Hawaii kind to UA women

DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES

HONOLULU -- Senior Wendi Willits scored a season-high 21 points, and three teammates scored at least 10 as the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks won their first game of the season Friday, defeating Michigan 78-67 in the opening round of the Ashai Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu.
Arkansas (1-2) takes on No. 22 North Carolina State (2-1) at 7:30 p.m. Central today in the second round. The Wolfpack ripped Northern Illinois, 68-39, in the opening game of the tournament.
After struggling from the field in its first two games, Arkansas found its range against the taller Wolverines and shot 43.4 percent for the game and 8 of 16 from three-point range.
"We were running our offense extremely well, and even if we weren't scoring every time, we were doing things to keep the game under control," Arkansas Coach Gary Blair said. "Getting Wendi on track in the first half was very important."
Hitting only 3 of 11 prior to arriving in Hawaii, Willits was 5 of 7 from three-point range on Friday.
"We had confidence on the floor today, and a big part of that was point guard play," Blair said. "India [Lewis] came in and gave us key minutes, and Amy [Wright] kept us going all game long."
Wright not only scored nine points with four assists, but the 5-7 junior tied her career high with two blocked shots in the game. Senior Lonniya Bragg had 15 points inside with 7 rebounds, followed by 11 from Lewis off the bench.
"We put in some new sets for the post players," Blair said. "We were able to get some key buckets down low, and even when we missed we were drawing fouls."
The two teams combined for 24 fouls, and Michigan had two players foul out, including starting forward LeeAnn Bies.
The Lady Razorbacks held Michigan to 37 percent from the field and gave up only one three-pointer to the Wolverines.
"Our pressure wore them down, and they had to go deeper in their bench than they wanted to go," Blair said.
Arkansas broke open a back-and-forth game with a 12-2 spurt midway through the first half. Fueled by back-to-back three-pointers from Willits and Lewis, the Lady Razorbacks led 23-15 at the end of the spree. Shooting 48 percent from the field and 56 percent from three-point range in the first half, Arkansas led by as many as 13 early and enjoyed a 37-26 lead at halftime.
The Wolverines came out of intermission with a 7-0 spurt led by four points from Raina Goodlow, cutting Arkansas' lead to 37-34.
But after starting the half by missing its first seven shots, Arkansas used the free-throw line to keep Michigan from gaining the lead. Breaking its scoring drought with four free throws, Arkansas' offense came alive after a Shanna Harmon three-pointer with 12:45 left in the game.
The Lady Razorbacks launched a 12-3 spurt capped by a three-pointer from Willits to take a 53-41 lead with 10:56 to go.
But Arkansas' offense stalled again, and Michigan crept back within four, 56-52. The Lady Razorbacks didn't score a field goal for five minutes until Celia Anderson's turnaround jumper and hit their next four shots to go ahead 67-54 with 3:59 to play.
Arkansas closed out the victory by hitting 11 free throws in the final three minutes.

This article was published on November 25, 2000

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