Trojans earn 10th consecutive win in 40-point blowout
Little Rock Sports
Tyler Morrison, Associate Director of Communications
LITTLE ROCK – In head coach Joe Foley’s 1,000th career game as a collegiate head coach, Little Rock women’s basketball pummeled Georgia Southern by a score of 92-52 to earn its 10th consecutive win on Thursday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Trojans’ 92 points tied the program record for most points scored against a Sun Belt Conference opponent. Little Rock (13-8, 10-0 Sun Belt) last put up 92 at ULM last season. Little Rock’s 38 made field goals and 72 attempted field goals were the second-most in the Division I era (1999-present).
Ronjanae DeGray had herself a night with a game-high 21 points in addition to four rebounds and two steals in just 21 minutes. Tori Lasker scored all five of her buckets from beyond the arc as she finished with 15 points, three assists and two rebounds. Yanina Inkina finished with a career-high 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Monique Townson commanded the Trojans’ offense with eight assists in addition to six points, four rebounds and two steals. Little Rock ended the game shooting 38-for-72 (52.8%) from the field, 8-for-19 (42.1%) from three and 8-for-9 (88.9%) from the charity stripe.
The Eagles (4-17, 1-9 Sun Belt) also had three players in double figures. Nakol Franks led Georgia Southern with 13 points and two steals while Alexis Brown had 11 points. Hailey Dias-Allen was the third Eagle in double figures as she ended up with 10.
The Trojans took their largest lead of the game at 42 points with 2:16 left to play after Kira Shepard’s second three-pointer of the quarter. Shepard led the fourth quarter with six points and three assists as Little Rock shot 40 percent (8-for-20) from the field and 37.5 percent (3-for-8) from three. Of Little Rock’s 19 points in the fourth period, 17 came from the bench.
The already large lead moved to 35 points at the end of the third quarter as Little Rock took a 73-38 lead. The Trojans were 8-for-18 (44.4%) in the period as DeGray and Terrion Moore had four points each.
Little Rock ended the first half with 53 points — its most since scoring 54 against Louisiana in Jan. 2010. The 30-point first-half lead over the Eagles was the largest by the Trojans this season. Little Rock ended the half with three players in double figures as DeGray had 17, Lasker had 12 and Inkina had 10. The Trojans were 10-for-15 (66.7%) in the second period and were 22-for-34 (64.7%) in the first half.
Little Rock began the game with a 9-0 run and escalated the lead to 28-10 by quarter’s end. DeGray had 11 points and went 5-for-6 in the period. The Trojans shot 63.2 percent (12-for-19) from the field and were 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Fourteen of Little Rock’s 28 points in the quarter came from the Eagles’ seven turnovers.
Keanna Keys ended the game with nine points and six rebounds while Moore finished up with six points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Shepard ended up with six points and three assists, and Raeyana DeGray had six points with five rebounds. Teal Battle tallied four points and four assists while Anna Hurlburt finished with six rebounds, two points, two assists and two blocked shots. Kiara Scott had three points, and Sydney Chastain had two rebounds and an assist.
Little Rock will look to sweep the season series against Georgia State on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center.