JONESBORO -- There's never outward panic with University of Arkansas-Little Rock women's basketball Coach Joe Foley.
The 66-year-old typically comes out to the court a little less than an hour before tip, sitting in his spot on the sideline throughout warmups. Foley may stand up to chat with an occasional passer-by, but he never goes back to the locker room in the last few minutes before a game.
Not much changes when the game starts. Foley remains patient, most of the time directing the Trojans from his chair.
That calm emanates to his team, especially in moments when desperation might otherwise creep in.
Such was the case Saturday afternoon at First National Bank Arena as UALR battled its way out of a 13-point second-half deficit to edge Arkansas State 73-69.
The Red Wolves had a chance to potentially win or send the game to overtime with 2.2 seconds remaining, but an illegal screen was called on forward Kiarya Ellis before ASU could get the ball inbounds for the would-be final shot.
"I don't know if we deserved to win that one or not, but we did," Foley said. "I don't know if it's composure, maybe just being tough enough [in] the second half to not give up. ... We didn't get our heads down."
The Red Wolves pulled ahead 48-35 less than three minutes into the third quarter only for the Trojans to answer. A 13-2 burst over 4:18 pulled UALR within 50-48.
Although ASU (11-14, 4-8 Sun Belt Conference) was able to stretch things back out to eight in the early stages of the fourth quarter -- courtesy of back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Jade Upshaw -- UALR (14-8, 7-3) stayed within striking distance, taking advantage of a tiring ASU zone to get some easier buckets.
The Trojans shot 12 of 29 from the field in the first half before making 16 of their 28 shots after the break.
That included 13 of Sali Kourouma's game-high 22 points. The Mali native put together her first double-double since Nov. 18, grabbing 11 rebounds to lead UALR on the glass as well.
"It was better than other days," Kourouma said of a knee injury that kept her out of three games earlier this month. "I'm in pain ... but I've got to play through the pain because of my teammates. I cannot thank them enough for trusting me."
The Trojans played eight players Saturday, but ASU had only seven healthy bodies with standout forward Trinitee Jackson sidelined by a dislocated shoulder she suffered last weekend in Little Rock.
The Red Wolves tried to counter their lack of depth and UALR's typically stifling defense with a fast tempo. ASU shot 12 of 27 from the field in the first 20 minutes, yet knocked down four three-pointers on their way to 41-31 halftime lead.
It was only the fifth half all season that the Trojans had surrendered at least 40 points.
"We thought that we needed to keep [UALR] on [its] heels," Red Wolves Coach Destinee Rogers said. "It worked. I think we got a little tired in the second half because we're not used to playing this way."
While Saturday was the final home game for senior Morgan Wallace, ASU's freshmen stole the show.
Upshaw, Lauryn Pendleton and Mailyn Wilkerson combined for more than half of their team's offense -- including 17 of the Red Wolves' 28 second-half points -- with Wilkerson's 15 leading ASU.
"With Coach Dez putting [tempo] into practice and that translating into the game, it's helped us a lot building our confidence," Wilkerson said. "It doesn't matter if we miss it."
For the Trojans, a fourth straight Sun Belt win means they'll enter the regular season's final weekend tied for third in the conference standings with Appalachian State.
While UALR won't have the tiebreaker as a result of their home loss to the Mountaineers on Jan. 15, the Trojans can guarantee a top-four seed and a first-round bye in the Sun Belt Tournament with a pair of victories next weekend in Texas.
After Foley's concerns that his team might not be ready for the postseason when UALR came off a month-long pause five weeks ago, that's not a bad place to be.
"At times, we look pretty decent, and at times, we look out of sync and immature," Foley said. "We've got two tough games on the road next week against teams that came into our place and beat us ... so [my team knows] they're going to have to play well to win."