Stephen F. Austin
Arkansas
Arkansas Outlasts Ladyjacks
12/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2003
NACOGDOCHES - Sophomore LaToya Mills scored a season-high 23 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Ladyjacks but it wasn't enough as SFA lost a hard-fought battle to Arkansas, 79-61, Sunday afternoon at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The Ladyjacks are now 0-9 on the season.
Neither team could muster more than a four-point advantage in a first-half that saw 11 lead changes and eight ties. Arkansas jumped out to a 6-2 advantage early in the contest, but the Ladyjacks went on a 9-2 run over the next 4:53 of the game to take an 11-8 lead. The rest of the first half saw SFA trade punches with the Lady Razorbacks, as Arkansas would score on one end and SFA would answer on the other end of the floor. The Ladyjacks closed out the half with a 6-2 run to take a 38-34 lead into the intermission. Freshman Nikki Carr sparked the run by finding Mills open for two baskets in the closing moments of the half. Carr finished the game with 13 points, eight rebounds and a team-high four assists.
The Ladyjacks dominated the glass in the first half outrebounding the taller Arkansas team, 28-20. SFA also cut down on the turnovers recording only eight first-half turnovers. SFA also shot 16-of-34 (.471) from the floor in the first half while holding Arkansas to 13-of-34 (.382).
The Lady Razorbacks opened the second half with four consecutive points to tie the game at 38 only 32 seconds into the half. The Ladyjacks settled down and the second half began to resemble the opening stanza as a back-n-forth affair.
SFA trailed by only one point, 51-50, with 12:46 remaining in the game when Arkansas went on a 9-3 run to push their advantage to 60-53 with 9:57 remaining in the game, led by Shameka Christon's 25 points.
The Ladyjacks rallied one more time to cut the UA lead to three, 64-61 with 8:15 on the clock behind sophomore Kendria Smith's 10 points and four rebounds. But the Lady Razorbacks fought back to score the final 15 points of the game to record the victory behind Kristin Moore's 16 points and 13 rebounds.
SFA was hurt by turnovers late in the game, recording 16 second-half turnovers and being outrebounded, 27-15, in the closing half.
The Ladyjacks return to action on New Year's Eve when they travel to Tulsa, Okla., to face the Golden Hurricane. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
-SFA-
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