FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas women's basketball team may be stressed heading into finals week, but it certainly didn't show in the Razorbacks' 67-41 blowout victory over Tulsa on Sunday at Walton Arena.
The game was never close in the second half, and the crowd of 1,453 watched the Razorbacks (7-3) earn their largest margin of victory this season.
"When you're going into finals, you get a sense of ability to focus," said University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Coach Mike Neighbors said. "It gets you away and you come in and play basketball. That's what we drew upon."
Arkansas' defense was physical throughout the game, forcing Tulsa (4-6) to take bad shots and struggle offensively. The Golden Hurricanes finished shooting 23.2 percent from the floor, the lowest by an opponent against the Razorbacks this season.
"The better the pressure, the harder the shots are for them," said Arkansas guard Malica Monk. "We have to keep that up throughout the course of the season."
Arkansas guard Devin Cosper had 11 points and 2 blocks to go with a game-high 11 rebounds as the Razorbacks outrebounded the Golden Hurricanes 61-39.
"I've been joking with the kids ... we were plus-22 on the boards," Neighbors said. "That may get us close to breaking even now [on the season]."
On offense, the Razorbacks matched their defensive energy with a well-rounded effort from their entire roster. Monk led Arkansas with 14 points, followed by sophomore center Kiara Williams who had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Cosper and sophomore guard Jailyn Mason scored 11points apiece.
"I think that's what you have to do to be a good team," said Tulsa Coach Matilda Mossman, a former Arkansas head women's basketball coach from 1981-84. "You have to get scoring from a lot of different areas ... you know you're going to get scoring from [Monk] and [Cosper]. It was the offensive rebounds that turned into points for them."
Those 19 offensive rebounds resulted in a number of easy baskets around the rim and fouls that sent the Razorbacks to the free-throw line. 19 times Arkanasas scored 30 points in the lane and attempted made 11 free throws, which were one more that Tulsa attempted at the line.
"We had been emphasizing rebounding," Monk said. "We did a good job today and we've gotta just build off this performance."
A late scoring run at the end of the first half made the difference for the Razorbacks. A three-pointer by Tulsa's Ebony Parker at the 5:39 mark in the second quarter made it a 26-19 game, but a quick seven-point outburst by the Razorbacks pushed the lead to 14. The Golden Hurricanes could only cut Arkansas' lead to single digits once more after that before ultimately seeing the game get out of hand.
"This will be a fun film session," Neighbors said. "On the days we have off, we watch improvement film. We're going to have to really pick to find bad things about today's game."
The Razorbacks won't play again until Dec. 17 when they will face Texas-Arlington at 2 p.m. in Walton Arena.
Sports on 12/11/2017