Victory secured as Brooks flows

Arkansas' Kelsey Brooks elbows past Oklahoma's Peyton Little during their SEC-Big 12 Challenge game Dec. 21, 2014, at Verizon Arena in Little Rock.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK - Free throws were a struggle for Arkansas guard Kelsey Brooks Sunday against Oklahoma, but when the Razorbacks had to have them, she delivered.

Brooks hit 11 of 20 free throws for the game, but 3 of 4 in the final 49 seconds to help Arkansas beat the Sooners 71-64 in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge before an announced crowd of 3,689 at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

"It was really frustrating, but my coaches and my teammates told me to forget about it and just shoot your shot, you can make them," said Brooks, a 5-9 sophomore guard who scored 24 points. "I just relaxed and I was able to hit some at the end.

"It felt really good and helped the team release a little bit of pressure."

Arkansas forward Jessica Jackson, a 6-3 sophomore from Jacksonville, had 23 points and seven rebounds.

"It was great to be home," Jackson said. "The whole crowd was going 'Jessica! Jessica!' It was cool."

Jackson scored 15 points in the second half when she hit 4 of 5 shots and 6 of 7 free throws.

"She was really good," Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said. "She gave us all kinds of trouble. Her size is a bit of a problem."

Brooks and Jackson combined to score 28 of Arkansas' 34 points in the second half.

"They couldn't guard either one of them," Razorbacks Coach Jimmy Dykes said. "So I kept taking turns calling sets and plays to keep the ball in their hands."

Arkansas (9-2) shot 52.4 percent from the free throw line (22 of 42) and senior point guard Calli Berna -- who came into the game averaging an SEC-high 36.7 minutes -- was limited to 24 because of four fouls.

"We're not a pretty team at times, and we can go stretches without scoring," Dykes said. "If we can miss 20 free throws and beat a really good team, that's amazing to me.

"We left a ton of points on that floor, but we still found a way to win because we're tough and we fight."

Senior forward Jhasmin Bowen had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals for Arkansas. Junior forward Melissa Wolff, from Cabot, had 6 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals.

Freshman guard McKinley Bostad played 20 minutes with Berna having to sit out and sophomore forward DeeDee West had 3 points, 5 rebounds and a career-high 4 blocked shots in 13 minutes off the bench.

"DeeDee has sat through some games where she didn't even play, bless her heart, but she never drops her head and always has a good attitude," Dykes said. "We called on her today and she gave us huge, huge minutes."

Junior guard Nicole Kornet and freshman center McKenna Treece led Oklahoma (5-5) with 11 points each.

The Sooners, who have been to 15 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, lost their third consecutive game, including 66-62 at UALR and 92-72 at No. 13 Duke. They've played seven consecutive games away from home, counting a tournament in the Virgin Islands.

"We're not very good right now," said Coale, who is starting three freshmen. "I don't want to take anything away from Arkansas, they made plays down the stretch, they play really hard.

"Jimmy is doing a great job, but we were pretty dysfunctional. We didn't move the ball well. Defensively, we weren't communicating, we weren't connected.

"We just didn't look like Oklahoma."

The game was tied 11 times and had seven lead changes. Arkansas took the lead for good at 54-52 on Brooks' 15-foot jump shot with 7:19 left.

"I think we really just stuck together as a team," Brooks said. "We didn't get rattled."

Dykes said Oklahoma plays as hard as any team Arkansas has faced this season.

"But they don't play harder than us," he said. "We refused to give in and not win that part of the game."

The Razorbacks outrebounded the Sooners 40-34 and held them to 34.4 shooting (21 of 61), including 2 of 11 on three-point attempts.

"We weren't going to let them beat us with the three," Dykes said. "I like how we can take a scouting report to the floor."

Brooks played 40 minutes with Berna's foul issues and Arkansas down to nine players.

"I couldn't have her out of the ballgame," Dykes said. "I asked her a couple of times, 'Do you need a minute? 'She said, 'No sir.' "

Dykes said he was thrilled by the crowd support fans in central Arkansas.

"They really came out and helped us win this ballgame," he said. "I knew they would.

"One of the reasons I took this job was because there's not a more passionate fan base in the country than the Arkansas Razorbacks."

Sports on 12/22/2014