Arkansas responds with strong second half to down Incarnate Word

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON It may have not been a thing of beauty, but the Arkansas women’s basketball team will go into the new year riding a four game winning streak. Taliah Scott had a game high 24 points, Maryam Dauda 13 points and Saylor Poffenbager 9 points and 19 rebounds as Arkansas downed Incarnate Word 67 48 Sunday afternoon before 3,420 fans at Bud Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks (12 3) will take that four game winning streak into Thursday’s SEC opener at Kentucky with the game being played as Rupp Arena instead of a renovating Memorial Gymnasium. “We are going to sit down the next week and have some deep conversations about executing, but for us to win all four quarters against those guys is great,” Arkansas head coach Mike Neighbors said.

“I don’t know how many times they have beaten all four quarters because they have had some leads against some good teams. “But I am going to roll into ’24 pretty happy with our non conference schedule.” Incarnate Word (7 4), a San Antonio based school who had a lost a 61 56 decision at then No.

23 TCU, plays a deliberate style under head coach Jeff Dow. The Razorbacks had not played in 10 days and came out the gate sluggish, falling down 7 1 before going on a a 23 5 run to double up the visitors 24 12 in the second quarter. Neighbors knew his team was not likely to have an offensive masterpiece against the Cardinals.

‘If you were in here in this (media) room in the pregame, I told everybody (fans) that it was not going to be,” Neighbors said. “Lots of reasons, not excuses. “…One we had an extended break and I chose to do that. This group knows that we will set them up for adversity, which we did. We gave them a really long break.

“…Brought hem back and played a team that is in the 200 NET. I think they are 179 today. A team that played TCU close, had Texas Tech in the third quarter deep.” Neighbors has a lot of respect for Dow, who led his team to the NCAA Tournament in the 2021 2022 campaign. “Jeff does and amazing job,” Neighbors said.

“It is a slow paced game and we knew when we scheduled this game that it would be a great game to come back from and challenge our kids and see how we responded.” The Cardinals (7 4) would cut the lead to within three in the third quarter before Arkansas steadied itself both offensively and defensively.

They did just that after Neighbors and assistant Todd Schaefer expressed their feelings. “I was patient, but I grew impatient because I thought our effort…We let the fatigue become more tired than we rally should have been,” Neighbors said. “So we didn’t pass that test like I would have liked to, but they did respond when challenged.

“I thought our defensive intensity in the third quarter and especially in the fourth quarter when Coach (Schaefer) went in there and challenged them when our intensity in the third was not good and he challenged them as hard as he does. And they responded with a good fourth quarter.” Arkansas shot 21 of 54 overall from the field, was 8 of 28 from 3 point range and hit 11 of its 16 free throws.

Dauda had 11 of her 13 points in third quarter and also had 5 rebounds and 4 blocks in the contest. “We made a couple of adjustments at halftime with Maryam rolling to the basket instead of picking and popping,” Neighbors said. “She had an unbelievable third quarter. Samara Spencer and Makayla Daniels added 9 points each.

Arkansas closed the game out by hitting 8 of its 14 fourth quarter shots, 2 of 4 from 3 and all three of its free throws. The Razorbacks were 13 of 14 from the free throw line in the final two quarters. The Cardinals were just 16 of 60 on their field goal attempts – including making just 1 of their last shots from the field – 5 of 22 from 3 point range and 11 of 16 from the free throw line.

Photo courtesy of the University of Arkansas.