FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas women’s basketball team staggered the University of Arkansas-Little Rock with a 14-2 run to end the first half, then applied the knockout punch with a red-hot third quarter en route to a 73-39 win on Sunday evening.
The Razorbacks hit 10 of 13 shots from the floor and scored more points in the third quarter alone (28) than they did in the entire first half (26) to take control and cruise to the victory in front of a crowd of 3,451 in Bud Walton Arena.
Guard Amber Ramirez, the lone senior on the roster, said the Razorbacks did a better job with ball movement, which resulted in more open shots after a 2-for-16 start.
“I think we finally settled in and ran our offense,” said Ramirez, who scored 11 of her 14 points in the big third quarter. “Once we got into the paint and got a lot of paint touches, we got easier kick-out threes. I think in the first quarter we started turning the ball over a little too much. We just settled down and ran our stuff.”
Arkansas (9-2) led 26-18 at halftime as Sasha Goforth scored 11 consecutive points in a 14-0 run to wipe out a 16-12 deficit early in the second quarter. But the Razorbacks got hot from the perimeter to turn the first meeting in Fayetteville between the teams into a blowout.
Ramirez hit three three-pointers by herself as Arkansas made 5 of 6 from beyond the arc in the third quarter and the Razorbacks took command and led 54-30 after three quarters.
The Trojans (5-5) made 15 of 57 shots (26%) and turned the ball over 17 times. The Razorbacks made 11 of 24 from three-point range, including 7 of 9 in the second half, which UALR Coach Joe Foley said finally caught up with his team.
“Didn’t shoot it very well at all, but when we didn’t make those shots early in the game, I thought we got our heads down and kind of didn’t do what we were supposed to do defensively,” Foley said. “And I think it just snowballed from there.
“We knew [them] shooting the three was the big thing and I think we lost focus on stopping the three. I knew they were going to get some drives on us. The foul situation, when you let people drive you’re susceptible to fouls. We got in foul trouble. That was another thing.”
UALR led 13-12 after one quarter despite missing its first 10 shots from the floor, but Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors echoed Ramirez about the team moving better overall, which led to Goforth’s offensive flurry.
“[Goforth] is a matchup problem,” Neighbors said. “She had a tough matchup on the other end and we said, ‘Be that tough matchup down there. Start cutting.’ We were standing a little bit too much and she made two or three really nice basket cuts that got her baskets and then it got her a kick-out three and it got us another drive.”
Goforth and Ramirez led all scorers with 14 points each, while Elauna Eaton added 11 on 3 of 5 from three-point range. Junior Destinee Oberg also put together a strong all-around game with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists in 17 minutes off the bench for Arkansas.
The Trojans (5-5) did not have a player reach double figures. UALR’s leading scorer Sali Kourouma, who averages more than 20 points per game, shared team honors with Raziya Potter as both finished with eight.
The Razorbacks travel to Little Rock to take on the University of Central Arkansas at 1 p.m. Saturday at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, then finishes nonconference play by hosting Creighton on Dec. 21.
UALR hosts Alabama at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Jack Stephens Center.