Willits, UA melt South Carolina

ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- While most of Northwest Arkansas spent Thursday night at home under a blanket of snow, the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks and South Carolina Lady Gamecocks were heating up Walton Arena.
In the end, though, Wendi Willits was too hot for South Carolina to handle, and Arkansas claimed an 87-79 victory.
Willits made 7 of 13 shots, including five of her first seven three-point attempts, and finished with a game-high 24 points. Brandi Whitehead also gave Arkansas (11-7, 2-4 SEC) 18 points off the bench. Karyn Karlin added 13 and Lonniya Bragg 12.
The Lady Razorbacks shot 49 percent (29 of 59) from the field, 47 percent (8 of 17) from three-point range and 75 percent (21 of 28) from the free-throw line.
South Carolina (11-8, 1-5) shot 50 percent (29 of 58) from the field and 73 percent (16 of 22) from the free-throw line, but made just 5 of 16 three-pointers.
The Lady Gamecocks were led by Shaunzinski Gortman's 23 points. Annie Lester and Kelly Morrone scored 12 each.
The victory gave Arkansas back-to-back victories for the first time since mid-December. Arkansas beat Vanderbilt on Sunday after dropping five consecutive games and seven of eight.
Arkansas' last two consecutive victories came against Southwest Missouri (Dec. 8) and North Texas (Dec. 17). Those victories were the last two in a season-opening eight-game winning streak, the best start in program history.
Arkansas built a 38-31 halftime lead against South Carolina, then opened the second half with an 18-6 run.
Bragg scored six points during the run, which was highlighted by a three-point play by Whitehead. With Arkansas leading 49-36, Whitehead took a no-look pass from Amy Wright, scored on a layup, drew a foul and made the free throw.
Arkansas followed with a 10-foot jump shot from Lakishia Harper and a driving layup from Wright for a 56-37 lead.
South Carolina got as close as 75-72 on a Morrone three-pointer with 2:17 to play, but Karlin answered with a layup on Arkansas' ensuing possession and the Lady Razorbacks hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final 1:31 to seal the victory.
Arkansas jumped to an early 12-4 lead behind eight points from Willits, who made two of her four first-half three-pointers in the first 4:07 of the game.
Shannon Segres came off the bench and sparked South Carolina with a pair of layups, though, and the Lady Gamecocks battled back to take a 15-14 lead when Petra Ujhelyi swished a 14-footer in the lane with 11:58 left in the half.
South Carolina's lead was short-lived, however, as Karlin scored on a layup 1:08 later off an assist from India Lewis to ignite a 16-4 Arkansas run.
Willits hit two more three-pointers, and Whitehead added another, before Dana Cherry capped the spurt with two free throws. Cherry's free throws gave the Lady Razorbacks a 30-19 lead 5:38 before halftime.
South Carolina trimmed the lead to 35-31 in the final minute of the half, but Lewis hit a three-pointer after a steal by Wright to give Arkansas a seven-point halftime cushion.

This article was published on Friday, January 28, 2000

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