FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas women may have had their bubble burst for an NCAA Tournament bid after Thursday night's loss to No. 13 Kentucky.
Arkansas' hopes for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011-2012 were dealt a blow after a 56-51 decision at Walton Arena.
Arkansas (16-11, 6-9) had started the SEC season 0-4 but won 4-of-6 games to get in contention for a tournament bid. Arkansas finishes the SEC regular season at Missouri on Sunday before play begins in the SEC Tournament.
"I still feel like we have a good shot," Arkansas Coach Jimmy Dykes said. "But it just makes that game on Sunday at Missouri all that much bigger. We just have to go up there and do everything we can to get that win."
Jessica Jackson led Arkansas with 23 points, while Calli Berna and Melissa Wolff added 8 points apiece and Kelsey Brooks chipped in 7.
Arkansas trailed by as much as 17 early in the game and rallied from a 11-point deficit with 5:23 to play behind a furious 10-0 run that pulled the Razorbacks to within 52-51 with 1:41.
The Razorbacks then ran out of gas.
The Wildcats worked inside for a layup to go ahead by three before Kentucky's Bria Goss stole the ball from Berna and drove in for a layup for a five-point lead with :15 left that sealed the victory .
The victory was a relief for Kentucky (20-8, 9-6) which had stumbled into Walton Arena on a three-game losing skid but was still ranked in the top 25.
"This is about a big a win as we have had at Kentucky, maybe ever," Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell said. "With what we have been going through the last couple of weeks, we really needed a win."
Dykes pointed out that Arkansas was just 19-of-71 (27 percent) from the field.
"That's the most shots we've had all year and we only scored 51 points," Dykes said. "You aren't going to beat many teams shooting that poorly, much less a good team like Kentucky."
Kentucky dominated most of the first half before settling for a 30-24 lead at the break.
The Wildcats jumped ahead 13-2 and 24-7 midway through the first half with Arkansas struggling to score.
"We were very focused in our pregame and the shootaround," Mitchell said. "I felt like we were going to come out and play well."
The Wildcats led by as much as 28-14 with 3:24 to play in the first half before Arkansas made a move.
Berna made a three-pointer to kickstart a run capped by a Jackson basket inside to cut the lead to 28-21 with 1:50 left.
"We are always going to be fighting," Dykes said. "There is no quit in these kids and there never has been all year."
It was the last home game for seniors Berna and Jhasmin Bowen.
"You won't find any better seniors than those two, they are both going to go on to do great things in whatever they do after their athletic careers are over," Dykes said. "They have given everything they have to this team."
Berna and Kelsey Brooks played the full 40 minutes. Jackson played 39 minutes and Wolff, who had 12 rebounds, played 35 minutes. Bowen played 21 minutes but went to the bench with an injury before coming back to finish the game.
"We are banged up and we are thin on the bench," Dykes said. "That makes it tough, especially at the end of games."
In other games involving Top 25 SEC women, Tiffany Mitchell scored 16 points and No. 2 South Carolina beat No. 11 Mississippi State 69-50 Thursday in Columbia, S.C., to clinch a share of its second consecutive SEC regular-season title.... Cierra Burdick scored 18 points to lead No. 6 Tennessee to a 70-59 victory over Georgia in Athens, Ga. ... Maddie Stock made the game-winning three-pointer with 0.1 seconds left to give Missouri (16-12, 6-9 SEC) a 70-69 upset over No. 12 Texas A&M (22-7, 10-5) in College Station, Texas. Jordan Frericks had 25 points to lead the Tigers.
Sports on 02/27/2015