Lady Razorbacks square things up

ROB KEYS
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas got even in more ways than one Sunday afternoon at Walton Arena.
Karyn Karlin and Wendi Willits scored 18 points each as Arkansas avenged an earlier loss with an 83-70 victory over Kentucky in front of a season-high crowd of 6,234.
The victory put Arkansas at .500 in the SEC for the first time this season and, combined with losses by Florida and Alabama, gave the Lady Razorbacks (14-7, 4-4) sole possession of sixth place.
It was Arkansas' fifth consecutive victory after a five-game losing streak that included an 0-4 start to the SEC season.
"That's a team not giving up on itself," Arkansas Coach Gary Blair said.
Blair also said he sensed before Sunday's game that his team would be hard to beat.
"This team didn't need a coach," Blair said. "I tried to go up there with my best Knute Rockne speech and our keys [to victory] up on the board ... but right now this team does not think anybody can beat them."
Most teams would have had a hard time beating Arkansas Sunday, as the Lady Razorbacks offset 28 turnovers with 59.6 percent field-goal shooting, a 38-22 rebounding advantage and 24 points off 21 Kentucky turnovers.
Lonniya Bragg scored all 13 of her points in the first half on 6-of-6 shooting and gave Arkansas a 26-15 lead 8:34 before halftime with a three-point play.
"She was unconscious," Karlin said. "She was hitting everything, taking people off the drive, drawing fouls. I think that really got us going."
Bragg started the game and played 31 minutes despite missing the second half of last Thursday's victory over Alabama with a severely sprained ankle.
Arkansas also was helped by the fact that Kentucky senior forward Shantia Owens drew three first-half fouls and finished with just two points and two rebounds in five minutes of playing time.
Owens, who picked up her fourth and fifth fouls in the opening 1:52 of the second half, scored 19 points and had a game-high 12 rebounds in Kentucky's 68-60 victory over Arkansas on Jan. 16.
"The rest of the team fought and hung in there, they did as much as they could do, but that's a major body not out there," Kentucky Coach Bernadette Mattox said. "She takes up a lot of space, she rebounds, she does a lot of things inside for us. When you're missing that, that's big."
Kentucky (11-10, 3-6) also was plagued by 18 first-half turnovers that resulted in 20 Arkansas points.
The points off turnovers, plus a combined five three-pointers from Willits and India Lewis, helped Arkansas build what proved to be an insurmountable 50-37 halftime lead.
"I think the first half is what killed us," Mattox said.
Kentucky got as close as 58-50 on Hot Springs native Tiffany Wait's three-pointer with 14:16 to play, but Lewis then fed Karlin for back-to-back layups that ignited an 11-3 Arkansas run.
Lewis and starting point guard Amy Wright finished with six assists each.
By the time Arkansas' run ended, on a Celia Anderson layup, the Lady Razorbacks led 69-53 with 7:38 remaining.
Kentucky never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way, and Arkansas' lead peaked at 77-57 on Dana Cherry's driving layup with 4:48 to play.
Kentucky was led by Erica Jackson's 16 points. Laura Meadows added 15, LaTonya McDole 12 and Natalie Martinez 11.

This article was published on Monday, February 7, 2000

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