Just as Coach Joe Foley was wrapping up his news conference Saturday afternoon, Krystan Vornes slipped into the media room, hobbling over toward Angelique Francis and sitting down alongside her teammate.
Before Francis stepped in front of the microphone, the pair embraced, Francis dabbing away tears as Vornes reassured her their team would get things right.
The question is whether Vornes will be on the floor to help the University of Arkansas-Little Rock do so after a scary injury.
Vornes' absence only further highlighted the Trojans' lack of game reps as UALR was unable to stick with Appalachian State in a 60-49 loss at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. It was the first time in 15 tries that the Mountaineers have defeated the Trojans as UALR committed 24 turnovers and shot 37.5% from the field in a sloppy offensive effort.
As much as it hurt the Trojans not playing with their second-leading scorer and rebounder, Francis was even more upset by the fact that they couldn't pull out a win for her in a game UALR (6-6, 1-1 Sun Belt Conference) led by eight points prior to her exit.
"One of our strongest players on the floor got hurt today, but that shouldn't stop [us] and define how we play," Francis said of Vornes, who left the court early in the second quarter unable to put any weight on her left leg. "We should've kept on working and kept going hard. ... We let ourselves down."
The injury to Vornes was particularly concerning given that the Osceola native tore her right ACL just more than 10 months ago in the Trojans' Sun Belt Conference Tournament opener.
On Saturday, no sooner than Vornes hit the floor, her left knee buckling after tripping over Appalachian State's Janay Sanders, she yelled in pain.
Foley didn't have a specific update on Vornes' status, but a team spokesman said she'll get an MRI on Tuesday before the team's trip to Troy.
"It was going to be a tough ballgame, regardless of whether we had KV or not," Foley said. "When you miss this many days, that's exactly what I talked about, trying to play games and practice and get kids back in shape -- you get kids hurt. This is what I was afraid of."
Before Thursday's victory over Coastal Carolina, UALR had seven consecutive games canceled because covid-19 protocols and roster issues.
On Saturday, UALR's 19-11 advantage midway through the second quarter was wiped away by halftime and the Mountaineers began to methodically stretch things out after the break.
Appalachian State (7-8, 1-1) led by six points in the third quarter and built its advantage up to 15 in the early stages of the fourth. The visitors had balanced scoring, featuring five players with 10 or more points, led by 14 by Faith Alston.
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Although the Trojans attempted to make a last-gasp push in the final minutes, getting five straight points from Sali Kourouma to slice the deficit to 54-49, the Mountaineers made all six of their free-throw attempts in the last 75 seconds to ice things.
Kourouma and Francis were the only UALR players in double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
"We've got to keep pushing to be in shape to be better," Francis said. "Every inch of my body [felt fatigued], but you've still got to find it in you and keep on pushing. We've been through worse than what we just experienced, but of course, we're going to be tired."