UA women look to rebound better

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas women’s basketball team will try to remain unbeaten at home when it hosts Tulsa today at 2 p.m. in Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks (6-3) used a late surge to rally past North Carolina-Charlotte 73-72 on Thursday.

There’s familiarity among the coaching staffs since Tulsa assistant coach Tari Cummings was on the Razorbacks staff last season. In addition, Tulsa coach Matilda Mossman, who went by Matilda Willis at the time, coached at Arkansas for three seasons from 1981-84 and posted a record of 67-27. Neighbors also served as an assistant at Tulsa from 2001-2004.

But nine different players have started at least one game for Tulsa, which brings uncertainty, Neighbors said.

“They’ve played more lineups than anybody in the country,” said Neighbors, whose team has won all four home games this season. “So we don’t really know who to anticipate. I know their style of play and what they try to do. They’ll be very similar to the way Charlotte likes to play without their bigs. Her teams are always guard-oriented.”

Arkansas was dominated on the boards in the first half against UNC-Charlotte as the 49ers held a 34-16 advantage. But the Razorbacks held a 29-24 edge in the second half. Neighbors said effort was key.

“We’ll look at 10 or 12 clips of a shot going up and us just turning around and expecting it to come to us,” Neighbors said.

Devin Cosper registered the fourth double-double of her career with 25 points and 14 rebounds. She also scored 16 points in the second half. That was a career-high in both points and rebounds.

Cosper drilled a three-pointer to give Arkansas a six-point lead with 53 seconds left against UNC-Charlotte. She said the play was part of something they practice every day.

“That’s part of our transition offense, the dragon three,” Cosper said. “I got a good pass and Kiara [Williams] had a great effort in going and getting the rebound. Everything just worked out the way it was supposed to. It’s basically second nature to us.”

Cosper and junior guard Malica Monk lead the team in scoring, both averaging a shade under 19 points per game. Monk also contributed to the Razorbacks’ strong second half with 13 of her 15 points.

Tulsa (4-5) snapped a three-game losing streak last week with an 87-37 victory over the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.