Little Rock Holds Louisiana Scoreless in Overtime

LAFAYETTE, La. — It took an overtime period to settle things, but Little Rock women's basketball held on to defeat Louisiana 72-63 in the regular-season finale on Saturday evening at the Cajundome.
 
The win moved Little Rock to 20-9 for the season and 17-1 in Sun Belt play. The Trojans now have four consecutive 20-win seasons and 11 in program history. For head coach Joe Foley, he now has 27 20-win seasons in 31 seasons as a head coach.
 
Ronjanae DeGray had a monster game for the Trojans as she tallied a double-double with 23 points, a career-high 13 rebounds, a season-high four steals and three blocks. Monique Townson tied her season high with 18 points and eight rebounds while also tallying three assists and two steals. Townson passed former Trojan Asriel Rolfe for the sixth-most steals in program history as she ended the night with 155 for her career. Tori Lasker finished with 12 points, three assists and two rebounds. Little Rock ended the game shooting 50.8 percent (30-for-59) from the field, 27.3 percent (3-for-11) from three and 90 percent (9-for-10) from the charity stripe.
 
Troi Swain led the Ragin' Cajuns (15-15, 10-8 Sun Belt) with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Kendra Howard was the other Louisiana player in double figures as she ended up with 13 points, four rebounds and a team-high three steals. Overall, the Cajuns shot 42.6 percent (26-for-61) from the field, 16.7 percent (2-for-12) from three and 64.3 percent (9-for-14 from the foul line.
 
Tied at 63 entering overtime, Little Rock's defense stepped up by holding Louisiana scoreless in the extra five minutes of play. The Trojans went 9-0 in the period as DeGray scored five points. Little Rock went to work on the boards with a 9-2 advantage in overtime as Townson came down with five. Louisiana missed all eight of their field-goal attempts for the period.
 
The Trojans outscored the Cajuns 15-11 in the fourth quarter as Townson led the way with seven points. Little Rock shot a game-high 63.6 percent (7-for-11) in the period while holding Louisiana to 35.7 (5-for-14). The Trojans scored six of their 15 points off Cajun turnovers as Louisiana tallied six in the quarter.
 
After two periods of being outscored, it was finally Little Rock's turn in the third quarter as it held a slight 13-12 advantage. The Trojans were 6-for-11 (54.5%) from the field as DeGray led the team with six points and four rebounds. The Cajuns went 5-for-12 (41.7%) behind Swain's team-leading six points.
 
The first half ended on a 6-0 run by Louisiana as it went to the locker room with a 40-35 lead. The Cajuns shot 57.1 percent (8-for-14) in the quarter while the Trojans shot 53.8 percent (7-for-13). Townson had nine points in the first half to lead the Trojans while DeGray and Terrion Moore each had four rebounds.
 
It was a rough first quarter for the Trojans as the Cajuns had the 19-16 advantage in scoring. Of Louisiana's 19 points, 16 came in the paint. Louisiana shot 61.5 percent (8-for-13) while Little Rock was 38.9 percent (7-for-18) from the field. Lasker had six points for the Trojans on two three-point shots. Little Rock had the advantage in rebounds at 10-8 and assists at 4-2.
 
Keanna Keys finished the game with nine points and four rebounds while Yanina Inkina tallied eight points and three rebounds. Moore ended up with four rebounds, four assists and two points. Kyra Collier had two rebounds, an assist and a steal, and Raeyana DeGray had one rebound.
 
Helping Louisiana stay in the game was its 42 points in the paint — the second-most by a Little Rock opponent this season.
 
Little Rock held the advantage in rebounds (39-29), assists (13-7) and blocked shots (4-2) while Louisiana tallied more steals (10-8).
 
With the regular season now complete, Little Rock will turn its focus to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as it enters play as the No. 1 seed. The Trojans will face the winner of No. 8 Arkansas State and No. 9 Appalachian State on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.