DALLAS – Little Rock’s departure from its hotel Thursday to head to Moody Coliseum was delayed by a tornado warning as sirens wailed, warning people to take cover. The forewarning was more like a premonition.
The Trojans (21-11) ended their season at SMU as an uncharacteristic slow start gave the Mustangs a 15-point first quarter advantage and a created a deficit too large to overcome in a 68-42 loss in the first round of the WNIT.
SMU (17-12) flipped the script on the defensive-minded Trojans, scoring 29 points off 23 Little Rock turnovers, both of which marked season-highs for the Maroon and Silver. The Mustangs scored 13 of those points off turnovers in the first quarter alone, ending the period with a 24-9 advantage.
Faith Lee and Sali Kourouma each led the Trojans with 13 points while Tia Harvey led the team with seven rebounds. Jayla Brooks, in a return to her old collegiate home, scored eight points and handed out six assists.
Despite the 15-point deficit after 10 minutes of play, the Trojans never felt out of the game but were never able to whittle that margin into single digits. It was not until the fourth quarter until SMU would finally pull away, pushing the lead into the 18-to-20-point range and keeping it there until the final two minutes when they extended it to as much as 28.
Savannah Wilkinson led all players with 15 points and barely missed a double-double by grabbing nine rebounds. Jasmine Smith, who faced Little Rock three times prior when she played for Rice, poured in 11 points. Reagan Bradley became just the fourth player to tally five or more assists against Little Rock’s vaunted defense this season.
Little Rock closes the season with over 20 wins for the 13th time in the past 17 seasons and reached the postseason for the 12th time in the past 16 years. The Trojans, regular season champions of the Ohio Valley Conference in their inaugural season, shattered several of the league’s defensive records by allowing only 51.5 points per game overall and only 46.3 points per game in league play.
SMU advances to the second round to face Texas Tech on Monday in Lubbock at 6 p.m.
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