 
|
RETURN to main page
Lady Razorbacks put polish on silver season celebrationROB KEYSARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE FAYETTEVILLE -- It wasn't the prettiest victory in the 25-year history of Arkansas women's basketball, but to Coach Gary Blair and the Lady Razorbacks, Sunday's 69-50 victory over Kentucky was no less satisfying. "There's nothing better than having that feeling," senior center Lonniya Bragg said. That feeling is the one that accompanies a team's first conference victory of the season, something that had eluded the Lady Razorbacks in three previous tries. Converting 20 first-half turnovers into 20 points helped Arkansas (10-6, 1-3 SEC) build a 31-13 lead, and the Lady Razorbacks coasted from there in front of 3,103 at Walton Arena. Included in the crowd were 40 former Lady Razorbacks who were introduced at halftime as part of a weekend celebration of the program's 25th anniversary. The former players watched a game in which Arkansas overcame a mediocre offensive outing with a relentless pressing defense. The Lady Razorbacks shot just 39.4 percent from the field (26 of 66), including 18.8 percent (3 of 16) from three-point range, but had 12 steals while forcing 32 turnovers that led to 30 points. "The prettiest letter is 'W,' and that's all it was," Blair said. "The defense in the first half, now that was pretty. As long as we're forcing turnovers, good things are going to happen to us." Kentucky (4-11, 0-4) led 8-6 early before Arkansas went on a 14-0 run to take a lead it never relinquished. Shameka Christon scored six of her game-high 16 points during the spurt, including a three-pointer from the top of the key that forced a Kentucky timeout 9:47 before halftime. Joy Oakley added a layup before Alvine Mendeng scored on a layup to end a 6:30 Kentucky scoring drought and get the Wildcats within 20-10 with 7:27 left in the first half. Arkansas outscored Kentucky 11-3 over the remainder of the half, however, and the Wildcats didn't get closer than 18 points in the second half. Bragg and Dana Cherry added 14 points each for the Lady Razorbacks, and Bragg also had a game-high eight rebounds. Kentucky was led by LaTonya McDole's 11 points. Stephanie Stoglin scored 10 off the bench. Arkansas pushed its lead to as many as 26 points on two occasions in the second half before Kentucky, playing with seven freshmen and a sophomore, began to solve Arkansas' press and get some better scoring chances. The Wildcats cut a 53-27 deficit to 57-39 with 7:40 to play, but didn't get any closer. "When you talk about [being a] young team, it took us until the second half to understand what we were told in the first half," Kentucky Coach Bernadette Mattox said. "I thought Arkansas did a good job. I'm not taking anything away from what Arkansas did, [but] I thought the second half we handled [their pressure] better than we did the first half. In the second half, we attacked it and got easy baskets like we should have done in the first half." Kentucky got to within 18 points four times in the second half, but Willits answered with three-pointers on the last two occasions. Blair said some of his team's play might have stemmed from an emotional letdown after back-to-back losses to second-ranked Tennessee and ninth-ranked LSU. Still, it was a victory, and that's what mattered most on a day when Arkansas celebrated its "Silver Season" with its first SEC victory of the season. "Hey, all of a sudden you've got 75 ex-Lady Razorbacks and managers and coaches and everything and you've got a good crowd and you're 0-3," Blair said. "You feel a little bit of pressure, but you can't show that to your team. You've got to go out and relay confidence, and I think our kids went out and played with confidence, particularly on the defensive end. "It wasn't pretty, and you would probably rate that the third-best game we've played out of the four ... but we felt like we could put some pressure on their young kids and get some turnovers, and that's what happened." Arkansas plays host to No. 21 Mississippi State Thursday at 7 p.m.
Halftime -- Arkansas 31, Kentucky 13 Officials -- Dean, Pitts, DeMayo Attendance -- 3,103
This article was published on January 15, 2001RETURN to main page
Copyright and permissions Copyright © 2001, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. |
