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UA women beat Princeton
DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PRESS SERVICES
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Junior Celia Anderson and freshman India Lewis came off the bench with 14 points each as Arkansas handed Princeton a record-setting 87-45 defeat Saturday in the championship game of the Princeton Invitational.
Arkansas junior Wendi Willits scored 13 points and was named the tournament MVP, and Lewis was voted all-tournament. Junior Lonniya Bragg added 13 to round out the Lady Razorbacks with 10 or more points.
The victory ended a nine-game home tournament winning streak for Princeton (1-4).
"We had 10 players ready to play tonight," Arkansas Coach Gary Blair said. "Early on, Princeton was running its stuff as well as ever."
Arkansas (4-0) shot 54.5 percent from the field but, it was the Lady Razorbacks' defense that defined the game. Arkansas forced 33 turnovers by Princeton, thanks to 23 steals.
"Our press was the difference in the game," Blair said. "We did a great job in forcing the turnovers and controlling the tempo."
It resulted in the largest margin of victory in a road game in Arkansas history. The previous record was 93-53 against SMU on Feb. 28, 1987.
No Princeton player scored 10 points. Kate Thirolf's eight points led the Tigers.
"I think that's the first time that a team I've coached has ever held a team without a scorer in double digits," Blair said.
Arkansas blitzed the Tigers with a punishing full-court defense to open the second half, breaking the 12-point halftime margin with a 12-0 run. A three-pointer by Willits put Arkansas ahead 48-24.
"Our goal was to be 6-0 ahead of them at the first timeout of the second half," Blair said.
Lauren Rigney's layup at the 16-minute mark broke Arkansas' run, but it only woke up the Lady Razorbacks.
Following a Bragg layup, Princeton was unable to advance the ball past its defensive free-throw line for three possessions. It led to three consecutive steal-and-layup combinations as Arkansas pushed the lead to 56-26 with 12:24 to play.
Arkansas shot 77 percent from the field and forced nine Princeton turnovers in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
Arkansas returns home to play host to Boston College on Tuesday.
This article was published on Sunday, November 28, 1999
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Copyright © 1999, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
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