FAYETTEVILLE — Amber Ramirez needed a jolt of confidence in the worst way.
As one half of Arkansas’ two-headed monster guard tandem with Chelsea Dungee, the redshirt senior came into Thursday’s home game against No. 3 UConn after a nightmarish performance against Georgia on Monday.
Ramirez played just 25 minutes and tied a season-low with two points in a 75-73 loss to the Bulldogs. It was No. 19 Arkansas’s fourth consecutive loss to a ranked opponent in the past two weeks, and the Razorbacks’ fourth loss in their past five games.
Looking for a bounce-back game against unbeaten UConn was a tall order, but Ramirez delivered in a huge way, scoring 22 points in Arkansas’ 90-87 win in front of a crowd of 4,400 at Walton Arena.
“We got Amber a bunch of looks tonight and we’ve really struggled to find her the last few games,” said Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors. “That was the punch we needed to have at crucial times.”
Ramirez, who scored 10 points in a 104-82 loss to No. 4 South Carolina and did not attempt a three-pointer, was huge from the perimeter on Thursday. She was 5-of-10 from the 3-point line and delivered a huge shot at the end of the third quarter when her 3-pointer from well beyond the men’s 3-point line gave the Razorbacks a 72-62 lead.
While her scoring was crucial, it was a rebound on the defensive end that Neighbors raved the most about following the game. After UConn’s Christyn Williams (Central Arkansas Christian) was fouled on a drive to the basket with 34 seconds left, Williams went to the free-throw line with a chance to complete the three-point play and make it a two-point game.
But the Little Rock native who scored 16 points, missed the free throw and Ramirez knifed through to gather the rebound for Arkansas, and the Razorbacks were able to hold on at the end.
“Amber Ramirez, boxing out and getting a defender on her back to get that rebound was huge,” Neighbors said.
Ramirez logged 38 minutes and did not have a turnover. She also hit a big three-pointer after UConn had erased a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 7-79 with 5:28 left, Ramirez drained an open shot from the left corner to give Arkansas a 82-79 lead and the Razorbacks never trailed again.
Williams solid
Christyn Williams, the former Central Arkansas Christian star, was solid in her return to the state, scoring 16 points.
But Williams had just four points in the second half and missed a big free throw with under a minute left.
Williams was 0-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line and just 2 of 5 from the free-throw line in 37 minutes.
‘Miracle’ believer?
Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors, a huge movie buff, pulled a page from the annals of U.S. Olympic hockey lore when he compared Thursday’s victory to the 1980 win over the USSR from the movie “Miracle.”
“This is going to be such a bad cliche, but in the movie ‘Miracle’ the hockey movie about the Olympics, UConn, they don’t always see their own blood sometimes because they are not in many close games,” Neighbors said. “So we just felt like if we could keep it close and keep hanging around, we have been in so many close games just in the last couple of months.
“I was probably 11, maybe 12. I was scared to death of the Russians. I had seen ‘Rocky IV’, ‘The Hunt for Red October’ and ‘Red Dawn’ and all that stuff and I was just scared to death of Russians. And I remember watching that game, I think I was at my Uncle Donnie’s house.”
Covid issues
Arkansas played with just eight available players Thursday because of covid-19 related protocols that kept six players out.
UConn Coach Gino Auriemma, who has won 11 national championships and had a 19-game winning streak snapped with the loss, joked that he wished Arkansas would have had a few more in protocol.
“I don’t know what their issues were,” said Auriemma when asked about the missing players. “If you ask me, the wrong guys were in protocol.”
Arkansas was originally scheduled to take on Vanderbilt, but the Commodores have shut down their women’s basketball program for the rest of the season amid covid-19 issues.
Another No. 3 down
The win against an opponent ranked No. 3 in the country is nothing new for the Razorbacks. In December, Arkansas knocked off then-No. 3 Baylor at home 83-78.