'Bama bumps UA off winning track

ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Arkansas Coach Gary Blair said this game would be decided in the closing seconds. He and the Lady Razorbacks weren't that fortunate.
Alabama used a 14-4 second-half run to take control of a 74-69 Crimson Tide victory Thursday night before 2,002 at Coleman Coliseum. The victory, which was easier than the final score indicated, kept alive fading NCAA Tournament hopes for Alabama (16-5, 4-4 SEC). The Tide plays five of its last six games against ranked teams.
Arkansas (14-7, 4-4) had a five-game winning streak, including four consecutive conference victories, snapped.
The Lady Razorbacks led 31-30 and 34-32 early in the second half after trailing 30-29 at halftime, but couldn't hold the leads. Center LaNisha Cartwell gave Alabama the lead for good, 36-34, on a layup with 15:54 to play.
The Crimson Tide outscored the Lady Razorbacks 17-8 over the next 6:01 for a 53-42 lead that proved too much for Arkansas to overcome.
Senior guard Nicole Carruth capped that spurt with back-to-back driving layups, converting one into a three-point play. Both drives came with the shot clock showing less than 10 seconds.
"We're taught when the clock is running down to take the ball to the basket," said Carruth, who finished with 14 points. "When I heard the bench counting down the clock, I just knew I had the ball and that it was my turn to take it."
Alabama also got major production from small forward Shondra Johnson (20 points) and Cartwell (15 points, 11 rebounds). The two led an Alabama attack that shot 65 percent (17 of 26) in the second half.
"We got kicked at the 3 and 5 positions as bad as anyone has kicked us all year," Blair said. "[Semeka] Randall and [Michelle] Snow [of Tennessee] didn't do to us what Johnson and Cartwell did tonight."
Shun Hunter added 10 points for Alabama.
Arkansas was led by junior point guard Amy Wright's career-high 17 points, but didn't get closer than seven points until closing the game with a 9-0 run after trailing by as many as 14. Lonniya Bragg added 10 points for Arkansas.
Freshman Shameka Christon, Arkansas' leading scorer in SEC games, was largely ineffective playing with a severely sprained right ankle. Christon finished with 2 points and 2 rebounds in 17 minutes. She made1 of 6 shots from the floor, including 0 of 3 from three-point range.
The Lady Razorbacks appeared out of sync from the outset, and were doomed more by a sloppy offense and the inability to stop Johnson and Cartwell than the limited Christon.
"We played as bad as we could in the first half ... and had absolutely no emotion," Blair said. "There's no excuse for that, coming in here with a team that was on a five-game winning streak."
Arkansas managed to stay close in a first half that featured five ties and 11 lead changes.
Alabama opened an 11-5 lead in the first five minutes, but that proved to be the largest lead either team enjoyed until Cartwell gave the Tide an eight-point advantage on a three-point play more than seven minutes into the second half.
Arkansas went on a 7-0 run to take its first lead at 12-11 on a Lakishia Harper jumper in the lane 12:40 before halftime.
The Lady Razorbacks led by as many as three points on two occasions. The first came on Wright's three-pointer from the top of the key with 8:40 remaining in the first half. The second came on an India Lewis three-pointer with 2:11 left in the half that put the Lady Razorbacks ahead 29-26.
Alabama took a 30-29 halftime lead on the strength of two Johnson free throws and a 15-foot jumper by Hunter.
Arkansas was slowed by 11-of-28 shooting from the field in the first half and 12 turnovers that Alabama converted into 11 points, but trailed by only a point thanks to 6-of-16 shooting from three-point range.
The Tide tightened its perimeter defense after halftime. The Lady Razorbacks made1 of 7 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes.
"As is always the case, you have a game plan, but you have to have players to execute it," Moody said. "In the second half, we didn't change anything. We just did a better job of executing the plan."
Arkansas plays at Kentucky at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

This article was published on Friday, February 2, 2001

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