Arkansas' memory isn't what it used to be, and Jimmy Dykes couldn't be happier about that.
Jessica Jackson scored a season-high 25 points Thursday afternoon as Arkansas defeated Ole Miss 72-61 in the second round of the SEC Women's Tournament at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
The victory was the Razorbacks' first in the SEC Tournament since 2012 and only their second in the past 10 years. It also came against an opponent that has given Arkansas fits in previous postseason matchups. Ole Miss has handed Arkansas three first-round losses since 2006, including twice at Verizon Arena, where Arkansas was 1-3 all-time going into its latest matchup against the Rebels.
None of it mattered in front of a sparse but spirited crowd at Verizon Arena.
"We never wavered," said Dykes, who is in his first season as the Razorbacks' coach. "They forgot to tell us that we're not supposed to play tomorrow."
Jackson, a sophomore who played high school basketball just a short distance away at Jacksonville, scored 21 of her points in the second half as the ninth-seeded Razorbacks (17-12) used an early second-half flurry to eliminate eighth-seeded Ole Miss (17-13).
But their reward for doing so is daunting. Arkansas (17-12) must face No. 1 seed South Carolina (27-2), which is ranked No. 3 nationally and beat Arkansas 73-56 on Feb. 19 in Fayetteville.
Freshman guard McKinley Bostad gave Arkansas a boost Thursday when she came off the bench and scored seven points to spark a 13-3 run as Arkansas took a 29-28 lead into halftime, then the Razorbacks used a 9-1 run early in the second half to take a 42-35 lead with 14:08 left.
Jackson's three-pointer three minutes into the second half put Arkansas up 36-34, and it didn't trail again while making 11 of 17 shots (64.7 percent) in the second half, including 4 of 7 from behind the three-point line.
Jackson was the difference maker for the Razorbacks. She missed her first five shots in the game but made seven of her last 10. Jackson scored on consecutive possessions that put Arkansas up 38-34 with 16:31 left in the second half, then hit a three-pointer to make it 50-39 with 10:08 left and was 8 for 8 from the free-throw line. She also finished with eight rebounds.
"I always get told by everyone, 'Just let it go, Jess. If your first couple of shots don't come to you, don't let that define your whole game,' " Jackson said. "So, just got to keep playing and hopefully the shots will fall sooner or later."
Calli Berna added 14 points, which included hitting 7 of 8 free throws, and Kelsey Brooks kept Arkansas in the game early by scoring 10 of her 13 points in the first half.
Arkansas made 28 of 35 free throws while Ole Miss was 8 of 17 from the line. The Rebels (17-13) played much of the first half without key players A'Queen Hayes and Danielle McCray, who got into early foul trouble, and Shandricka Sessom fouled out.
"It's kind of amazing to me," Ole Miss Coach Matt Insell said. "I guess we weren't very physical. What do y'all think? I don't know. But the free throws were a huge difference in the game. It's just the way it goes sometimes."
Arkansas held Ole Miss to 38.7 percent shooting and held a 33-29 rebounding advantage. Ole Miss' Tia Faleru had 19 points, Hayes had 12 and Gracie Frizzell, a Central Arkansas Christian graduate, had 11.
Frizzell scored eight of her points in the first half, including a three-pointer with 11:14 left that gave Ole Miss a 15-10 lead. The Rebels led 19-12 when Faleru scored a layup in transition two minutes later. But Jackson answered with a driving layup for her first points and Bostad, in the game after forward Melissa Wolff picked up her second foul, drove the lane for another layup that pulled Arkansas to within 19-16.
Bostad later capped the 13-3 run with a three-pointer and two free throws as Arkansas took a 25-22 lead with 4:20 to go in the first half.
It helped spark Arkansas to what Dykes considers a resume-boosting victory for a team who NCAA Tournament hopes remain uncertain. A victory today would help even more, but Dykes likes what his team has done already.
"We're playing like an NCAA Tournament team right now, and I hope that happens for us," Dykes said. "We'll prepare for South Carolina, but that was a huge win for us in terms of our resume and where we're going to be viewed right now for the NCAA Tournament."
Sports on 03/06/2015