Little Rock Claims I-40 Showdown Win, 60-50, at Central Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Bre'Amber Scott was motivated to finish with a win and nothing was going to stop her in a bragging rights game with history on the line. She scored a game-high 24 points, grabbed five rebounds and made critical free throws late in a 60-50 win over Central Arkansas in the Governor's I-40 Showdown battle.
 
Scott was rewarded for her hard effort with a bloody eyebrow and Little Rock's first-ever win in Conway. And the Trojans clinched their first non-conference winning record since the 2014-15 season when Little Rock advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
Brianna Crane added 12 points and a team-high six rebounds as Little Rock (4-2) shot 50% from the field, well above the 36% put up by Central Arkansas (1-5).
 
The Sugar Bears kept the game close thanks to a handful of 3-pointers, living and dying by the long-range shot. They started out the game living by it, opening the game with back-to-back treys by Jalisa Outlaw but as the seconds evaporated in the fourth quarter, UCA would end up dying by the 3-point shot.
 
That is when Scott made them pay for it. Rebounding a missed 3-pointer by Outlaw as UCA trailed 57-50, Scott was immediately fouled. With Little Rock already in the bonus, Scott easily drained the two free throws, pushing Little Rock to a nine-point advantage. Outlaw finished the game with 19 points to lead Central Arkansas.
 
The five-point swing in what could have been to what actually happened would kill any hope of a late-game rally by the host Sugar Bears and cemented Joe Foley's ability to add another first to his long line of accomplishments as head coach of the Trojans – the program's first-ever win at UCA.
 
Scott, who scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half, was able to drive and draw fouls over the final 20 minutes of the game. She ended up hitting 9 of 14 free throws in the second half, not a surprising mark from the redshirt junior that ranks 10^th in the nation (for now) in free throws made.
 
The two newcomers – Scott and Crane – were pivotal for the Trojans as they scored 36 of the 60 points by the Trojans, aided by six assists off the hand of Mayra Caicedo, another Little Rock newcomer.
 
That's not to say the returners were not impactful; in fact they were. Teal Battle nearly reached double figures yet again with nine points while Krystan Vornes scored six points and blocked a shot before foul trouble limited her minutes.
 
Now the Trojans, new and old, will have a much more challenging task in front of them Saturday as Little Rock hosts No. 12 Arkansas in an historic match-up between the two premier women's basketball programs in the State of Arkansas. The long-awaited meeting of the two perennial NCAA Tournament contenders is set to tip-off at 2 p.m. at the Jack Stephens Center. A limited amount of tickets remain for sale.
 
For the latest information on Little Rock Basketball, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWBB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 
#LittleRocksTeam