Arkansas women's basketball suffers third straight loss, falls to Alabama 69-66
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas women's basketball suffered its third straight loss on Thursday when it fell to Alabama 69-66.
The No. 24 Razorbacks came back from 12 behind to tie the score late on a Makayla Daniels 3-pointer. Alabama hit a 3 of its own to retake the lead. Chrissy Carr missed one on the other end, but Arkansas maintained possession and was set to in-bound with 2.6 seconds left. The Razorbacks tried to get the ball to Daniels in the corner, but Arkansas turned the ball over.
Erynn Barnum led the Razorbacks (17-6, 4-4 SEC) with 20 points, her seventh straight game in double figures. Brittany Davis of Alabama (16-5, 5-3) led all scorers with 22.
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Arkansas' hot start doesn't last
Arkansas opened the game with a flurry of 3-pointers, making its first three shots from beyond the arc in about three minutes. Saylor Poffenbarger hit two in a row, and Chrissy Carr added the third to give Arkansas an 11-5 lead.
But after Carr's triple, Arkansas didn't score again in the first quarter. The Razorbacks had made four of their first seven shots, then missed the next 11. They fell into a nearly seven-minute scoring drought while Alabama went on a 13-0 run to take the lead.
"We got in the bonus in about the first three minutes of the quarter, and then we didn't drive to the basket one more time," Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said. "We settled for a bunch of threes. I think (Alabama) just made an adjustment, and we never adjusted back."
That poor first quarter led Arkansas to a 37% field goal percentage in the first half. Alabama, on the other hand, shot 57%. Arkansas trailed by just six at halftime, however, thanks in part to Tide turnovers.
Turnovers plague both teams
Both Arkansas and Alabama struggled with turnovers, combining for 41. Alabama gave up 21 turnovers, nine of them on Arkansas steals, and the Razorbacks turned them into 15 points.
Arkansas' 20 turnovers were its most in SEC play and meant the Razorbacks gave the ball away on 27% of their possessions. Alabama achieved 14 on steals and scored 14 points off Razorbacks giveaways.
Neighbors noted that most of Arkansas' turnovers came from players who are normally strong ball-handlers. Poffenbarger, who entered the game averaging 2.3 turnovers per game, had five. Daniels averaged 2.2 per game and had five. Samara Spencer averaged 2.8 and finished with seven.
"We can't win another game on our schedule if we turn it over a third of the time that we have the ball," Neighbors said. "We're not built enough to outrun people by enough to overcome that. We're built to be a strong ball-handling team."
Up next
Arkansas hosts Ole Miss (17-4, 6-2) on Sunday (4 p.m. CT, SECN).
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This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas women's basketball drops third straight to Alabama
