FAYETTEVILLE - Hot shooting and stingy defense have been the Arkansas women’s basketball team’s calling cards through two games, and the Razorbacks will try to build on both of those areas today against Furman.
The Razorbacks (2-0) have made half of their three-point attempts (20 of 40), and they have forced 30 turnovers per game heading into the 1 p.m. match up against the Paladins (1-1) at Walton Arena.
Arkansas’ running, trapping and pressing have resulted in blowout victories over Sam Houston State (81-45) and Oral Roberts (91-33).
“We’re trying to play at a faster pace offensively,” Coach Tom Collen said. “We’re trying to run the ball up the floor.”
The Razorbacks are shooting 46.7 percent, led by point guard Calli Berna’s 6 of 9 (66.7 percent) from the floor and freshman Kelsey Brooks’ 9 of 14 (64.3). Two other regulars, freshman guard McKenzie Adams and sophomore guard Melissa Wolff, have hit 50 percent of their shots, and freshman forward Jessica Jackson, the team’s leading scorer with 18 points per game, has made 14 of 30 (46.7 percent).
Berna has 21 assists and one turnover.
“My teammates are hitting shots, and I think you can see that on the scoreboard obviously,” Berna said. “So that makes it easy for a point guard to get those assists when people are knocking down shots.”
Still, Collen said Berna is the centerpiece of Arkansas’ offense.
“I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again,” Collen said. “I think she’s arguably the best point guard in the SEC in terms of distributing the basketball and doing a lot of little things right.”
Jackson, the SEC’s top freshman scorer, and Brooks, who averages 16 points a game, are the conference’s No. 1 scoring tandem. Along with Adams, Arkansas’ freshmen are off to a sterling start.
“They’re terrific freshmen,” Collen said. “We knew when we signed them they’d have the chance to be really good basketball players here. I’m not sure I would envision they would step up and shoot the ball as well as they have right from the beginning.
“I felt like they would go through some growing pains, and they’re probably still going to have some growing pains ahead of them before it’s all over with.”
Collen has been pleased with the Razorbacks’ offensive flow, but it’s the other end of the floor that has him beaming.
“I think they’re starting to embrace the defensive side of the ball,” he said. “I think we’ve got some players who have some natural ability there and then we’ve got some others who have a little bit of make-up work to do.
“They’re working really hard at it. They understand that it is a significant thing for us and that if they don’t defend they’re not going to play just because they can score.”
Arkansas’ opponents are making just 32.6 percent (29 of 89) of their shots.
Furman, which lost its opener 68-65 at North Carolina-Asheville before thumping Brevard 79-31, should present a tougher challenge. The Paladins are scoring an average of 72 points per game while out rebounding opponents by 10.5 rebounds per game.
Sports, Pages 28 on 11/16/2013