FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)- Looks like playing at home might be the new lucky charm for the Razorbacks women’s basketball team, because back to back home games ended in success for Arkansas. First the Razorbacks played No. 13-Ranked Tennessee Thursday at Bud Walton Arena and sent the Lady Vols back to Knoxville with their second SEC loss of the season beating the ranked team 64-59.
Next up Sunday another Top 25-Ranked team came to town, the Missouri Tigers, and though it came down to the last quarter the Razorbacks pulled it together to win 64-52. Arkansas’s record now improves to 8-10 overall and 3-2 in SEC play. The score was tied five times through out the whole battle between Arkansas and Missouri, but Razorbacks players and head coach Jimmy Dykes stepped up to the challenge.
All of the Razorbacks starters reached double figures in Sunday’s win. Junior Jessica Jackson scored 15 points and six rebounds and fellow junior Kelsey Brooks added 13 points to the win total. Junior Alecia Cooley and senior Melissa Wolff both had double-doubles, Cooley got 12 points and 10 rebounds and Wolff added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Arkansas did a great job of adjusting their game, they started out in a 2-3 zone which lead to Missouri’s early double digit lead. But the Razorbacks moved to a better suited player-to-player defense, something that head coach Jimmy Dykes cited as the reason they were able to pull away with the win.
“They really pass the ball well,” said Dykes on the Tigers. “They are all 6-feet tall so they just zip it around and they got some open looks and knocked them down and kind of knocked us back a little bit. I don’t know if it was 10-2 or something to start with, but we got to moving at the first media timeout to challenge them. Zone is off the table we can’t play it for the next 35-minutes.” Head Coach Jimmy Dykes had to switch things up quickly early on in the game and the team responded well to the adjustment. “I love how they said yes sir lets go get it and everyone of them clamped down.”
Starter Melissa Wolff had her seventh double-double of the year against the Tigers, helping Arkansas be 3-1 against Top 25 teams in the last 10 days.
“I think with every SEC game we know it is going to be physical,” said Wolff on the SEC competition. “It just takes it to a whole nother level with strength and competition and so I think we expect [it] every game, but this one was defiantly very physical.”
Arkansas will be back on the road this week to play LSU Jan. 21 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tip-off is set for 7pm on SEC+.