DeGray garners Sun Belt award

LITTLE ROCK — Helping her team score two home wins over the weekend, Little Rock women’s basketball’s Ronjanae DeGray was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week.

In the Trojans’ two wins over UT-Arlington (8-9, 2-4) and Texas State (11-6, 4-2), DeGray averaged 18.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game off of the bench. She shot

15-for-23, 65.2 percent, from the field in the two games for Little Rock (9-8, 6-0).

DeGray began the week with a team-leading 14 points in addition to five rebounds in 32 minutes against the Mavericks. She followed that up with her best performance of the weekend against the Bobcats as she tied a season high with 23 points, shot 10-for-11 from the field and tallied four boards in

31 minutes.

This season, DeGray leads the Sun Belt and ranks 35th nationally with a 55.9 field-goal percentage. In conference play, the junior is third in the league with 19.0 points per game and leads the field with a 65.8 field-goal percentage.

This week’s award is DeGray’s first Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week honors and she is the first Trojan to pick up the honor this season.

Little Rock has first place all to itself in the Sun Belt Conference a 1.5-game lead over second-place South Alabama (11-5,

4-1) and Louisiana (9-9, 4-1).

Little Rock will host rival Arkansas State (9-8, 4-2) on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Red Wolves bested Arlington 85-80 on Saturday after losing 67-55 to Texas State on Thursday. Both games were held at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro.

Malvern’s Akasha Westbrook led the Red Wolves with 19 points in the loss to Texas State, but she was among five players in double digits during the win on Saturday. Starr Taylor, of Jonesboro, led the team with 20 points. Taylor, Westbrook, Lauren Bradshaw, Tahlon Hopkins and Payton Tennison combined for 76 of the team’s 85 points.

Westbrook is the leading scorer among both teams in Saturday’s rivalry matchup. She averages team-highs of 13.7 points on 48.3 percent shooting in 31.6 minutes per game. Her 5.8 rebounds per game ranks second on the team behind Bradshaw’s

5.9.

DeGray is the only other player on either team to average double digits in points. She leads the Trojans with 13.5 points per game, as well as 5.2 rebounds. Her twin sister, Raeyana DeGray, leads Little Rock in rebounding with 5.4 per game.