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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas State forced 29 turnovers and handled the University of Arkansas women’s basketball team 81-72 on Sunday afternoon at Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks (11-4) lost to the Red Wolves in Fayetteville for the first time, and the defeat shrunk their lead in the all-time series to 9-4. It was Arkansas State’s first win over Arkansas since a 98-84 victory at the 2005 Women’s National Invitation Tournament in Jonesboro.
Arkansas lost a home game to an in-state opponent for the second time in three seasons, having lost to Arkansas-Pine Bluff 74-70 on Dec. 10, 2023. Arkansas State beat an SEC foe for the first time since winning at Florida on Nov. 14, 2017.
“We have a lot of things we need to work on,” Arkansas Coach Kelsi Musick said. “We have to make those changes quickly. We are in the first year. We are in a build. But at the same time, we can make excuses, or we can rise up.”
The Red Wolves (11-3) wore down the Razorbacks by going 11 deep in their rotation and pressing from tipoff to the final buzzer. Arkansas State scored 33 of its points, or 41%, off turnovers. It forced 20-plus turnovers for the 13th time this season.
“That’s just the way we play, whether you turn it over or not,” Red Wolves Coach Destinee Rogers said. “We’re going to press you for 40 minutes. We’re going to trust our stamina, and we’re going to say, ‘Hey, if we can turn you over, we’re going to create 20-plus more possessions than you.’ And we did.”
With the victory, Arkansas State extended its winning streak to nine games, which is tied for 17th-longest nationally. It is scheduled to play at Southern Miss at 6 p.m. Central on Thursday.
The win was a feather in the cap of Rogers, who said her team is proving its 2025 NCAA Tournament berth was no accident. Arkansas State won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to earn a spot in the field last season.
“I think that we’re building something special,” Rogers said. “I believe in Arkansas State. I love being a Red Wolf. I’m from the state, so I take a lot of pride in being the head coach there, and I just want our fans to know that what we did last year was not a fluke.
“We’re building something that’s going to be built to last, and I think that this team is really special, and this team can absolutely compete for another championship.”
Arkansas, which trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half, will limp into SEC play looking to figure out its turnover woes. The loss ended a four-game winning streak ahead of its league opener against No. 12 Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Thursday at Walton Arena.
“I think at this point we’re going to have to rise up, we’re going to have to get tough, we’re going to have to really come together and we’re going to have to be a unit,” Musick said.
As a result of ball security issues and Arkansas State’s 16 offensive rebounds, Arkansas attempted 24 fewer shots than its opponent.
The teams both shot 39% from the field, but the disparity in attempts made the difference. The Red Wolves made 32 of 83, while the Razorbacks were 23 of 59.
“If we get 20 more possessions to score than you, the math says if we do what we supposed to do, we should win,” Rogers said. “We did that today.”
Arkansas took a brief lead in the game’s early stages. Its largest advantage of the day was 9-7 after a corner three-pointer by Wyvette Mayberry with 5:47 left in the first quarter.
The Red Wolves took over from there. They went on a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead and were ahead 21-16 at the end of the first quarter.
The Razorbacks pulled within 21-19 just 10 seconds into the second quarter on a three-pointer by Jenna Lawrence, but the Red Wolves followed with a game-deciding, 17-2 run. During the spurt, Zyion Shannon made a pair of three-pointers and Mia Tarver also made a shot from deep. Tarver made 6 of 17 three-pointers and did not take a two-point attempt.
Tarver (18 points), Shannon (17) and Crislyn Rose (15), who together made 9 of the team’s 11 three-pointers, led the Red Wolves. The trio had run-stopping answers each time Arkansas made a push and helped Arkansas State lead for 34:37.
“We shoot too many of them, to be honest with you,” Rogers said of her team going 11 of 46 from three-point range. “So, if you’re going to shoot them, you’ve got to make them.
“We try to average around 10 a game. I honestly think we should have made more, because we shot a lot of wide-open ones, so we’ve got to get back home and shoot some more. But again, they stepped up and they made them when it counted. I thought we played hard for 40 minutes.”
The Razorbacks trailed 43-33 at halftime and got no closer than eight points in the second half when an 8-0 run, capped by a three-point play by Harmonie Ware, got Arkansas within 59-51 with 1:09 left in the third quarter.
Arkansas State answered with consecutive three-pointers by Tarver and Marlie Dickerson to stretch the lead out to 14, and the final margin of nine was the closest Arkansas got again.
The Razorbacks faced their largest deficit of the game, 79-60, when the Red Wolves went on a 14-5 run over a 3 1/2-minute stretch in the fourth quarter. During the run, Tarver hit her sixth three-pointer of the game.
Arkansas appeared fatigued in the second half, while Arkansas State was fresh. The Red Wolves substituted five players at a time throughout the game, and they had no players log over 28 minutes.
“We probably could have gone a little bit deeper in our bench, but I think when we went to a more guard-oriented lineup, we were able to make some runs and close the gap a little bit,” Musick said.
Arkansas was outscored in key areas, including points off turnovers (33-12), second-chance points (14-12) and fast-break points (42-28). Of their 29 turnovers, 17 came on steals by the Red Wolves. Tarver, Dickerson, Shannon and Wynter Rogers led them with three steals each, and Bella Weary had two off the bench.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Musick said. “But I think any loss is frustrating because that’s obviously not your goal. You’re competing to win. … They took 24 more shots than us. That’s a hard concept to fix, but when you have that many turnovers, it’s hard to overcome that.”
Taleyah Jones (18 points), Ware (15), Lawrence (11) and Mayberry (11) led Arkansas.
This story has been updated. It was originally published at 4:16 p.m. under the headline “Women’s basketball: Arkansas State beats Arkansas at Fayetteville.”
ewesterman@hawgssportsnetwork.com
Ethan Westerman is a reporter for the Hawgs Sports Network. He has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and marketing from the University of Arkansas.
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