FAYETTEVILLE — Amber Ramirez dribbled out the final seconds as the University of Arkansas women’s basketball team began celebrating an 83-78 victory over No. 4 Baylor at Walton Arena on Sunday.
Ramirez and her teammates danced while Coach Mike Neighbors pumped his fist and waved to fans as the No. 16 Razorbacks enjoyed their first victory over a top-five opponent since they defeated No. 2 LSU 82-72 in 2003. Arkansas was ranked No. 10 at the time.
Arkansas (5-1) surged in front with a 13-0 run late in the third quarter and never trailed again, making enough free throws and defensive stops to hold off a late charge by the defending national champion Bears (2-1).
Ramirez poured in a team-high 23 points, but made just 1 of 2 free throws for an 81-78 advantage with 22.7 seconds left. Arkansas got another defensive stop when Baylor’s Caitlin Bickle shot an air ball three-pointer that went out of bounds with 11.7 seconds left.
Ramirez, a 5-9 senior, then stepped to the free-throw line and made both to set the final score with 10.8 seconds remaining.
Neighbors said the win confirmed players made the right choice by coming to Arkansas, despite the Razorbacks being picked last in the SEC in his first season.
“It’s validation for all those kids who believed in us,” said Neighbors, who is in his fourth season at Arkansas. “ ‘Hey, why are you going to Arkansas? They haven’t done anything.’ It’s validation for those people in our locker room who buy into what we do.
“That gives us validation any time somebody’s got defending national champion behind their name.”
Chelsea Dungee, a 5-11 senior, added 22 points, including 10 of 12 from the foul line. Sophomore Makayla Daniels scored 16 and Destiny Slocum chipped in 14.
Arkansas drove the ball at the bigger Bears much of the night to draw fouls. The Razorbacks made 30 of 39 free throws in the game, including 14 of 18 in the fourth quarter. Baylor made just 12 of 18.
Neighbors said they specifically went at 6-3 Queen Egbo on the defensive end. She was in foul trouble much of the night, playing only 10 minutes. She fouled out with just five points.
Neighbors said he saw something in the film from Baylor’s game against South Florida last week that he thought his team could exploit.
“It was a massive deal, take an All-American candidate like that and she only plays 10 minutes,” Neighbors said. “They really did a good job taking it at her off the bounce.”
Dijonai Carrington, a senior transfer from Stanford, led all scorers with 24 points yssa Smith added 16, while Moon Ursin chipped in 14.
Baylor Coach Kim Mulkey said Egbo’s foul problems were trouble for the Bears, despite outrebounding Arkansas by a 51-38 margin.
“Our offense goes through our post players,” Mulkey said. “So we were scrambling, and it never got any better the entire night.
“As you saw many times, I had Carrington playing post. I had DiDi playing some post. In a game of this magnitude, this early in the year, you go with the most experience that you have. Absolutely we’ve got to do better.”
Ramirez and Dungee keyed the 13-0 spurt that put Arkansas in front for good.
Trailing 54-49, Ramirez started the run with a driving layup and ended it with a jumper from the top of the key for a 62-54 advantage with 1:28 left in the third quarter. Daniels’ three-pointer 19 seconds into the fourth quarter pushed Arkansas’ lead to 10.
Mulkey said Arkansas’ penetration and ability to get to the foul line were the difference.
“It was the difference in the ballgame,” Mulkey said. “There are three things that style of offense wants to do. They want to shoot threes, get to the foul line and score layups. And they did two out of the three against us well tonight.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised. When you have guards like they have that have been in college and have the experience, meaning they’ve got seniors, they’ve got grad transfers. They know how to get their body into you. You can’t go to a zone against those guys because they’ll spot up and shoot threes on you.”
No. 16 Arkansas 83, No. 4 Baylor 78
BAYLOR
M FG-FGA 3-FGA FT-FTA O-D-T PF A TO B S PTS Baylor Smith 32 7-13 0-0 2-4 2-5-7 4 1 1 2 2 16 won the Richards 37 4-8 0-0 0-2 0-7-7 3 8 6 0 0 8 most-recent T.Oliver 24 2-6 0-1 0-2 3-1-4 3 3 4 0 1 4 national Egbo Ursin 11 29 5 2 -10 -6 0 2 - - 0 3 2 2 - - 2 2 2 0 - - 5 3 - - 7 3 5 4 1 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 14 6 game championship played Gusters J.Oliver 9 6 2 0 - - 4 1 0 0 - - 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0 0 1 - - 1 0 - - 1 1 1 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 in 2019. Carrington 26 8-16 2-7 6-6 3-2-5 5 1 2 0 3 24 So, it was Andrews 8 0-3 0-1 0-0 1-3-4 5 1 2 0 0 0 Arkansas’ first Bickle 18 1-4 0-3 0-0 0-4-4 0 1 0 0 0 2 victory over
1-7-8 a defending Totals 200 31-71 4-15 12-18 13-38-51 30 24 22 2 6 78 national 66 Field .7. - Dead goal percentage -ball rebounds 43.7 3 . . Three-point percentage 26.7. Free-throw percentage champ since
it defeated
ARKANSAS
M FG-FGA 3-FGA FT-FTA O-D-T PF A TO B S PTS Tennessee Slocum 30 3-9 0-0 8-12 0-7-7 2 2 1 0 0 14 77-75 on Dec. Ramirez 32 7-14 2-3 7-8 0-6-6 1 0 1 0 1 23 29, 1996. Thomas 26 0-1 0-1 0-0 1-4-5 4 1 1 0 0 0 Dungee 24 6-13 0-4 10-12 1-0-1 4 0 3 0 1 22 Chelsea Daniels 34 4-14 3-8 5-5 1-2-3 2 1 3 0 1 16 Davis 15 4-7 0-1 0-0 0-4-4 1 0 1 0 4 8 has Dungee 33 games now Mason Barnum 23 16 0 0 - - 3 4 0 0 - - 3 0 0 0 - - 0 2 0 1 -3 -1 -3 -2 - 2 4 1 0 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 at Arkansas
3-4-7 in which she Totals 200 24-65 5-20 30-39 7-31-38 20 5 13 1 10 83 scored 20 or Field-goal percentage 36.9. Three-point percentage 25.0. Free-throw percentage more points. 76.9. Dead-ball rebounds 4.
Baylor........................................19 17 21 21 — 78
Arkansas...................................19 19 26 19 — 83
OFFICIALS Napier, Cross, Roberts
ATTENDANCE 2,633
REFER LINE for one article related to this story. Page 6A.