| Sophomore Whitney York scored 18 points and was 8-for-11 from the free throw stripe on Sunday. |
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The UTSA women’s basketball outscored Arkansas 48-25 and went 24-of-29 from the free throw line in the second half en route to the 71-55 win against the Razorbacks at the Duel in the Desert Tournament on Sunday at the Cox Pavilion.
UTSA, who collected its first ever win against Arkansas, snapped its two-game losing streak to improve to 5-4 overall, while the Razorbacks fell to 6-5 on the season.
“I was not happy with the way the first half went for us,” head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair said. “I thought our energy level was not there, but early in the second half, they picked it up. We got things turned around and I am so proud of the girls for not giving up. They just battled in the second half and we got a great win.”
Sophomore Whitney York led three Roadrunners in double-figures with a game-high 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor, including an 8-of-11 performance from the free throw line. Junior Ashleigh Franklin collected 14 points and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to go along with three steals. Junior Amber Gregg netted 13 on the strength of three 3-pointers.
Despite being out rebounded by four (39-35), the Roadrunners scored 30 points from the paint. UTSA also forced 28 Arkansas turnovers — 10 of which were steals — that led to 31 points off turnovers.
The Roadrunners were lights out shooting 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from the floor and better that from the free throw line making 24-of-29 (82.8 percent) in the second half.
Arkansas maintained a five-point lead through the first six minutes of the second half, but UTSA put together a 7-0 run over the next minute and 27 seconds to tie the game at 37-all and then a Malone jumper gave the Roadrunners a two-point advantage 41 seconds later.
A driving lay up by Franklin capped off a 7-2 run to make the score 46-39 with 8:54 to play. Ford converted a three-point play to pull the Razorbacks within three points (48-45) at the six-minute mark and would be the closet Arkansas would get for the rest of the game.
York highlighted a 9-0 run with five points to give UTSA a 57-45 with under three minutes to play. The Roadrunners closed out the game 12-of-14 from the free throw line seal the 16-point win.
UTSA got things going with a 5-2 lead early on in the first half, but Arkansas then answered with six straight points to regain the 8-5 lead at the 15-minute mark.
The Razorbacks then pushed their lead to nine points (18-9) on Dominique Robinson’s driving lay up with 12:23 to go in the stanza. A steal and lay up by C’eira Ricketts increased the lead to double-digits (21-11) midway through the half.
Junior Kesley Ansley lay up and a York free throw cut Arkansas’ lead to four (27-23) with 1:15 showing on the clock. The Razorbacks took a 30-23 halftime lead.
Charity Ford was lone Razorback in double-digits with 10 points, while Ricketts and Lyndsay Harris added nine and eight points, respectively.
UTSA concludes tournament play at 4:30 p.m. (CT) on Monday against Kansas State.