ARKANSAS 71,
PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 44
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas women's basketball Coach Mike Neighbors didn't panic when his team got off to a slow start Sunday against Prairie View A&M and neither did his players.
The Razorbacks roared back from an early deficit with a strong second half to claim a 71-44 victory in front of 1,892 at Walton Arena.
Neighbors figured his team would be rusty following final exams this week and was pleased with how the players bounced back in the second half.
"I didn't say hardly a word at halftime," Neighbors said. "They talked to themselves, fixed a lot of problems, and I thought our second half was more like the team we've been seeing. But I'm certainly not hitting panic mode. I know what they went through last week. I thought they played really well from the middle of the second quarter on.
"I thought they were the aggressor. I was concerned with that. I was concerned that [Prairie View] came in off a road trip to Colorado where the altitude's supposed to zap you. We were sleeping in our own beds. We challenged them a little bit with that."
Prairie View (3-5) led 18-13 after the first quarter and outrebounded Arkansas 19-11. But the Razorbacks (8-3) dominated from there. Arkansas held a 64-46 rebounding edge for the game, but it was even bigger in the final three quarters (53-27).
The Razorbacks held the Panthers to four second-quarter points and held a 26-22 lead at the intermission, despite missing 16 consecutive shots at one point. They pulled away in the second half, using a quick 9-2 spurt to end the third quarter for a 47-31 advantage en route to the blowout.
Bailey Zimmerman and Kiara Williams led the Razorbacks' rebounding efforts with 11 and 10, respectively.
Arkansas shot 33 percent (25 of 76) for the game and 3 of 23 (13 percent) from three-point range. Williams acknowledged the eight-day layoff between games and dealing with finals all played a part in the slow start.
"I think more than three or four days between games, teams can get sluggish and lose that sense of urgency," Williams said. "But I felt like in the second half, we picked it up.
"Along with the graduation, we weren't in [Walton Arena] that many days, so I feel like coming from our practice facility over to Bud it was a big change with our shooting. We just have to get comfortable again."
Arkansas' Taylah Thomas was the only player on either team to finish with 10 or more points. The 6-foot-1 sophomore scored 11 points in 15 minutes off the bench.
Prairie View's trip to Fayetteville was the second of six consecutive road games for the Panthers. They won't play a home game until Jan. 12 when they host to Texas Southern.
Sports on 12/17/2018