JONESBORO, Ark. (2/19/22) – Mailyn Wilkerson poured in a career-high 15 points, but it was not enough as the Arkansas State women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 73-69 decision to Little Rock on Saturday at First National Bank Arena.

The Red Wolves (11-14, 4-8 SBC), playing shorthanded with just seven available players, battled hard and held a 13-point lead over the Trojans (14-8, 7-3), but Little Rock outscored A-State 21-15 in the fourth quarter to escape Jonesboro with the win.

Morgan Wallace added 12 points with a team-leading eight rebounds, while Jade Upshaw rattled home four treys off the bench for a dozen points. Lauryn Pendleton registered double-digit points for the seventh consecutive outing, tallying 11.

A-State shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the field, including 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range. At the free-throw line, the Red Wolves connected on 14-of-16 for an 87.5-percent clip. A-State also out-rebounded the Trojans 35-33.

Sali Kourouma led Little Rock's five double-figure scorers with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Mayra Caicedo added 13 points with five assists. Tia Harvey scored 11 points with seven dimes, while Dariel Johnson and Raziya Potter chipped in 10 apiece.

The Trojans scored the game's first four points, but A-State battled back in a back-and-forth opening period to lead 20-17 after one. The Red Wolves expanded the lead to as much as 11 midway through the second on six straight points by Wilkerson.

Little Rock cut the deficit down to seven, but an Upshaw trey with 51 seconds left in the half gave the Scarlet and Black a 41-31 halftime lead.

A Love 3-pointer and back-to-back buckets by Wallace pushed the Red Wolves' lead up to its largest of the day, up 13 with 7:19 left in the third, but the Trojans worked it down to a one-score contest with a 16-2 run. A-State led 54-52 after three quarters.

Upshaw put the Red Wolves back up by eight early in the fourth with back-to-back treys before a 7-0 Little Rock run cut it down to one midway through the period. Wilkerson drilled a trey at the 5-minute mark to put A-State up four, but then the Trojans closed the contest on a 12-4 run to escape with the win.

NEXT UP

A-State hits the road to the Lone Star State next week for its final two regular-season contests, opening up at 7 p.m. Thursday at Texas State. The game can be viewed live on ESPN+ while the radio broadcast can be heard on the EAB Red Wolves Sports Network flagship station 95.3/96.9 The Ticket/970 AM.

SOCIAL MEDIA

For the latest on the A-State women's basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team's Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.