OXFORD, Miss. — Arkansas’ women’s basketball team finally broke through at Ole Miss on Thursday night.
Sarah Watkins scored 14 points as Arkansas ended a 13-game losing streak in Oxford with a 56-53 victory over the Lady Rebels. The victory also snapped Arkansas’ four-game losing streak.
Junior C’eira Ricketts added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Razorbacks (17-8, 5-8 SEC), and junior Ashley Daniels had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Well, the win is great,” Arkansas Coach Tom Collen said. “We’re still in this thing. We’re still fighting, and we had to find a way to get this win.
“It was a great, balanced effort. Ashley continued to playwell. C’eira didn’t have a great shooting night, but still found a way to contribute.”
Ole Miss (10-15, 3-10) played without leading scorer Kayla Melson. Nikki Byrd led the Lady Rebels with a game-high 18 points, while Valencia Mc-Farland added 16 points and seven assists.
Arkansas turned in a solid and balanced performance in the first half as Watkins scored seven points in nine minutes and Daniels scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, struggled early on the offensive end, missing its first eight shots from the floor before Byrd made a jumper to cut Arkansas’ lead to 8-4 with 14:52 left in the half.
Arkansas went on a 12-3 run on its way to a 24-10 lead with 6:35 left in the half.
“I don’t know how you start the game 0 for 8,” Ole Miss Coach Renee Ladner said. “I don’t know if it’s being young. We really challenged our kids at the half and they responded.”
Ole Miss made some defensive adjustments and quickly erased the 12-point lead Arkansas took into halftime. The Razorbacks never trailed in the second half, but Ole Miss managed to cut the lead to 49-47 with 3:50 to play.
Arkansas turned to its leaders down the stretch, and they delivered.
Leading 51-49, Arkansas missed a three-point attempt but Watkins grabbed the rebound and scored on a putback. Watkins was fouled onthe play and converted the free throw for a 54-49 lead.
Sports, Pages 20 on 02/18/2011