Razorbacks fall in Athens
ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Arkansas women’s basketball team suffered a regular-season ending loss, 48-69, at No. 24 Georgia in Athens, Ga., Sunday.
Arkansas (12-17, 4-12 SEC) ends the regular season in 10th place overall with several games remaining on Sunday’s schedule, most of which impact seeding for the Southeastern Conference Tournament next week. Check ArkansasRazorbacks.com for updates as they become available.
The No. 24 Lady Bulldogs (22-7, 9-7 SEC) are hoping for a bye as one of the top four teams at the end of play Sunday.
“It was a tough loss,” Arkansas head coach Tom Collen said. “We gave up a 12-0 lead right away and struggled to overcome that. I thought we settled down though and got back in it. We made some shots when we needed to but Georgia is a veteran club and didn’t get rattled. They took care of the ball and stretched the lead.”
Arkansas spotted Georgia a 12-0 lead as the Razorbacks were unable to convert from the field for the opening 8:30 of the game. Senior Charity Ford drove the lane and was fouled by Meredith Mitchell sending the Arkansas senior to the line. It was the first free throws for the Razorbacks in more than a game as Arkansas did not shoot a charity shot in their previous game (LSU).
Ford hit them both making it 2-12 with 11:30 to play in the first half.
Sophomore C’eira Ricketts would score Arkansas’ first field goal with a layup at the 11:02 mark starting a 6-0 Razorback run. But Georgia rallied after the media timeout and grabbed the momentum stretching the lead to 13 as Arkansas struggled from the floor.
McCray entered the game and posted eight points in the first half as the momentum swung from bench-to-bench as the first 20 minutes came to a close. Georgia shot 31.6 percent and Arkansas rose up to 28 percent for the first half closing the gap to nine, 23-32, at the break.
Arkansas started slowly in the second half but found a spark behind a couple of big defensive stops. The Razorbacks closed within seven twice in the final 20 minutes but couldn’t get closer than that.
Georgia led by as much as 23 late in the second half finishing with a 21-point win. Arkansas’ leading scorer Lyndsay Harris fouled out with just eight points.
Ford led Arkansas with 12 points while junior Skye Rees tied her career-best with 10. They were the only Razorbacks in double figures. Arkansas shot 32 percent for the game and grabbed 32 boards but Georgia finished shooting 39.3 percent and had 44 boards in the win.
Georgia was led by senior Ashley Houts with 15 points. Porsha Phillips grabbed 11 boards to lead everyone in that category.
The Razorbacks travel to the SEC Tournament in the Gwinnett Center Thursday-Sunday. Check ArkansasRazorbacks.com for the complete tournament seeding Monday.
Download: Arkansas-Georgia2.pdf
