FAYETTEVILLE -- Vanderbilt may have had the size advantage, but the University of Arkansas women were the quicker team Sunday afternoon at Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks held the Commodores without a field goal for more than eight minutes to start the game and rolled to an 83-62 Southeastern Conference victory.
Arkansas (13-5, 2-2 SEC) jumped to a 17-3 lead and was never really challenged, forcing 9 turnovers during that span, and grabbing a 21-9 lead after one quarter.
Razorbacks Coach Mike Neighbors said the start couldn't have been much better, but his team's quickness ultimately won out over Vanderbilt's size.
The Razorbacks were able to to double-team Vanderbilt's 6-foot-5 post player Mariella Fasoula and frustrate her early. She finished with 16 points but had only one at halftime to go with five of her six turnovers.
"The start was awesome and it did lead to a lot of energy and I think it propelled us to make a few more threes than we might normally have," Neighbors said.
"It felt like we really crowded her [Fasoula]. I know it's everybody's game plan against us is to pound it inside, so until they made a certain number of threes we were gonna make sure that didn't happen. And Jailyn Mason is so good at that. She is so good at sitting in that kid's lap and being able to anticipate and study the film. I thought that really frustrated and stymied them."
The Commodores (5-12, 0-4) didn't manage a field goal for the first eight-plus minutes of the game and never really got in sync. By the time Cierra Walker hit a short jumper with 1:40 left in the first quarter, Arkansas already led 17-5.
The Razorbacks then unleashed a 16-1 second-quarter run aided by back-to-back three-pointers from Chelsea Dungee to put them in control, 45-14, with three minutes left in the first half. They settled for a 47-20 halftime advantage and cruised to the big victory.
Arkansas forced 23 turnovers, including 16 in the first half, and outrebounded Vanderbilt 44-35 despite a significant height disadvantage.
Senior Raven Northcross-Baker scored a team-high 16 points off the bench, including four three-pointers, for the Razorbacks and gave them that much-needed spark, Neighbors said.
"She's a kid that's always been streaky and she knows that," Neighbors said. "She's in a good place. She's settled into this role and [has] been great in the locker room."
Malica Monk was also in double figures with 15 points, followed by Kiara Williams with 11 and Dungee 10.
Vanderbilt's Lealea Carter led all scorers with 20 points.
Sports on 01/14/2019