Little Rock Downs Oklahoma, 68-56
LITTLE ROCK – In its 150th victory at the Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock women's basketball defeated Oklahoma 68-56 on Tuesday night.

Little Rock (2-3) never let Oklahoma (3-3) take a lead as the Trojans led for all but 17 seconds. The Trojans shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) while the Sooners shot 37.7 (20-for-53).

Raeyana DeGray led and game with a career-high 16 points while earning five rebounds as she went 7-for-13 from the floor. Kyra Collier came up two rebounds and two assists shy of a triple-double as she finished with 10 points, game-highs for assists (8) and rebounds (8). Monique Townson played all 40 minutes and ended up with a season-high 10 points, five assists and a game-high three steals. Ronjanae DeGray was the fourth Trojan in double figures as she finished with 14.

The Sooners had two players score 15 points each in Gabbi Ortiz and Shaina Pellington. Maddie Manning and Mandy Simpson each put up seven boards while Vionise Pierre-Louis led the game with five blocks.

Little Rock began the game with a 22-10 first-quarter lead over Oklahoma after shooting 58.8 percent (10-for-17) compared to the Sooners' 26.7 (4-for-15). Raeyana DeGray led the quarter with six points as she was a perfect 3-for-3. The Trojans put up their largest lead of the quarter at 16-2 after a jumper by DeGray.

The Trojans earned their largest lead of the half at 32-16 thanks to a layup by Townson. Still up 16, Little Rock went to the locker room with its largest halftime lead of the season. The Trojans ended the half shooting 50 percent (16-for-32) while the Sooners shot 30 percent (9-for-30).

The Sooners finally picked up the pace in the third quarter as they trimmed Little Rock's lead to single digits at 46-37 after outscoring the Trojans 21-15. Oklahoma shot 54.5 percent (6-for-11) while eleven of Ortiz's 15 points came in the third quarter. After Ortiz drilled a three to put the Sooners down by seven, Townson nailed a three of her own to give the Trojans a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

With Little Rock up 51-41, Oklahoma began the fourth quarter with an 8-1 run to cut the Trojans' lead to three at 52-49. However, that was the closest the Sooners came to the Trojans' lead as Little Rock built up a 14-point lead with 17 seconds remaining. Despite only shooting 30 percent (3-for-10) in the fourth quarter, Little Rock was 11-for-14 from the foul line. Tori Lasker was perfect from the charity stripe as she went a perfect 6-for-6 during the quarter.

Keanna Keys ended the game with six points and five rebounds, and freshman Terrion Moore tallied a career-high six rebounds, four points and two steals.

Little Rock led the game in steals (9-4) and assists (14-5) while committing seven fewer turnovers (20-13). Oklahoma had the advantage in rebounds (38-33) and blocks (6-2).

The Trojans will now hit the road for Friday night's game at Saint Louis. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m., at Chaifetz Arena.

AUTIO SCORES 20, LEADS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAST ALABAMA STATE 59-47
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team (4-1) defeated Alabama State (1-6) in a road contest on Tuesday, 59-47, as senior Erin Autio led the way with a career-high 20 points. The 4-1 start for the Jags is best five-game start to a season under head coach Terry Fowler, and is the first time South Alabama has started the season 4-1 since the 2012-13 campaign.

Autio shot 7-of-10 from the field, including 6-for-9 from three-point range, en route to her career-night. The senior guard added three boards and a steal in the victory.

Sophomore Shaforia Kines snagged a career-high nine rebounds, all in the first half, while collecting nine points on a 4-of-9 shooting night. Kines also had five assists, three steals and a rejection.

Chyna Ellis had eight points, while shooting 4-of-8 from the field and LaNeetra Guillory contributed eight points, while going 4-of-10 from the field.

Antoinette Lewis had a team-high three rejections and collected five points, three rebounds and a takeaway.

GAME FACTS
- The Jags never trailed during the contest as they led for 37:42 and the game was only tied for 2:18.
- For the second straight game, South Alabama held a team to under 10 percent from the field for a quarter as it held the Hornets to just four points on 1-of-14 shooting from the field.
- The Jags held the Hornets to a 32.2 percent shooting night, the second-lowest by an opponent this season.
- The matchup with the Hornets saw South Alabama turn the ball over just 11 times, the fewest in a game this season by the Jags.
- ASU and USA were tied on the evening with 39 rebounds each, with each team collecting 9 offensive and 30 defensive boards.
- South Alabama went 8-of-24 from three-point range, with Autio making six of the eight three-point buckets.
- USA led the takeaway battle 6-5.
- Alabama State was led by Jordyn Holmes and Kenya Pye, who scored 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting and 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting off the bench, respectively.
- The Jags lost the battle in the paint 24-16, but outscored the Hornets on points off turnovers 6-3 and on second-chance points 8-7.

NOTES
- The Jaguars are 2-1 on the road.
- This was the first time the Jags did not have multiple double-digit scoring efforts this season.
- Tonight was the first game of the season Chyna Ellis did not score 10 or more points.
- Autio's 20 point evening was the first 20 point game of her career and she became the third different Jag to score 20 in a game this season.
- Autio's six three-pointers ties for the fourth-most in game in program history and is the first time a Jag has made six three-point buckets since Sarda Peterson, who is tied for first, made seven against Mobile on Dec. 15, 2010.
- Sophomore Savannah Jones, the Jags' scoring leader this season, was held out due to injury.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "I thought the first-half we played well. We left some baskets on floor. We knew this team [Alabama State] was going to come back and fight, which they did and got themselves back in the game. We just kept making play after play when we needed to. We were making the right decisions, but the ball just wasn't going into the basket at times. I was pleased with that and Erin Autio set the tone for us, got it going and kept it going. I was happy for her because everything is about confidence and that's a boost for her to keep playing well. We went to her and ran stuff for her and she made us look good. It's always good when a player makes the coaches look good."

On Autio stepping up in Jones' absence: "It was huge for us, but we have been saying all year long that we are not a one-person team. We have three, four or five players that can get 20 points on any given night. That makes it tough on the scouting report when you have balanced scoring."

Erin Autio
On her rhythm early in the game: "My teammates have always had faith in me, especially Genesis Perrymond. She always tells me one of her favorite things in games is giving me and everyone assists. She and my teammates have had faith in me and knowing that gives me confidence when they pass me the ball."

On the excitement of seeing her teammates succeed and hit big shots: "It's a lot of fun when my teammates get and-ones and threes. We love seeing each other succeed. We all believe in each other and it's fun to cheer everyone on."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars play another road contest in their second game of a three-game week at Southern Mississippi on Thursday. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Texas State Outpaced by Houston, 72-67
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State women's basketball team was defeated by the Houston Cougars, 72-67 on Tuesday night inside Strahan Coliseum. The loss drops the Bobcats to 4-2 on the season while Houston is elevated to 5-2.

"This team battles through adversity," said head coach Zenarae Antoine. "There were plenty of opportunities for this group to hang their heads out there tonight, but this team fights. We have excellent leadership from the seniors, especially Taeler Deer, Ericka May and Ti'Aira Pitts. Having those three be a part of the program for the last four years, they have been through it all. Adding veterans like Zelor Massaquoi and Zandra Emanuel makes this team tough. We will bounce back from this."

In a game that is best described as frenetic in pace, the Bobcats were unable to knock down enough shots to keep tabs on the Cougars. TXST struggled mightily from the floor, hitting just 24-of-76 (31.6-percent) from the floor and 7-of-38 (18.4-percent) from behind the arc. Conversely, the Cougars connected on 29-of-64 (45.3-percent) shots.

TXST handled the in-your-face pressure put on by the Cougar defense relatively well. Continuing with the season-long trend, the Bobcats managed a positive assist-turnover ratio as a team, dishing out 21 dimes while coughing up 15 turnovers. The visitors committed 19 turnovers while only handing out 12 assists. Of the 19 turnovers, 13 came via a Texas State steal. Taeler Deer and Toshua Leavitt both ended the contest with four thefts.

Deer led the offensive attack with 18 points and 11 assists. She struggled with her outside shot, but was able to get to rim effectively, which led to 11 foul shots. The senior guard netted 7-of-11 freebies. Deer was one of three Bobcats in double figures on the evening. Leavitt added 13 points to her four steals. Like Deer, Ericka May also notched a double-double, her first of the season. She posted 12 points and 14 rebounds, both season-high efforts.

Rounding out the starting five, Brooke Holle and Ti'Aira Pitts both chipped in eight points and five rebounds. Pitts swatted away four Cougar shots, a new career-high.

Zelor Massaquoi turned in yet another solid outing off of the Bobcat bench. The graduate transfer logged 26 minutes of action and stuffed the stat sheet with five points, six boards, three steals and a pair of assists. Chania Wright tallied three points in 10 minutes of game time.

For Houston, it was the Jasmyne Harris show. She was all over the court for the Cougars, pouring in 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting, grabbing 11 rebounds and adding four rejections. Dorian Branch knocked down a pair of 3-pointers on her way to tallying 15 points. Octavia Barnes was the lone Cougar to come off the bench and score, netting 11 points.

Texas State will continue its four-game home stand with a Saturday matinee matchup with Prairie View A&M. Scheduled tip time is 2 p.m. on Dec. 2.