UA women win
Senior forward Jhasmin Bowen scored 21 points to lead the Arkansas women’s basketball team (13-8, 3-6 SEC) to its second consecutive SEC victory, beating Alabama 53-42 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Razorbacks defeated Auburn on Thursday.
Jhasmin Bowen had not led the Arkansas women’s basketball team in scoring once since the start of SEC play, instead providing it with complementary scoring and boosts elsewhere.
But Sunday, Bowen, a 6-1 senior, from Wichita, Kan., changed that trend.
Bowen scored a career21 points to lift the Razorbacks to a 53-42 victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the Razorbacks’ second consecutive SEC victory.
Bowen, third on the team at 11.2 points per game, made 7 of 15 shots from the floor 7 of 9 from the free-throw line with 8 rebounds as Arkansas (13-8, 3-6) overcame 34.7 percent shooting and 19 turnovers.
Coach Jimmy Dykes found only one area of complaint regarding Bowen’s performance.
“Great in every area other than she had eight turnovers,” Dykes said. “She was a warrior today.” She got plenty of help, too. Sophomore Jessica Jackson of Jacksonville finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, the third time this season and eighth time in her career that Jackson has had 10 or more points and rebounds in the same game.
Jackson made 5 of 9 shots form the floor and had 2 blocked shots. It was the most points she’s had since a Jan. 11 loss to Tennessee when she scored 18, and the most rebounds since the season’s second game, when she had 12 in a victory over Savannah State on Nov. 16.
“She’s back to being Jessica Jackson,” Dykes said. “She played 34 minutes and her energy level never dropped off. To me, it was one of Jessica’s best games since I’ve been the head coach in terms of all the things that she did to help us win the ball game today.”
Jackson’s jumper less than five minutes into the game tied the game at 6-6 as Arkansas outscored Alabama 9-0 to go up 13-6 with 12:09 left in the half. Arkansas never trailed again, and led 24-16 at halftime. Arkansas never led by less than five points the rest of the second half while holding Alabama (12-12, 1-8) to 19 points below its season average and to 31.9 percent shooting.
Karyla Middlebrook led Alabama with 11 points and Ashley Williams had 8 points and 12 rebounds.
Dykes praised senior point guard Calli Berna. She was 1 of 5 from the floor and 1 of 4 from three-point range to finish with 4 points, but had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 turnovers in 37 minutes.
Bowen, Berna and Jackson, Dykes said, are the biggest reasons Arkansas won its first SEC road game.
“It’s hard to win on the road when your best players don’t play well,” Dykes said. “Well, my best players played pretty well today and my two seniors really led the charge in a lot of areas.”