Arkansas Downed by No. 10/9 LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – Arkansas women’s basketball (14-6, 2-3 SEC) fell to No. 10/9 LSU (18-2, 5-1 SEC) on Sunday, 99-68, as the defending NCAA National Champions won the game in wire-to-wire fashion. Samara Spencer led the Hogs with 20 points, her fifth 20-piece of the year, along with seven assists and three steals.

LSU jumped ahead to an early 9-0 lead just 2:19 into the game, forcing Arkansas to take an early timeout. Arkansas continued to struggle out of the timeout, as LSU led 18-0 with 4:15 left in the first quarter. Maryam Dauda then knocked down the Hogs’ first field goal after over six minutes off a 3-pointer. Dauda would then make another one, which brought some life to the Hogs’ offense, as Arkansas was able to outscore the Tigers 16-7 in the final four minutes of the quarter. Off a miss, Spencer knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 10, but LSU responded with a jumper. Carly Keats then made Arkansas’ fourth 3-pointer of the game, as the Hogs trailed 25-16 in the first quarter.

LSU scored the first three baskets of the second quarter, including two 3-pointers to go ahead 33-16 just two minutes into the frame. Dauda then got the Hogs out of a scoreless stretch, as Spencer found Dauda for a layup. LSU then went on a 7-0 run, as Arkansas trailed 42-20 with 5:14 left in the half. Makayla Daniels buried a 3-pointer, her first score of the game, as the Hogs trailed, 42-23, at the media timeout taken at the 4:44 mark. Arkansas went cold, going 1-of-7 from the field, as LSU went on a 6-0 run. Karley Johnson and Spencer got layups, but LSU ended the half on a 5-0 run. Arkansas was outscored 30-12 in the second quarter to trail 55-28 at the half.

Spencer got the Hogs on the board first in the second half with two free throws and then knocked down a triple. LSU extended the lead back to 27 after having an answer to both of those possessions by the Hogs, but Dauda and Keats knocked down back-to-back triples. The Tigers then went on an 8-2 run, as Arkansas found itself down by 27, 68-41, with 4:53 left in the third quarter. Spencer knocked down a 3-pointer and then Dauda got to the line to make two free throws, but LSU had an answer on each of those possessions from Arkansas. LSU finished out the quarter on an 8-0 run, as Arkansas trailed, 80-50, at the end of the third quarter.

LSU extended its run to a 10-0 run with a jumper to begin the fourth quarter. Daniels would answer with a 3-pointer and deliver Arkansas’ first eight points of the quarter. The Tigers would not slow down, going 3-of-3 from the field. Jenna Lawrence logged the 11th of Arkansas’ 12 3-pointers in the game, but LSU had an answer with a layup. At the media timeout taken at the 4:46 mark, Arkansas trailed, 93-61. Arkansas outscored LSU 7-5 in the final five minutes of the game. The Hogs fell, 99-68.

HOG HIGHLIGHTS

• Spencer led the Hogs in scoring for the second straight game behind 20 points, shooting 7-of-8 from the free throw line. She matched a season-high seven assists and added three steals
• Dauda logged 16 points, four rebounds and four blocks. She attempted a career-high 11 3-pointers, making four on the night, which also marked a new career-high
• Daniels registered 13 points and six rebounds. She shot 5-of-5 from the line
• Keats recorded eight points and four boards
• Poffenbarger surpassed 500 career rebounds, needing just one in the game to do so. She is the 32nd member of the 500-rebound club at Arkansas. Poffenbarger also logged three blocks, limited to 15 minutes on the court
• Johnson scored a career-high six points, shooting 2-of-6 from the field, 2-of-2 from the line
• The Hogs made 12 3-pointers and shot a program record 47 3-pointers
• All nine available players saw time on the court

QUOTES FROM COACH NEIGHBORS

On being down 18 early:

“We’ve had a notoriously slow starting team. I have had to call timeouts quite a bit… if we could make it to the first media timeout without calling a timeout it would be a great thing. We didn’t make it very far,” said head coach Mike Neighbors. “This crowd is amazing [and] they are on you. It is worth a few points right when you step in every game, and I don’t care how much you prepare for it, it’s not the same. But I am proud of our kids and how they did it. I told them to take a deep breath and that we have been here before, and then they came out and I thought they were competitive, not good enough to beat them, too many mistakes, but if you look at it, we only had seven turnovers. With the way that we play, we play fast, we are going to shoot teams into 99 points, we didn’t slow down and we didn’t take the air out of the ball, that’s not who we are because we must get better too. I don’t look at the final score, but we have to look at it possession by possession. Yes, I was proud of the way we came back and the way we finished too. I thought we fought in the second half, not at full strength, Saylor hasn’t practiced, and it’s hard going into the game without the leading defensive rebounder in the country being 100 percent. She didn’t practice at all this week, she gave it her best go but obviously she didn’t have enough and against this team. If you don’t have your best stuff, you have zero chance.”

On support for women’s basketball:

“I think [LSU] is really committed to women’s basketball and it’s great to see. They made the commitment. I know Scott Woodward personally, you all can do the research and find out how far back he and I go. He hired me at Washington,” added Neighbors. “So, I know how important he takes women’s basketball, and we are thankful for ADs like him and Hunter [Yurachek] at Arkansas who takes women’s basketball seriously. This crowd has come back out, and it’s a place that when you get your schedule you are hoping it isn’t at LSU.” 

UP NEXT

The Razorbacks will return to Bud Walton Arena for the first time in two weeks to host Kentucky on Thursday, Jan. 25. Arkansas will play Kentucky for the second of two times during the regular season at 7 p.m. on SECN+. 

MORE INFORMATION

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