FAYETTEVILLE — Mike Neighbors talks constantly about how important it is for his Arkansas women’s basketball team to be successful from the free-throw line.
The No. 10 Razorbacks misfired from there early but found their stroke and made six consecutive in the final 20.6 seconds to hold off Missouri 91-88 in SEC play at Walton Arena on Sunday.
Amber Ramirez made four in a row and Jailyn Mason added two more in the final seconds to make Aijha Blackwell’s 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left immaterial.
“I think we started getting the right people up there,” Neighbors said. “I’ll take Amber Ramirez at the foul line. I got a lotta confidence in her up there toward the stretch and in the end.
“A good way to finish. We gave up the three there at the buzzer but I didn’t want our kids anywhere remotely near’em to give them a chance at a four-point play. We knew they were gonna come. You look at their second half, they hang 54 on us. They are an explosive team. I said it in pregame to anybody who would listen to me.”
Arkansas (10-2, 1-1 SEC) never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 14 points, but it could also never really shake the Tigers (4-3, 0-2).
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Ramirez and Chelsea Dungee gave the Razorbacks a 72-63 advantage with 6 minutes, 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Missouri got no closer than four the rest of the way as Arkansas made 23 of 31 free throws for the game and 10 of 12 in the fourth quarter.
Dungee, a 5-11 senior guard, led four Razorbacks in double figures with 25 points, including four 3-pointers. Ramirez added 17, Makayla Daniels 16 and Destiny Slocum 10.
Mason said Arkansas’ experience was a key in the win.
“We kind of have gotten our identity for the past two years and you have a lot of experience on the floor at that point,” said Mason, who added 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists off the bench. “So being able to use that experience and knowing you have to settle down in the next couple minutes and make sure we’re taking care of the ball and getting defensive stops is important for us.”
Missouri Coach Robin Pingeton wanted to keep the Razorbacks off the foul line but struggled in that strategy.
“I thought in the second half we put them on the free-throw line too much,” Pingeton said. “This is a team that can score in bunches. They can score at the rim, they can score from the free-throw line, they can score from the 3-point line and we had to eliminate at least one of those.
“So we said we really wanted to eliminate those opportunities at the free-throw line and get into those gaps and protect that paint. But in the second half they got to the free-throw line a lot. They are a very, very talented team. Tough team to guard.”
Blackwell, a 6-0 sophomore who made the SEC All-Freshman team a year ago, led Missouri with 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Haley Troup added 15, while Hayley Frank and Ladazhia Williams chipped in 14 each.
Arkansas finished the first half with a 7-0 spurt, punctuated by Ramirez’s 3-pointer from the right wing at the second-quarter buzzer. The senior guard had her shot swatted out of bounds by Missouri’s Sara-Rose Smith with one second left on the shot clock and 1.4 seconds left in the half.
However, Mason found her open on the inbound pass, and Ramirez drained it for a 45-34 halftime lead for Arkansas.
Arkansas got off to a slow start, missing its first four shots as Missouri led 8-0 just 90 seconds into the game. The Razorbacks fought back and led 24-23 after a quarter. The Razorbacks then started the second quarter with a 10-0 run finished off by Mason’s jumper for a 34-23 lead with 7:59 left in the half.
Neighbors acknowledged the win was critical coming off the loss at Kentucky on Thursday.
“You look, we’re coming off a tough road game at Kentucky and we’ve got Tennessee and Texas A&M up next,” Neighbors said. “This game was crucial. One and one is so much better than 0-2. We had a little pressure on us. You could sense it at first.”
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play at Tennessee on Thursday. Tip-off time is slated for 5:30 p.m.