FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.- The Western Illinois women's basketball team outrebounded Arkansas and were within five points at halftime, but fell in its final non-conference game of the season, 70-53, at Bud Walton Arena.
A three-pointer from senior Amanda Walker brought the Westerwinds (2-10, 0-1 Summit League) within three points of the Razorbacks (10-3, 0-0 SEC) at 41-38 with just under 16 minutes left to play.
One of the Lyndsay Harris' four three-pointers on the game capped a 14-1 run and gave Arkansas a 15 point lead with 8:58 left in the game. A pair of free throws from Harris gave the Razorbacks their largest lead of the game of 17 points, 60-43, with 7:38 remaining in the game.
Back-to-back buckets from sophomore Anne Borgertpoepping and senior Nicole Myers, followed by Walker's second trey of the game, gave Western a 7-1 run, cutting the lead to 61-50 with 4:37 left on the clock.
Arkansas finished the game on a 9-3 run, capped off by a pair of free throws from Julie Inman with 39 seconds left.
After the Razorbacks raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first minute of the game, the Westerwinds answered right back with a lay-up from Myers and three from freshman Katie Horsman to tie the game at 5-5 with 18:21 left in the first half.
Western took their first lead of the game with 11:10 left in the opening period after the first of back-to-back threes by redshirt-freshman Anneloes Kodde gave the Westerwinds an 11-10 advantage.
After the second three-pointer from Kodde tied the game at 17-17, Borgertpoepping hit a driving lay-up to give Western its largest lead of the game of two, 19-17, with 8:45 remaining in the opening half.
Ayana Brereton scored the final seven points of the half for Arkansas which resulted in a 7-4 run to give the Razorbacks the 35-30 lead heading into the halftime break.
Walker led the team in scoring with 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor, including hitting 2-of-5 shots taken from behind the three-point line. Sophomore Ashley Lord also found the double-digit scoring column with 10 points on 4-of-7 (.57.1 percent) shooting. Kodde added eight points, while junior Jordon O'Brien, Borgertpoepping and Horsman each added five. Walker and Myers each pulled down a team high seven rebounds.
Arkansas had four players in double-digits, led by Harris with 16 points. Brereton and Ceira Ricketts each poured in 14 points, while Whitney Jones contributed 10.
The Westerwinds return home to host a pair of conference games to open the new year. They welcome UMKC to town Saturday, January 3, at 4:30 p.m., while Southern Utah visits Macomb Monday, January 5, for a 7 p.m. game. Both games are scheduled to be played at Waste Management Court at Western Hall.
Postgame Notes
-This was Walkers's eighth time scoring in double-digits in the team's 11 games this season.
-Five of Myers' seven rebounds were on the offensive side of the ball.
-The Westerwinds outrebounded Arkansas, 39-38.
-Both Lord and Kodde' point totals were season highs.
-This was Horsman's first career collegiate game in her home state of Arkansas.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Leslie Crane
Opening Statement
"I felt very good about a couple of the things we were able to do tonight against a very athletic Arkansas team. They did a good job keeping up with the pressure in the defensive trap and he didn't handle it as well in the second half as we did in the first half. We rebounded well and if we could have got some of those shots to fall in the second half, it would have been a much closer game."
On outrebounding Arkansas
"For us to come in and outrebound a team as athletic as this team was, whether or not its by one or ten, is huge for a team like us. We did a great job on the boards."
