No. 16 Arkansas picked up its first road SEC road win of the season on Thursday night but needed big plays late to do it.
The Razorbacks saw an 18-point lead evaporate in the second half but remained strong late and earned an 85-80 win at Mizzou Arena.
Graduate transfer Destiny Slocum registered a double-double and drained a huge three-pointer in the final minute to help the University of Arkansas claim its initial league road victory of the season.
“Clutch, she was really clutch,” Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors said of Slocum. “I think she got us off to a great start which allowed us to be in that position. We got a little bit frazzled but those fifth-year seniors settled us down. To get 20 and 10 assists, that’s accounting for a lot of our offense tonight.
“We needed every single one of them.”’
Slocum’s three-pointer, her sixth of the game, gave Arkansas an 82-78 lead with 32.9 seconds left. Missouri got no closer than three points the rest of the way. Slocum and Chelsea Dungee combined for nine of the Razorbacks’ final 10 points to help the visitors hold on.
Slocum finished with 22 points and 10 assists while committing just 1 turnovers in 39 minutes. Dungee led all scorers with 27 points and hit two free throws to seal the deal with six seconds left. Slocum’s 10-assist game was the first for a Razorback since Malica Monk had 10 against Grambling State on Dec. 28, 2017.
Neighbors acknowledged getting the road victory was significant considering the Razorbacks are travelling the day of the game in order to limit contact. Arkansas (14-6, 4-5) had lost all four SEC road games until Thursday.
“I tell you I’ve been beating myself up for traveling the day of the game and thinking maybe that had something to do with it,” Neighbors said. “… Any road win in the SEC especially this year when you look at where we had to go, we knew it was gonna be valuable.”
Missouri (6-7, 2-6) trailed 61-43 in the third quarter. The Tigers rallied to take their only lead of the second half 76-75 on two free throws by Hayley Frank with 2:22 remaining. But Arkansas had answers down the stretch to earn the win.
Dungee, the reigning ESPN National Player of the Week, sandwiched two free throws and a basket around a key defensive stop to keep the Razorbacks in control.
Redshirt senior Amber Ramirez was also in double figures with 17 points, including 5 of 7 three-pointers. That meant the senior trio of Ramirez, Slocum and Dungee combined for 66 points. Arkansas made 14 of 26 three-pointers for the game.
Arkansas’ long-range shooting helped offset a huge Missouri rebounding advantage. The Tigers outrebounded Arkansas 40-24, leading to 17 second-chance points for Missouri.
Lauren Hansen led six Tigers in double figures with 19 points off the bench, including four three-pointers. Aijha Blackwell added 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Frank and Shannon Dufficy chipped in 12 each, Shug Dickson had 11 and Ladazhia Williams 10.
Slocum and Dungee were a strong 1-2 punch in the first half. The duo combined for 27 points as the Razorbacks led 45-39 at the intermission. The Razorbacks were strong from long range, hitting 9 of 16 from beyond the three-point arc in the opening two quarters with Slocum a perfect 4 of 4.
Arkansas used a 13-0 first-quarter run to grab a double-digit lead. But Missouri charged back and tied the game 30-30 on Dickson’s three-pointer with 6:11 left in the first half. But Dungee and Slocum responded with back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Razorbacks’ lead to eight with a little more than a minute remaining in the second quarter.
Arkansas was originally scheduled to have an open date on Sunday. The Razorbacks will now travel to No. 7 Texas A&M after the Aggies’ game against Tennessee was postponed because of covid-19 issues within the Lady Vols’ program. The Arkansas-Texas A&M game is now slated for a 2 p.m. Central tipoff.