FAYETTEVILLE — Lyndsay Harris said she came to Arkansas to be a pioneer, and she has a chance to do that this afternoon.
The Razorbacks women’s team hopes to honor its five-player senior class with a victory against Mississippi State today at Walton Arena that would guarantee Arkansas (19-6, 8-5 SEC) an above-.500 record in SEC play for the second time in program history. Arkansas finished 7-4 in the SEC in 1993-94.
“It means that we’ve accomplished a lot,” Harris said of finishing over .500. “I can’t say that it’s all us, but we’ve been here for four years and we know what it takes. We’ve been through it. We’ve seen the highs and lows of the SEC.
“It would mean so much to us to get [over] .500 just because we finally felt like we helped turn the Arkansas program around. That’s what we came here for initially.”
Harris, fellow guards C’eira Ricketts and Julie Inman and forwards Ashley Daniels and Jamesha Townsend were members of Coach Tom Collen’s first recruiting class in 2008. Harris, Ricketts and Daniels have been key performers throughout their four-year career, which has been highlighted by a recent eight-game conference winning streak that put Arkansas on the cusp of a women’s NCAA Tournament appearance, which would be the program’s first since 2003.
Arkansas’ winning streak ended with a 50-42 loss to LSU on Thursday, but a rebound victory against the Bulldogs (14-12, 4-9) would keep the Razorbacks in the running for a top-four conference finish and a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament.
“Every senior day is a better day if you come away with a win, especially with this class in particular,” Collen said. “They’ve done an awful lot to help us flip this program. We’re right there on the verge of it.”
Arkansas has proved its mettle after answering its 0-4 conference start with its program-best winning streak. Collen said he believes the Razorbacks are worthy of an NCAA Tournament bid, but there is no guarantee the tournament selection committee feels that way.
“We don’t want to leave any doubt in the NCAA Tournament people’s minds about whether we’re good enough to be in the field or not,” Collen said. “I learned over my time you don’t want to leave it in the hands of the NCAA committee. You want to have your resume built, not having to win one more game.
“My gut tells me if they elected the field today, we’re in the tournament. But they don’t elect the field today.”
Arkansas has road games against No. 13 Tennessee and No. 25 South Carolina to close out the conference season, so Collen said a victory against Mississippi State would be a good salve for the team’s confidence after a poor showing against LSU. The Razorbacks defeated Mississippi State 51-35 on Jan. 26.
“A win over Mississippi State shows we can bounce back,” Collen said.
“It would be another win over an SEC team, and you need that win because we’re going out on the road our last two games and we want to go out in a positive state of mind.”
The Razorbacks will need more production inside against the Bulldogs than Arkansas got against LSU. Forwards Daniels and Sarah Watkins had 8 fouls, 6 points and 1 rebound against LSU, and Mississippi State has two starters 6-4 or taller.
Daniels got in early foul trouble against LSU and fouled out in the second half. Daniels had scored 10 or more points in eight consecutive games.
“I don’t think anybody on the team got down on themselves or lost confidence,” Daniels said. “We started the SEC going 0-4 and you see how we stayed together.”
UA women vs. Mississippi State
WHEN 2 p.m.
WHERE Walton Arena, Fayetteville RECORDS Arkansas 19-6, 8-5 SEC; Mississippi State 14-12, 4-9 SERIES Arkansas leads 17-12 TICKETS $10 adult, $5 youth reserved; $8 general admission RADIO Arkansas women’s radio network
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS MISSISSIPPI STATE POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Porsha Porter 5-6, Sr 13.2 4.9 G Diamber Johnson 5-7, Sr 15.5 1.9 G Kendra Grant 5-11, Fr 7.5 4.0 F Martha Alwal 6-4, Fr 5.8 7.7 C Catina Bett 6-5, Sr 5.6 4.1 COACH Sharon Fanning-Otis (281-228 in 17 seasons at Mississippi State; 608-456 in 36 seasons overall) ARKANSAS POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G C’eira Ricketts 5-9, Sr 11.0 4.4 G Lyndsay Harris 5-9, Sr 8.8 2.3 F D. Robinson 6-0, So 7.4 4.4 F Ashley Daniels 6-2, Sr 7.9 6.0 P Sarah Watkins 6-3, Jr 10.7 4.7 COACH Tom Collen (19-6 88-63 in five seasons at Arkansas; 305-133 in 14 seasons overall)CHALK TALK Arkansas forwards Ashley Daniels and Sarah Watkins had six points and one rebound against LSU in Thursday’s loss. Mississippi State freshman center Martha Alwal had 14 rebounds and six blocks in the first game against Arkansas. - Marty Cook
Sports, Pages 21 on 02/19/2012