Overpowering Razorbacks drop Trojans
LITTLE ROCK — Saturday’s visit to Little Rock marked the University of Arkansas women’s basketball team’s first appearance at Jack Stephens Center. But, in a convincing 80-70 win over UALR in which the Razorbacks shot 51.9% from 3-point range and received 24 points off the bench, No. 12 Arkansas — and namely its offense — looked right at home.
“I told ( UA head coach) Mike ( Neighbors) before the game, ‘In all my 40-something years of coaching, this may be the best offensive team I’ve ever seen,’” Trojans head coach Joe Foley said. “I think they proved it again tonight.”
The Razorbacks ( 8- 1) claimed in-state supremacy in the third-ever meeting between the programs Saturday, shooting past the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in a cohesive offense performance that saw four UA players score in double-digits.
Trojans forward Brianna Crane tallied a career-high 27 points, and Krystan Vornes posted 12 while pulling down 13 rebounds, leading UALR (4-3) and improving on the 33-point loss the Trojans suffered to the Razorbacks last December.
But UA guard Chelsea Dungee and her 18 points headlined an ensemble offensive showing UALR couldn’t keep up with. Only one game away from SEC play, Neighbors’ Razorbacks, who entered the meeting with the seventh-best offense in the country, flashed both the firepower and bench-scoring UA hopes can carry it into March.
“I said it before the season; we’ve got eight starers,” Neighbors said. “It felt like it tonight. Those kids all came in and I think dominated at different stretches.”
The third meeting between the Razorbacks and UALR was a historic one as UA made its first visit to the campus in Little
Rock. Foley, a native Arkansan, said the significance of the day hit him only when he arrived to Jack Stephens Center and saw the Razorbacks’ team bus sitting outside, ensuring that UA had — in fact — arrived.
“I walked in the door and thought, ‘ Dang, it’s a little different here. It’s historic,” Foley said.
On the court inside the arena, the Razorbacks looked plenty comfortable, shooting 53.8% from the field and pouring more on UALR than any opponent this season.
UA surged to a 20- 8 first quarter lead with a 3- point shooting barrage. Makayla Daniels was a perfect 3-3 from the field and hit both of her 3-point attempts, burning the Trojans in transition, to score nine of her 11 points in the opening period. With the help of Dungee, who finished 5-7 from deep, the Razorbacks went 5-9 from 3-point range and built a lead it never relinquished.
While the Razorbacks struggled to miss, the Trojans needed time to find their offensive footing.
It proved a quiet afternoon for leading- scorer Bre’Amber Scott, who scored seven points on 2-15 shooting, and Mayra Caicedo dished 10 assists but
registered only two points under the crush of a defense Neighbors said was designed to limit UALR’s guard duo.
When the Trojans’ offense began flowing, it was thanks primarily to Crane and fellow forward Teal Battle. With the Razorbacks focus centered on defending the perimeter, the pair found space in the paint and made the most of it, combining for 45 points with the 18 Battle scored in the game.
Crane and Battle powered UALR’s most dominant stretch of the game when it shaved a
16- point deficit down to only four just prior to half time. Baskets from Battle on consecutive possessions kick-started a
7-0 run, and with assistance on the boards from Vornes, who grabbed eight of her 13 rebounds on the offensive end, narrowed the scoreline to 33-29, and went into halftime trailing only by seven points.
“I thought we were a little reluctant when the game started,” Foley said. “But in the second quarter, I thought our movement and our offense got much better.”
UA outshot the Troajns 14-1 from 3-point range, and the Razorbacks’ accuracy from deep restored the comfortable lead anytime UALR inched close.
Crane followed up her firsthalf effort with a prolific second half in which the redshirt junior socred 19 of her 27 points and helped bring the Trojans with six- points of UA in the third quarter, but with 3-point shooting from Amber Ramirez (10 points), Jailyn Mason (nine) and Dungee, the Razorbacks matched and bettered each UALR run to pull away. Destiny Slocum proved a thorn in the Trojans’ side in the second half, as well, scoring 13 of her 16 points and dashing a late UALR run with a pair of mid- range baskets.
Every time the Razorbacks needed points, they found a way to get them.
“It’s deflating, there’s no doubt,” Foley said of UA’s ability to score. “You don’t play against a team like than ( more than) once or twice a year. There’s not many teams that can play at that speed. You can’t simulate it in practice. You don’t really know what to expect.
Emphasizing UA’s dynamic scoring performance was the production Neighbors got from his trio off the bench. Mason, joined by Erynn Barnum and Marquesha Davis, combined for 24 points, more than 1/4 of the Razorbacks’ scoring output. It’s that depth and scoring ability that has Neighbors confident in his bunch with trecherous SEC schedule ahead.
“In the past, we’ve not had that depth. We’ve had a big drop if we subbed.” Neighbors said. “This year, we can go eight-deep and we’re really close to adding a ninth.”
The Razorbacks close out their nonconference slate hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff Monday. Saturday marked UALR’s final game of 2020, and the Trojans will open its Sun Belt schedule at UT-Arlington on Jan 1.