thanks to two free throws by Keys and a layup and a free throw by Raeyana DeGray.

Little Rock got off to a scorching start as it led Texas State 20-7 after 10 minutes of play. Townson was sensational as she started the game 4-for-4 with one three-pointer and two rebounds. Little Rock shot 60 percent (9-for-15) for the period while holding Texas State to 17.6 percent (3-for-17). The Trojans were dominant on the boards as they outrebounded the Bobcats 13-7. Little Rock had two runs of seven points each in the period and finished the quarter on a 14-2 run.

Keanna Keys finished with six points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block. Inkina ended up with six points, and Terrion Moore tallied four assists and four rebounds.

Little Rock had a 41-27 advantage in rebounds and a 13-12 advantage in assists. The Trojans led for just over 37 minutes while the Bobcats led for just under two minutes.

Little Rock will now prepare for the NCAA Selection Show on Monday at 6 p.m. in the Legends Room of the Jack Stephens Center. Festivities are set to begin at 5:30 p.m.

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LITTLE ROCK – A huge fourth-quarter run propelled the Little Rock women’s basketball team to its first-ever Postseason WNIT victory at Southern Miss on Wednesday evening.

With the game tied at 54-54 with 6:34 left, Little Rock (25-8) scored 13 of the next 16 points to defeat Southern Miss (23-11) and advance to the Second Round of the Postseason WNIT for the first time in program history.

The Trojans will face either Alabama or Mercer at a date and time this weekend still to be determined. Alabama and Mercer play in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Thursday evening.

On her 22nd birthday, senior Kaitlyn Pratt topped the Trojans with 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting and also had a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman Anna Hurlburt got the start and scored 13 points and had two assists, and sophomore Kira Shepard had 14 points, four rebounds and five assists.

Monique Townson and Sharde’ Collins also reached double-figure scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Townson had a team-high nine assists and four steals.

Wednesday’s game had 11 ties and 10 different lead changes, but the final lead change happened with just under six minutes to go. With the game tied at 54-54, the Trojans started what would become a huge momentum swing with a 4-0 run on a Shepard jumper and a Townson layup to take a 58-54 lead. Southern Miss made a jumper to get back within 2 points with 4:46 to play, but that would be the Eagles’ last field goal for more than four minutes.

The Trojans got another layup and a 3-pointer from Shepard, a Collins jumper and a wide open Ronjanae DeGray layup to take a 10-point lead at 67-57 with 1:22 to play. The rest was all fouling for the Golden Eagles, and Little Rock shot free throws to coast to the final score.

Little Rock got 36 points in the paint during the game and scored 18 points off 14 Southern Miss turnovers. Little Rock out-assisted the Eagles 20-11 and shot 53.6 percent from the field overall. In the fourth quarter, the Trojans made 9 of 13 field-goal attempts.

The Trojans and Golden Eagles played a competitive first half with the Eagles taking a 35-33 lead into the break as Brittanny Dinkins made a 3-pointer with just three seconds remaining. Dinkins had 15 points for Southern Miss in the first half on 6-10 shooting, and the Eagles got 8 second-chance points by grabbing nine offensive rebounds.

For Little Rock in the first half, Pratt scored 9 points and Anna Hurlburt scored 7 while also adding three rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Little Rock used an 8-0 run spanning the end of the first and early second quarters to take a lead but never led by more than 3 in the first half.

Southern Miss had multiple moments where it appeared they might pull away, but Little Rock never led the Eagles’ lead get larger than 5 points.

The Trojans will play in the WNIT Second Round against either Alabama or Mercer. Little Rock will find out its opponent, game time and location after the Crimson Tide and Bears play on Thursday evening.

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