FAYETTEVILLE - It was close to the complete game Arkansas Coach Tom Collen was looking for Wednesday night.
It was complete domination.
The Razorbacks forced 23 first-half turnovers, led by 30 points at the half and cruised to a 91-33 victory over Oral Roberts at Walton Arena.
It was the fewest points Arkansas has allowed since a 108-29 victory over Bartlesville-Wesleyan on Feb. 19, 1977.
Every player scored for Arkansas, which had 35 points off turnovers. Freshman Jessica Jackson led the Razorbacks with 19 points, 15 in the second half, blocked 5 shots and had 3 steals in 24 minutes. Freshman Kelsey Brooks had 15 points, including 3 three-pointers, junior Calli Berna added 11 points, 8 assists and 4 steals, and junior Jhasmin Bowen scored 10 on 5-of-9 shooting.
“This team has the potential to score a lot of points,” Collen said. “We can score in a variety of ways. It’s just a matter of confidence.”
Arkansas (2-0) had plenty of confidence early against the Golden Eagles (1-2), who were picked to finish second in the Southland Conference.
The Razorbacks’ gap-filling defense worked to near perfection, forcing eight turnovers in the opening five minutes - many off deflections - as Arkansas built a 15-5 lead.
Oral Roberts finished with 36 turnovers, while Arkansas had just 10.
A 20-5 run gave the Razorbacks a 28-7 lead with 6:49 left in the first half. Arkansas then closed the half on an 18-9 run, which included two three-pointers from freshman Bria Pitts to lead 46-16 at halftime.
“We really played together in the first half,” said Brooks, who added 6 assists and 3 steals to go with her 15 points. “We are starting to find our chemistry with each other. We played really good defense and caused some turnovers.”
Oral Roberts got within 59-26 in the second half, but the Golden Eagles later had a nearly nine-minute scoreless stretch which Arkansas turned into a 24-0 run.
“We missed some easy shots in the first half, but we were more physical in the second half and finished better,” Collen said. “We didn’t make the best decision all the time, but overall, I was pleased.”
Collen said he was especially pleased with Jackson, who had a big second half after shooting just 2 of 9 in the first half.
“She started slow in the first half but got more aggressive in the second half,”Collen said. “It was good to see that.”
Arkansas shot 44 percent in the game (33 of 75), including 9 of 21 (43 percent) from three-point range. Oral Roberts shot 13 of 45 (29 percent).
“We did a good job of maintaining our position in the gaps,” Collen said. “We want teams to try to beat us from the outside and I think [Oral Roberts] was a little shocked when they got in our gaps and we always had a body or a hand there.”
Sports, Pages 23 on 11/14/2013