FAYETTEVILLE -- It took nearly 30 minutes for Tennessee senior guard Ariel Massengale to get in a groove Sunday afternoon.
It was bad news for Arkansas when she did.
Massengale hit four three-pointers during a seven-minute stretch midway through the second half to spark a 24-5 run and the No. 7 Lady Vols overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to hold off Arkansas 60-51 in front of an announced crowd of 2,344 at Walton Arena.
"When I hit one, I started feeling it," Massengale said. "We knew if we got over the hump, we would be fine."
Arkansas (10-6, 0-4 SEC) held Tennessee (14-2, 4-0) to 18 points in the first half -- the eighth-lowest offensive output ever in a half by the Lady Vols-- and pushed its lead to 37-28 on a layup from sophomore Jessica Jackson with 11:41 left in the game.
But Massengale hit a wide-open three-pointer 26 seconds later to pull Tennessee within 37-31 and the Lady Vols went on to outscore the Razorbacks 24-5. A layup from Jordan Reynolds gave the Lady Vols the lead for good with 6:41 remaining. Massengale scored 14 points in the big run, including her four three-pointers.
"We talked for two days about not letting Massengale get off shots," Arkansas Coach Jimmy Dykes said. "I guess I wasn't clear enough on how we wanted to guard her because she was the difference in the ballgame.
"Those points were hard for us to overcome."
The game was still tied at 40-40 after Massengale's third three-pointer with 7:41 remaining. But Arkansas struggled to get any offense going during a two-minute stretch when Jackson and Kelsey Brooks -- the team's two leading scorers -- had to come out of the game for a short rest.
"We wore them down and they got tired," Tennessee senior forward Cierra Burdick said. "They didn't have the depth that we have."
The Lady Vols broke the tie with back-to-back baskets in the lane from Reynolds and Bashaara Graves, and a free-throw from Isabelle Harrison to make it 45-40.
Jackson and Brooks, who combined for 26 points, came back in the game with just more than six minutes remaining, but Tennessee had grabbed the momentum for good.
Jackson hit a baseline jumper with 4:50 left to make it 45-42, but consecutive three-pointers from Burdick and Massengale made it 51-42 and Arkansas never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
"If they need a break, they need a break," Dykes said of the stretch Jackson and Brooks needed a breather. "I can't force them to keep playing when they are tired. When your two leading scorers are on the bench it's hard to score."
Tennessee switched to zone defense, and Dykes said it gave Arkansas problems.
"Their length bothered us a bit," Dykes said. "We only turned the ball over 10 times, but we had 2-3 costly ones late."
Tennessee, which shot 34.7 percent, was led by Burdick, who scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half.
Jackson scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half for Arkansas, which shot 31.7 from the field.
Arkansas outrebounded Tennessee 42-38.
"What we should've done in the first half we did in the second half," Tennessee Coach Holly Warlick said. "We weren't doing what has been a staple for us and that's getting down and playing defense, keeping them off the boards and us going to the boards.
"In the first half, Arkansas got all the hustle plays, they got to the ball. In the second half we decided that was important to us."
Arkansas shot 31 percent in the first half but led for nearly 17 minutes as Tennessee hit 6 of its first 28 shots and the Razorbacks outrebounded the Lady Vols 24-20.
Jackson didn't get the start for the first time this season for what Dykes called a "coach's decision." She entered the game with 11:34 remaining in the first half and promptly scored two baskets during a 7-0 Arkansas run which gave the Razorbacks a 15-9 lead.
It was Arkansas' third consecutive game against a team ranked in the top 15. The Razorbacks' next game against a team currently ranked isn't until Feb. 9 against Georgia.
"We didn't have a game plan to keep it close or anything like that," Dykes said of his team's fourth consecutive loss. "Someone asked me before the game what was my plan to keep the game close. I didn't have a plan to keep it close. We were here to win and we did a lot of good things."
Arkansas is off this week, returning to action Sunday at home against Missouri.
Sports on 01/12/2015