NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Christmas may have come early for Little Rock Head Coach
Joe Foley. While his first wish – an upset win over a ranked Arkansas team in the first meeting between the two schools in more than 40 years – didn't come true, seeing different players step up with two freshmen recording breakout performances put a smile on the coaching legend's face.
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It was impressive enough that it left him smiling despite the 86-53 loss to the No. 21/20 Razorbacks (11-1) at North Little Rock's Simmons Bank Arena.
Freshman
Angelique Francis scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds while playing all 40 minutes and freshman
Skyla Knight scored 11 points and had five rebounds in her first career start for the Trojans Saturday. Two standout performances by a pair of rookies will give Little Rock (2-8) a little extra encouragement and confidence with Sun Belt Conference play starting in just 12 days.
"Seeing those two freshmen do what they did today, that gives me hope for January and February," Little Rock's Hall of Fame coach said of Francis and Knight's performance.
It is a pair of performances that might have surprised every single one of the 5,540 fans that attended Saturday's game. It might have surprised a few of the coaches too.
"We are young," explained Foley. "With Skyla starting at the point guard, she got double figures in her first real game because she hasn't hardly played any minutes at all. I had two freshmen that played against a great team that did a pretty dang good job. That has me more excited about Christmas than what I thought was going to be when I walked in here to see you guys."
His excitement likely peaked early in the third quarter when Little Rock used a 9-0 run that started prior to halftime to cut the Razorback lead to 10. While senior
Kyra Collier led that run, scoring six of her game's eight points in that stretch, it was the work of the other freshman on the court during that time that allowed the Trojans to mount the run. Francis dished out an assist on one of Collier's baskets, Knight hit a free throw and
Ky'lie Scott scored her first career points with a layup right before halftime.
While the scoring run ended, Francis's hard play did not. She would go on to score eight of her 15 points in the third quarter alone and was relentless on the court. For the freshman forward, she just continued performing as she did in practice.
"You work on it in practice," said Francis. "Practice makes perfect and I try my best to do it in practice and to go hard in practice. If you go hard in practice, you go hard in the game."
In the end, the youthful Trojans were not able to withstand the depth of an Arkansas squad that is one of the nation's most offensive teams.
"I knew the depth was going to get us," said Foley. 'They were substituting and we were playing extremely hard. I was afraid that it might catch up and it did."
The Razorbacks were led by 21 points by both Alexis Tolefree and Chelsea Dungee, the latter of which scored her 1,000
th career point in the game.
Little Rock will take a break for the Christmas holiday before facing another Southeastern Conference team on Dec. 29 when the Trojans will play at No. 15/15 Mississippi State. That gives the Trojan players eight days to find another way to make
Joe Foley smile.
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