FAYETTEVILLE — Sasha Goforth picked the right time to make her only three-pointer of the evening on Thursday night in front of 2,522 fans in Bud Walton Arena.
The sophomore transfer from Fayetteville drained the open three from the top of the key to give Arkansas the lead for good with 43 seconds left as the Razorbacks went on to claim a 66-62 win over Jackson State despite being short-handed.
Goforth had missed her first four three-point attempts, but acknowledged she took the shot that was open.
“I didn’t necessarily want to shoot another three, but they were kind of taking away the basket, which is what I wanted, where I wanted to go,” Goforth said. “I was trying to have 10-second memory, not think about the other shots. That’s what they were giving me, so I had to take it.”
The Lady Tigers grabbed the 62-61 lead when Miya Crump hit 1 of 2 from the free throw line with 1:01 left.
Goforth, who made just 4 of 15 shots, took the feed from Samara Spencer and drained the shot, turning a 62-61 deficit into a 64-62 Arkansas lead.
Jackson State (1-4) had three shots on the next possession to tie or take the lead, but 6-4 Ameshya Williams-Holliday could not get the ball to fall. Makayla Daniels finally came down with the rebound and was fouled with 10 seconds left. She made two free throws to set the final margin.
Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors had talked earlier in the week about how much respect he had for the Lady Tigers, who returned key players from an NCAA Tournament team, but he was pleased with his team’s response.
“I thought we took a lot of punches today,” Neighbors said. “I thought we gave a few back and really proud of our ability to find a way to beat what I think is going to be an NCAA [Tournament] team in March."
Neighbors said he never had a feeling his team was going to lose despite the fact Jackson State scored the last nine points of the third quarter to turn a six-point deficit into a five-point lead early in the fourth.
“They definitely had the momentum, I’m not going to debate that,” Neighbors said. “But I never felt like we were going to lose. And there’s nights you do. But I just didn’t feel like it tonight. I felt like we were going to find a way to come up with a big stop.
“I may have spoke it into existence. I don’t know if this is real, but I told our kids the last four minutes, I said, ‘These guys have been here three times and they hadn’t won one. We’ve got to give them a reason to not finish this one.' I thought Sasha’s three, that was it.
“From that point on, I wasn’t sure they would respond.”
Goforth finished with her first double-double as a Razorback with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Daniels added a team-high 16 points, 12 in the first half. Spencer was also in double figures with 14 points, including three three-pointers.
The 6-4 Williams-Holliday was a force inside, finishing with 18 points, 21 rebounds and 7 blocked shot for the Lady Tigers, who had previously lost at Texas, Miami and Ole Miss. Dayzsha Rogan was also in double figures with 13 points.
Arkansas played without redshirt junior Erynn Barnum, the team’s leading rebounder, and 6-3 freshman Emrie Ellis because of undisclosed injuries. Jackson State outrebounded the Razorbacks 50-39, but Neighbors credited 6-5 freshman Jersey Wolfenbarger and junior Destinee Oberg with staying strong.
“We only had one day to prepare Jersey and y’all have all covered Jersey enough to know she’s not a post player,” Neighbors said. “We asked her to guard a kid I believe would have been All-SEC had she stayed in our league. She obviously proved that with video game numbers.
"It was big of Jersey and with Oberg playing 18 minutes after really not being in the rotation. That’s incredibly hard, too.”
Arkansas used a big second quarter to turn a four-point deficit after a quarter into a 37-28 halftime lead, holding Jackson State to just 4 of 20 shooting in the second quarter. The Razorbacks were keyed by Daniels’ nine points in the big second quarter
Spencer and Amber Ramirez hit back-to-back three-pointers to open the second quarter and turn a 19-15 deficit into a 21-19 advantage. Jackson State tied it twice in the quarter, but never led. Daniels scored the Razorbacks’ last nine points of the half.
Arkansas will host Arkansas-Little Rock at 4 p.m. on Sunday. It will be the first time those two teams have played in Fayetteville.