LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – On his own court with time evaporating off the clock, Little Rock Head Coach
Joe Foley sat in a chair on the sideline and cracked a smile.
You can't blame him, the feat his team accomplished Tuesday night is starting to become habit.
For the third consecutive year, Little Rock upended a Southeastern Conference program. This time it was a 42-38 win over Texas A&M on the court that was dedicated to Foley a little over three weeks ago.
Texas A&M, which hadn't been held under 40 points in a game since 2003 until Tuesday night, committed 24 turnovers and shot just 28.3% from the field. Foley's Trojans, with the man defense his program is known for, held the Aggies in single digits in each of the first three quarters and withstood a fourth quarter comeback.
"That was a great defensive effort on our part. Defense set the tone and I thought our kids played extremely hard on that end of the floor. Offensively, we had our moments. We made some cuts at good times and got some easy baskets, but I think we also missed some easy baskets. For our kids to keep the defensive effort even if they missed the shot, that tells you we're growing up a little bit."
Little Rock (2-5) used a balanced, if not sporadic, offensive attack in the low-scoring win. Only
Nikki Metcalfe reached double figures, scoring a game-high 10 points, but seven different players scored in the game. It marked the first time Little Rock has won a game while scoring 42 or fewer points since a 39-35 win over Louisiana on Feb. 28, 2009.
"It is hard to simulate it and it took us a half to get adjusted to it," Texas A&M Head Coach Joni Taylor said of Little Rock's defense. "Credit them, they are really good at what they do. We were prepared and knew what we were going to see.
Texas A&M (4-4) was led by Sahara Jones' 10 points, but they were not easy to come by. Jones was 4 of 12 from the field before fouling out late. Sydney Bowles, who entered the game ranking third in the SEC with a 40.5% mark this season from 3-point range, couldn't shake the Foley-organized defense as she finished the game 1-for-11 from the field including an 0-for-9 mark from 3-point range.
The Trojans led for nearly 37 minutes of game time and had as much of a 13-point lead late in the first half. Texas A&M finally got the deficit into the single digits with under four minutes to go but missed eight of their final 10 field goal attempts in the game, including missing on four attempts in the final 34 seconds, each of which was taken under duress.
Metcalfe recorded two blocks and
Jaiyah Harris-Smith matched a career-high with 11 rebounds while dishing out four assists.
Jayla Brooks, who returned to the court after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face on Nov. 20 against Arkansas, scored nine points, drew seven fouls and had six rebounds.
The win over Texas A&M follows wins over Auburn and Vanderbilt last season as well as another win over Vanderbilt the year before.
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