LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock outscored the Eagles by 11 in the pivotal third quarter to come away with a 58-46 Sun Belt Conference women's basketball victory over visiting Georgia Southern on Thursday evening at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
The Trojans (4-10, 2-1 SBC) kept their conference winning streak alive with the victory as Little Rock has won its last 37 straight league games at home. Georgia Southern falls to 5-9 overall and 2-1 in the league with the loss, thwarted in its bid to notch its first win over the Trojans since joining the Sun Belt.
Defense was the story of the first half as Georgia Southern held Little Rock to just 10.5% shooting from the floor in the first quarter in building a 10-7 lead. Little Rock hit 5-of-7 shots from the floor in the second quarter to draw even, 21-all, at the break.
The third quarter was the difference in the contest as the Trojans held Georgia Southern to just four field goals and 10 points total in the period, getting a Sydney Chastain three-pointer at the end of the period to take a 42-31 lead and hold off the Eagles the rest of the way.
No Eagle reached double figures for the first time since Georgia Southern fell to the Trojans, 64-34, on Jan. 6, 2018. Kyra Collier's 16 points led Little Rock.
Key Moment
Little Rock led by 14 early in the fourth quarter, but Georgia Southern cut that lead down to six, 49-43, on a Mya Burns three-pointer with 6:55 remaining in the contest. But the Eagles couldn't get any closer as the Trojans got back-to-back baskets from Alayzha Knapp and Chastain to push the lead back to double digits.
Stats of the Game
A game after hitting a school-record 14 three-pointers, Georgia Southern misfired on its first 16 shots from long range, finishing the game 2-for-18 from beyond the arc (11.1%)
Quotables
Head Coach Anita Howard on the key to the game tonight
"We got a little rattled and turned the ball over. We had 16 turnovers at the half. So we talked about relaxing at halftime because they really didn't pressure us. But you can't give the two-time defending conference champs 25 extra possessions. That's what we did and that's why we didn''t come out on top tonight."
Coach Howard on the defensive effort
"I thought we did well. In those first two quarters, we held them to 7 and 14 points, but we still didn't score like we needed to. I thought the defensive intensity was on point. We just couldn't put the round thing in the round thing."
Next Up
Georgia Southern completes its Arkansas road trip by traveling to Jonesboro to take on Arkansas State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
