The Arkansas women's basketball team couldn't overcome a 17-point halftime deficit and fell 72-58 to Florida on Sunday afternoon at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
Florida shot 53.1 percent (17 of 32) from the floor in the first half en route to a 41-24 lead at halftime. The Gators jumped out to a 12-3 lead and led by 17 points on four occasions in the first half.
Arkansas (11-8) committed 12 of its 17 turnovers in the first 20 minutes as it fell to 1-6 in the SEC.
"We don't have a lot of room for error right now," Arkansas Coach Jimmy Dykes said. "Our best players have to play well on the road. Not at all what I want or anyone else wants in that locker room at all. We looked nothing like a basketball team the first half."
Kelsey Brooks led Arkansas with 14 points. Melissa Wolff had 12 points and seven rebounds. Jessica Jackson finished with 11 points, Jhasmin Bowen had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block, and Calli Berna added 8 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds as Arkansas shot 36.4 percent (20 of 55) from the floor.
Florida (10-10, 2-5) was led by January Miller and Carlie Needles, who each scored 16 points. Haley Lorenzen had 12 points and Kayla Lewis added 10.
"I think we played really well," Florida Coach Amanda Butler said. "I'm really proud of not only the way we performed today, but also the way practiced for three days. I think our team really maximized this week and carried over what we worked on into the game. That was really important.
"I think we took a giant step in the right direction."
The Razorbacks opened the second half on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 43-32. They pulled within 52-44 with 6:53 left on Wolff's layup, but the Gators extended their lead to more than 10 points again at 55-44 at the 6:25 mark when Miller converted on a three-point play.
Florida never allowed its lead to go below eight points the rest of the game and never trailed Sunday.
Florida made 13 of 13 from the free throw line in the final 1:42 to seal the victory. The Gators finished 20 of 26 from the free-throw line and 24 of 55 overall from the floor (43.6 percent).
Sunday's victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Gators, who won their second SEC game of the season. Florida has won four of the past five meetings with Arkansas.
Sports on 01/26/2015