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All-America candidate Sameka Christon and Rochelle Vaughn combined for 33 second-half points for Arkansas as the Lady Razorbacks defeated Kentucky 69-58 in Fayetteville, Ark., on Thursday. Danyelle Payne scored a career-high 20 points for the Wildcats while Sara Potts followed with 15 and tied the school record with Stacey Reed for the most three-pointers in a career with 176. SeSe Helm added 11 points in the loss.
The Wildcats (9-15, 1-10 Southeastern Conference) jumped out to an early 6-1 first-half lead before Arkansas (15-9, 4-7 SEC) stormed back on five straight points from freshman point guard Kristen Peoples. The Lady ?Backs claimed a 17-12 advantage at the 7:29 mark before UK upped its defense and allowed Arkansas just seven points for the remainder of the half. UK went to the lockerroom with a 26-24 lead as Payne led all scorers with 13 points while Helm added six.
With a two-point halftime advantage, UK took its largest lead of the game 43-34 after just five minutes of action. The 8-0 run was sparked by Sara Potts who, after going scoreless in the first half, scored seven straight points and nailed two three-pointers, tying the school record for most three-pointers in a career with 176.
Again Arkansas regained its composure, using a 12-0 run of its own to regain the lead (48-46) with 7:38 to go. UK continued to battle and pulled back within two, 56-54, with 4:41 left in the game when Christon snapped the Cats? momentum, hitting for six straight points. The Lady ?Backs would lead the rest of the way as Christon totaled 11-of-12 from the free throw line and Vaughn nailed three second-half three-pointers.
Christon and Vaughn scored 19 apiece. Peoples also helped Arkansas with the victory, scoring 13 points on the night.
?I was proud of how our team fought,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?Shameka Christon is a great player and she was finding a way to get to the free throw line. We didn?t have an answer for her in the second half. The scored definitely was not an indicator of how close this game was tonight. Both teams were fighting until the end.?
UK hit 19-of-58 from the field (32.8) compared to Arkansas? 22-of-55 (40.0). The Lady ?Backs also hit eight three-pointers on a Kentucky squad that ranks third in the conference in three-point field goal percentage defense. UK went 3-of-13 beyond the arc. The Cats were 17-of-26 from the charity stripe while Arkansas hit 17-of-20. The Cats narrowly lost the battle of the boards, 38-37.
Arkansas now leads the all-time series 12-6, including an unblemished 8-0 advantage in Fayetteville.
Kentucky returns to Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. ET vs. Alabama. The Cats will bid farewell to six seniors, Racquel Ellis, Jenerrie Everette, Kristen Grassi, SeSe Helm, Shambrica Jones and Danyelle Payne, in UK?s traditional ?Senior Day? pregame ceremony.
