A resurgent offense helped the Arkansas women’s basketball team finally get over the hump in an SEC game Sunday.
Jailyn Mason scored 15 points, Keiryn Swenson added 12 and the Razorbacks beat Alabama 68-50 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
It snapped Arkansas’ fourgame losing streak to start the SEC season and their 68 points were its most since beating Houston Baptist 101-40 last month. Malica Monk added 11 points for Arkansas (12-6, 1-4), while Devin Cosper and Alecia Cooley each had 10 points.
Arkansas did it without leading scorer Jessica Jackson, a senior from Jacksonville who had started every game this season and was averaging 15.8 points per game. Jackson did not play for the first time this season, and no reason was given in a university news release.
The Razorbacks, who were averaging 58.0 points in SEC games before Sunday, jumped on the Crimson Tide early, making their first five shots to take a 29-15 lead after the first quarter and a 40-18 lead at halftime while shooting 53.1 percent from the floor.
Arkansas led 19-15 late in the first quarter when it scored the final 10 points to go ahead 29-15. The Razorbacks made 12 of 16 shots (75 percent) in the quarter in which Mason scored 13 point.
The Razorbacks missed five of their first six shots in the second quarter, but put together a 9-0 run to push their lead to 40-18, a season-low point total for Alabama in the first half, at halftime. Alabama (14-4, 2-3) was held to five points in the quarter and made just 1 of 11 shots.
The Razorbacks led by as many as 26 points in the third quarter and never trailed for more than 37 minutes in the game.
Alabama got 13 points from Ashley Williams, while Shaquera Wade had 11 and Meoshonti Knight had 10 points. The Crimson Tide shot just 4 of 21 from threepoint range and were just 12 of 25 (48 percent) from the freethrow line.
Arkansas, which shot 45 percent from the floor, made 4 of 15 three-pointers and 10 of 13 free throws.
TOP 25 WOMEN
Coates heeds advice
BATON ROUGE — South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley left little room for interpretation while speaking to Alaina Coates before the Gamecocks visited resurgent LSU, telling the 6-foot-4 center that “no one in the gym” could guard her.
Coates proved Staley right, scoring 24 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, and No. 5 South Carolina again overcame the absence of All-American A’ja Wilson, beating LSU 84-61 on Sunday.
“I did feel like I had a dominant presence down in the paint,” Coates said. “I feel like I was able to convert when I did go to the free throw line.”
Coates scored 18 of her points in the first half — eight on 11 foul shots — en route to her 53rd career double-double.
“We had the make a concerted effort to get her the ball,” Staley said. “She also has to make a concerted effort to get open. She just imposed her will. Her teammates did a great job of finding her … and she delivered.”
Allisha Gray scored 21, and Bianca Cuevas-Moore added 17 points for South Carolina (15-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference). The Gamecocks have won nine consecutive.
Chloe Jackson scored 24 for LSU (14-4, 3-2), which lost for the first time in four games. Raigyne Moncrief added 13 points, but lamented that her team gave South Carolina too many early opportunities to gain confidence and momentum.
In other games Sunday involving women’s top 25 teams, Kalani Brown scored 16 points, Nina Davis added 15 and No. 2 Baylor throttled Kansas 92-43. The Lady Bears (17-2, 6-0 Big 12) ran out to a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes and were up by 23 at halftime. Jessica Washington scored 15 points for Kansas (6-11, 0-6). … Ama Degbeon scored a career-high 13 points, and No. 7 Florida State had its biggest winning margin in 26 seasons in the Atlantic Coast Conference in defeating Clemson 86-27. Kai James added 12 points to help the Seminoles (17-2, 5-1). … Kelsey Plum snapped out of an off shooting night to score 15 points in the fourth quarter and No. 8 Washington pulled away to beat Arizona State, 65-54. Plum, the nation’s leading scorer, finished with 34 to propel the Huskies (18-2, 6-1 Pac-12). … Mariya Moore scored 24 points to lead No. 9 Louisville over No. 14 Miami, 63-59. … Kolbie Orum scored 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting for No. 10 Oregon State in a 74-60 victory over Southern California. Orum also had nine rebounds for the Beavers (16-2, 5-1 Pac-12). … Stephanie Mavunga scored eight of her 11 points in the fourth quarter and No. 11 Ohio State overcame a 16-point deficit to beat Purdue, 61-56. Kelsey Mitchell added 14 points on 3-of-17 shooting for Ohio State (15-5, 5-1 Big Ten). Ashley Morrissette had 13 points and five assists for Purdue (12-7, 3-2). … Dominique Wilson scored 16 points, Chelsea Nelson had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 23 North Carolina State beat No. 12 Duke, 55-52 . N.C. State (14-5, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won three consecutive against Duke for the first time since 1996. Oderah Chidom and Rebecca Greenwell each scored 11 points for Duke (15-3, 3-2). … Karlie Samuelson scored 20 points, Brittany McPhee added 18 and No. 13 Stanford made nine consecutive shots in the third quarter to pull away from Colorado, 84-70. The Cardinal (15-3, 5-1 Pac-12) trailed 42-41 and missed their first two shots of the third quarter before pulling away for a 69-60 lead. … Monique Billings scored a career-high 30 points and had 14 rebounds and 6 steals to lead No. 17 UCLA to its 22nd consecutive home victory, a 79-63 decision over Oregon. The Bruins (13-4, 4-2 Pac 12) are tied with South Dakota for the fourth-longest active home streak behind UConn’s 57. … Brooke Schulte had 28 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 21 DePaul won its 10th consecutive game, a 85-69 victory over Xavier, to improve to 8-0 in the Big East for the first time. … Malia Nawahine and Emily Potter each scored 15 points for Utah in its 63-57 victory over No. 24 California. The Utes (13-4, 2-4 Pac-12) never trailed, slowly building the lead to 12 points on a layup by Nawahine with 4:30 to play.
Sports on 01/16/2017