Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Second-half surge carries UA women to opening victory
FAYETTEVILLE — Mike Neighbors notched his first win at his alma mater Friday morning, but Arkansas needed a strong shooting second half to do it.
The Razorbacks opened the second half with a 15-0 run to wipe out a five-point halftime deficit, then put the game away with an 11-0 spurt to begin the fourth quarter en route to a 65-54 win over Sam Houston State in front of a crowd more than 3,000 area elementary school students in Bud Walton Arena.
Neighbors said his team made good adjustments somewhat on their own at halftime that led to the second-half surge. He also said the Razorbacks might have been a little too hyped up at the beginnings. Arkansas made just 2 of 17 3-point attempts in the first half and 10 of 35 (29 percent) overall.
“Good resolve,” Neighbors said. “Not a lot of stuff on my part, just them talking to each other and us pointing out a few things. We were
really sky-high, jacked up. I learned a lot about how high is too high for our team today. I want them to be excited, but not too excited.”
Seniors Malica Monk and Devin Cosper keyed the Razorbacks offense. Monk poured in a game-high 18 points, while the 5-foot-10 Cosper put up the first double-double of her career with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The Razorbacks (1-0) suffered through a frigid shooting first half and trailed by as many as 13, before finding the range in the second half. Arkansas hit seven of 10 3-pointers during a key stretch in the second half in which it turned a five-point deficit into a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
Cosper drained a 3-pointer
and Monk converted a transition layup to tie the game at 28 a little more than a minute into the second half. The Razorbacks held Sam Houston State scoreless for more than five minutes until Rachel Harrell’s 3-poitner pulled the Bearkats within 38-31 with 4:18 left in the third quarter.
Cosper hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game and Monk added a three-point play off a drive to key Arkansas’ 11-0 run less than two minutes into the fourth quarter that put the Razorbacks in control 57-37.
Neighbors said switching to a zone defense proved to be big, after the Bearkats (0-1) grabbed a 28-23 halftime lead and outrebounded Arkansas 30-16. The Razorbacks held a 23-21 rebounding edge in the second half.
“The best way to play that team is zone,” Neighbors said. “But we started out in man because we are going to have
to play both throughout the year. That’s part of this being a process team. I was afraid through if we didn’t go to the zone and it might get out of hand and we wouldn’t be able to go on a run.”
Sam Houston State coach Brenda Welch-Nichols was pleased with her team’s effort, but acknowledged the Razorbacks just found their shooting touch.
“I think they just got hot and we didn’t cover out where we needed to cover out,” Welch-Nichols said. “Walking into a place like Arkansas, the SEC, for us coming from the Southland (Conference), we wanted to come in and represent and I’m telling you we represented strong. I think Arkansas has some great shooters. I wished we could have contained them a little better.”
Arkansas has a quick turnaround as it hosts Samford on Sunday afternoon at 1, before