Baylor
Arkansas
Razorbacks Defeat Bears, 80-69
8/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 1999
WACO, Texas - In a game full of comebacks, Baylor's comeback bid fell short in an 80-69 loss to Arkansas in the Ferrell Center Friday.
After trailing by as many as 16 in the first half, the Lady Bears took a second-half lead at 38-37, only to see the furious rally fade as the Razorbacks pulled away in the final five minutes.
"I told them after the game that if they had played with the kind of intensity they had in the last few minutes of the first and and through the second half, we'll be all right," Baylor coach Sonja Hogg said.
Arkansas forged a 30-14 lead when Lakishia Harper hit a short jumper with 2:56 to go in the first half. But Baylor closed the half with a 9-3 run as Monica Arnold, Danielle Crockrom and Nicole Collins heated up.
Collins, who had seven first-half points but finished with a team-high 18, hit a trey with 20.9 seconds before intermission to make it 33-23, Arkansas, at the half.
Arnold, who overcame a slow start to finish with 15 points and nine rebounds, hit a put-back basket to open the half. Her layup put Baylor ahead at 38-37 with 15:30 to play.
The Lady Bear lead got as big as three when Arnold hit a pair of free throws, making it 44-41 with 12:15 showing in the clock.
"We showed lots of courage," Hogg said. "We came out tentatively to start the game, but we got after it. Monica did a heck of a job."
Arkansas, fueled by Brandi Whitehead, then went to a zone defense and began to pull away. Whitehead, a Cayuga, Texas, native who normally comes off the bench, finished with a game-high 19 points on a 5-of-6 shooting night to go with nine rebounds.
"The game was close and I felt like I needed to do everything I could to help the team," she said. "I just shot the best I could and hoped it went in."
Wendi Willits hit a number of key baskets down the stretch and would up adding 17 points to the Razorback cause.
Both Arnold and Crockrom got their third fouls during the Arkansas comeback. "That stopped our momentum. We couldn't afford to play them and let them get their fourth fouls. It hurt us not to have their height in there," Hogg said.
Crockrom finished with 10 points and six rebounds and Mandy Hayworth was BU's fourth player in double figures. The senior guard posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists.
Brittany Bruns scored six points, but scrapped for nine rebounds. The Bears held a 36-31 rebounding edge, but Arkansas out-shot Baylor 48.3 percent to 43.1.
"Give Baylor a lot of credit," UA coach Gary Blair said. "The way things were going in the first half, it could have been a 20 point game. But that's typical of a Sonja Hogg team. She got them going."
Blair coached with Hogg five years at Louisiana Tech in the 1980s.
"This was a step in the right direction," Hogg said. "We saw some postive things tonight."
