FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas women's basketball team appeared to be shaking off the rust from a long Christmas break for much of Sunday afternoon at Walton Arena, but pulled away late behind 24 points from freshman Taliah Scott and won 67-48 over Incarnate Word.
The victory marked the Razorbacks' third season with at least 12 nonconference wins under seventh-year Coach Mike Neighbors, who tied Tom Collen (2007-14) for third-most wins (132) in program history.
Arkansas (12-3) played the maximum 15 nonconference games permitted by the NCAA. The Razorbacks will carry a four-game winning streak into their SEC opener Thursday at Kentucky.
Neighbors said the way his team finished its pre-SEC slate, which also included a win over Samford in North Little Rock and two wins at the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Classic last week, should help its confidence moving forward.
The Razorbacks had not played in 10 days, but now look ahead to the 16-game league schedule.
"I think it puts a nice little bow on this preseason as a whole," Neighbors said. "I think we have enough veterans in the locker room that are talking to our young kids. It does change at Kentucky, but the goal still is going to be 10 feet high, and the ball is still going to be round."
Incarnate Word (7-4) stayed within striking distance for most of the game and pulled within 29-26 early in the third quarter. But from there Arkansas found a rhythm offensively and recorded its seventh double-digit victory of the season.
The Razorbacks limited the Cardinals to 16 of 60 (26.7%) from the floor, including 5 of 22 (22.7%) from three-point range. Arkansas' past three opponents have shot a combined 16.3% on three-pointers.
During the win streak, none of the Razorbacks' opponents have scored more than 59 points.
"I think with time and enough film, [assistant coach Todd] Schaefer and his defensive staff is going to put together a good scheme," Neighbors said. "I give about half of our practice time to defense. We used a little bit more [ahead of Sunday] on offense to get back in shape this time, but I think our group does a really good job of executing what he wants defensively.
"We make some mistakes and every mistake that we do make is obvious, and we try to correct it as we go because we know what's coming."
Arkansas entered the fourth quarter ahead 46-36, but shot 57.1% in the final period to outscore Incarnate Word 21-12.
"Our intensity in the third was not good," Neighbors said. "[Schaefer] challenged them as hard as he does, and they responded with a good fourth quarter.
"If you look at that fourth quarter, that's what I'm going to go home and talk about."
Incarnate Word built a 7-1 lead early in the game, as the Razorbacks missed their first four shots from the floor. Scott made a layup to break that drought and began a 7-0 run, which was capped by a Samara Spencer three-pointer.
The Cardinals led for the final time when Aliyah Collins made a three-pointer to put them ahead 10-8 with 3:44 left in the first quarter, but the Razorbacks had an advantage for the game's final 33-plus minutes.
Arkansas grew its advantage to 24-12 with 4:39 left in the first half when Spencer made a layup. The Cardinals ended the second quarter on an 8-3 run to pull within 27-20 at halftime.
Incarnate Word got as close as 29-26 when Jorja Elliott made a layup with 6:50 left in the third quarter, but Arkansas redshirt sophomore Maryam Dauda had a strong third quarter to help the Razorbacks pull away.
The 6-4 forward from Bentonville scored 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting from the floor and 5 of 5 from the free-throw line in the third quarter. She finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
"They did respond when challenged," Neighbors said. "We made a couple of adjustments at halftime with Maryam rolling to the basket instead of picking and popping. She had an unbelievable third quarter."
Scott scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the second half. The guard from Orange Park, Fla., who has won SEC freshman of the week honors five times this season, was 8 of 20 from the floor.
"It was a little rusty in the first half, but I feel like in the second half we really came back and we started playing how we were playing back in Florida before break," Scott said. "And so I feel like that's a good look, especially going into Kentucky. I think we'll be right back, ready to go."
Saylor Poffenbarger, who entered the game ranked second nationally with 12.3 rebounds per game, had 19 rebounds. It was her fourth game with at least 19 rebounds. No other Razorback player has ever had four such games in their career.
Poffenbarger, who averaged 9.9 defensive rebounds going into the game, had 17 defensive boards against the Cardinals.
"Again, don't ever get used to seeing 17 defensively," Neighbors said. "I mean, it's amazing to me that a kid can continue to do that against the people we've played."
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play Kentucky at 6 p.m. Thursday, and the game will be played at Rupp Arena. The Wildcats' usual home, Memorial Coliseum, is undergoing renovations.
It will be Arkansas' second time to play a women's basketball game at Rupp Arena, the off-campus home of Kentucky's men's basketball team.