FAYETTEVILLE — It was the opposite of a momentum-builder.
The Arkansas women’s basketball team got whipped in its SEC regular-season finale Sunday, falling 92-79 to Alabama in front of 3,122 fans at Bud Walton Arena.
It was the second loss in three days for the Razorbacks (18-10, 6-10 SEC), who began the week with a chance at finishing .500 in conference play, but now enter this week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., as the No. 9 seed. Arkansas plays No. 8 seed Florida (17-13, 7-9) at noon Central on Thursday.
The 92 points were the most Arkansas has allowed this season, and the most given up since March 1, 2009 against Auburn, a span of 61 games. It was also Alabama’s highest point total against the Razorbacks since Feb. 6, 1997.
“I’m still in a little bit of a state of shock at how well Alabama played,” Arkansas Coach Tom Collen said. “… They buried us early and got into our level of confidence. It was a hard game to watch, because no matter how hard we tried to come back, Alabama always had an answer for us.”
Arkansas shot 52 percent from the field in the first half - normally a good number, but on this day nowhere near high enough to keep up with the Crimson Tide (16-13, 5-11). Alabama broke free from a 12-12 tie to take a 49-32 lead at halftime.
It was the Tide’s highest scoring first half of the season, and they did it on the strength of Ericka Russell’s three-point shooting. Russell went 6 of 9 on three-pointers in the first half, and she finished 8 of 11 from long range, leading all players with 28 points. Alabama made nine three-pointers in all.
Russell’s eight three-pointers tied an Alabama record. Five Alabama players had previously made eight three pointers in a game.
Alabama won five of its last seven conference games after starting 0-9 - something Coach Wendell Hudson credited to an offensive resurgence from Russell who has emerged from an early season shooting slump.
“We played a pretty good basketball game,” said Hudson, whose team was 34 of 61 (55.7 percent) from the field. “We attacked the zone the way we needed.”
Russell hit two three-pointers to help Alabama outscore Arkansas 9-0 to take an 11-2 lead. The Razorbacks were within eight points with four minutes remaining in the first half, but Alabama outscored Arkansas 11-2, punctuated by Shafontaye Myers’ three-pointer at the buzzer.
Arkansas never really got back into it in the second half. The Razorbacks trailed by 26 points with less than 10 minutes to play before drawing the final deficit to 13 points. The smallest margin was 12 points.
“We knew they were going to make a run, but I thought we handled the run better than we’ve handled most,” Hudson said. “I thought that was the key to the game.”
C’eira Ricketts led Arkansas with 28 points, 7 assists and 4 steals; Ashley Moore had 14 points and 9 rebounds.
But it was not close to enough against Alabama.
“They took a game away from us that we needed desperately,” Collen said.
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 80, LSU 60
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Angie Bjorklund scored 17 points and No. 4 Tennessee (28-2, 16-0) completed its ninth undefeated run through Southeastern Conference play with a victory over LSU (18-12, 8-8).
The Lady Volunteers won their conference games by an average 24.1 points.
Tennessee hit 17 of its first 25 shots while holding LSU to 5-of-26 shooting. A three-pointer by Alicia Manning with 3:29 left in the first half gave Tennessee a 44-20 lead.
The Lady Tigers made 3 consecutive three-pointers in a span of 40 seconds, then LaSondra Barrett hit two free throws with 44 seconds left before halftime to cut the lead to 44-31.
LSU pulled within 69-59 on a layup by Barrett with 2:21 left but scored only one more point the rest of the way.
Courtney Jones had 21 points to lead LSU.
NO. 20 KENTUCKY 76, AUBURN 62
AUBURN, Ala. - Victoria Dunlap scored 19 points and No. 20 Kentucky (22-7, 11-5) beat Auburn (15-14, 8-8).
The Wildcats trailed 33-30 at halftime after the Tigers’ Alli Smalley hit a 35-footer at the buzzer.
Kentucky used a 10-0 run in 2:58 to take a 50-43 lead with 10:34 left. After the Tigers cut the lead to 57-52, the Wildcats went on a 12-3 run ending in a Maegan Conwright three-point play and a 69-55 lead with 3:26 left.
A’dia Mathies scored 13, Keyla Snowden had 11 and Conwright added 10 for the Wildcats.
Kentucky shot 26 of 34 (76.5 percent) from the free throw line and forced the Tigers into 29 turnovers.
Smalley led the Tigers with 24 points. Morgan Jennings scored 16 points, and Chantel Hilliard and Blanche Alverson each added 10.
FLORIDA 74, NO. 22 GEORGIA 71
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Jaterra Bonds scored 22 points, Jordan Jones added 18 and Florida (17-13, 7-9) handed No. 22 Georgia (20-9, 10-6) its third consecutive loss.
The Gators finished the regular season with a three-game winning streak and secured the No. 8 seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs will be the No. 4 seed.
Bonds was 5 of 10 from three-point range and Jones was 3 of 6.
Georgia, which led 71-70 with 1:11 left, missed 11 of 14 shots from three-point range.
Jasmine James led Georgia with 23 points. Porsha Phillips added 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/28/2011