MOBILE, Ala. –The University of South Alabama women's basketball concludes its road trip in Arkansas with a matchup against Sun Belt Conference's first-place team Little Rock on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.  The game is part of a doubleheader with the two men's teams scheduled to play afterwards.
 
Fans can watch the game through LRTrojans.com/watch, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen, or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
The meeting between South Alabama and Little Rock will mark the 27th in the all-time series between the two clubs.  The Trojans hold a 14-12 record in the series.  Little Rock swept last year's series and has won four-straight against South Alabama.  The Jaguars last win against the Trojans was a 61-56 victory in the Mitchell Center on Feb. 1, 2014 and broke a seven-game losing streak against the Trojans.
 
Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler is 1-5 against the Trojans while 14th-year Little Rock head coach Joe Foley is 13-7 against the Jags.  The Jags will host the Trojans in the last week of the regular season on Thursday, March 2 at 5:00 p.m.
 
In its last game South Alabama rally came up just short as it fell to Arkansas State (4-14, 2-4) 56-53 on Thursday night at the Convocation Center.  The Jaguars trailed by 23 points in the third quarter, and a potential game-tying three-pointer by Candice Williams to send the game into overtime was short as time expired.  A 13-0 run that covered over seven minutes in the fourth quarter spurred South Alabama's comeback attempt.  The Jags forced the Red Wolves to miss six-straight field goal attempts and turn the ball over six times in the long run.
 
The Jag's defense stepped up in the second half for the almost successful comeback attempt.  The Red Wolves shot 58.6% (17-29) from the field in the first half, including 5-9 (55.6%) from three, with 12 assists.  The Jags limited them to 5-27 (18.5%) from the field and 1-8 (12.5%) from three in the second half, including 1-11 (9.1%) and 0-4 in the fourth quarter.
 
Genesis Perrymond scored a team-high 16 points and went 6-11 from the field, including tying her season-high in three's by making half of her eight attempts from deep.  Perrymond also had four steals, three rebounds, one block and an assist.  Williams was the only other double-digit scorer for the Jags with a dozen points and also grabbed five rebounds.
 
Chyna Ellis enters Saturday's game averaging 2.9 blocks per game that tops the Sun Belt and ranks 13th in the NCAA.  Ellis has recorded a block in all 16 games played this season and is 16th in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (46).  Her total number of blocks this season are more than five of the schools in the conference have as a team.
 
With a block at Arkansas State, Ellis now has have sole possession of second place in the program's all-time career blocked shots leaders with 184 rejectioins, moving ahead of Genevieve Delt (2002-05).  Against Texas-Arlington she passed Adrian Vickers (1987-90) for third place.  To become the all-time leader in rejections by the end of this season, she would need to average 2.1 per game the rest of the year.  She is also on pace for 83 rejections this season, which would surpass her blocked shot total (82) from last year and be three short of LaSandra Jenkins' (1982-85) single-season blocks record of 86 in 1983.
 
Little Rock (12-6, 6-0) enters the game on a six-game winning streak and has not lost since falling 69-49 at LSU on Dec. 21.  With a 6-0 record in the Sun Belt Conference, the Trojans sit alone atop the standings as the only undefeated team in conference play.  Little Rock defeated Troy 77-74 on Thursday in a matchup of then the only two undefeated teams left in the conference.  Receiving 121 points the Trojans were picked to finish second in the preseason conference coaches' poll.
 
Even though they come into the game just ninth in scoring offense (58.2 points per game) in the Sun Belt, the Trojans offense has scored more than 70 points in five consecutive games for the first time in program history.  At the charity stripe the Trojans have made teams pay for fouling by going a Sun Belt-best 75.8%.Little Rock is the only team holding teams to fewer points than South Alabama at 56.7 ppg, but it also has the third-worst field goal percentage defense (42.1%) in the conference and forces 16.2 opponent turnovers (second-worst in the conference).
 
Junior guard Monique Townson is the best passer and free throw shooter on the Trojans roster, recording 77 assists so far this season and converting 85.7% of attempts at the free throw line. That average of 4.3 per game is best in the Sun Belt, her 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio is second-best in the conference and her high free throw rate is second best.  Senior forward Kaitlyn Pratt ranks among the leaders in the conference in several categories: sixth in scoring (14.6 ppg), eighth in rebounding (7.1 rpg), third in field goal percentage (50.5%) and 10th in free throw percentage (80.0%).  Senior guard Sharde Collins is the second leading scorer at 13.9 ppg that ranks 10th best in the league, which is aided by 1.3 three-pointers per game (13th best in the conference).
 
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your our ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).