FAYETTEVILLE - Matilda Willis Mossman was used to winning in Arkansas.
Obviously she still is.
Going 67-27 when she coached the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks as Matilda Willis, the women's program's first coach netting significant attention from 1981-84, returned Monday night to Fayetteville bringing the Tulsa Golden Hurricane gusting an early fourth-quarter lead of 18 points and winning 74-67 at Walton Arena.
Tulsa (1-3) previously had lost to Kansas State, St. Louis and Oral Roberts.
Coach Jimmy Dykes' Razorbacks, coming off a 76-69 loss at traditionally strong South Dakota State, are 2-2 and headed to Puerto Rico and Friday and Saturday for San Juan Shootout games with Louisiana-Lafayette and Oregon State.
Junior forward Jessica Jackson rallied the Razorbacks in the second half with 22 of her game-high 29 points, scoring nine consecutive in Arkansas' 32-point fourth quarter.
Ashley Clark, scoring 10 first-half points when Tulsa assumed the command it never relinquished, led the Golden Hurricane with 15 points while Te'era Williams scored 14 with nine rebounds and Erika Wakefield scored 12 including the three-pointer peaking the TU lead.
Asked if it felt weird playing against Arkansas in Fayetteville for the first time, Mossman said, "It would have been weird if we were playing in Barnhill (Arena) where we played then, but this is a different venue. But there were great people here, great friends. Ruth Cohoon (the retired Lady Razorback athletic director), who gave me my first job was here. I am really proud of my team for playing together."
Jackson menaced Mossman's happy return.
"Jessica Jackson (6-foot 3, making three treys and recording four blocks and seven rebounds) is a matchup nightmare," Mossman said. "We defended her well until that fourth quarter. We led by 18 points but we didn't win by 18 points. It was a hard-fought game."
Though Dykes said "Matilda has got a good team" and could have arrived 3-0 instead of 0-3 from watching Tulsa game film, Dykes called it "a disappointing loss."
"We were slow and stagnant until the fourth quarter and then we scored almost half of our points," Dykes said. "Jessica changed the game and put pressure on them at the end. We (in the fourth quarter) played four guards around Jess and let her set ball screen and got her isolated."
With an 8-0 run, the Hurricane blew past Arkansas' lead to take permanent first-half command.
Three points was the closest Arkansas could come after that with the Hurricane peaking the lead, 31-22 on Williams' layup with 1:00 left for the half's final points.
Arkansas shot an abysmal 8 for 27 in the first half including 0 for 5 treys and just 6 of 10 free throws.
Only one for six on treys and outrebounded, 21-14, Tulsa prevailed in the first half both on Arkansas' poor shooting and troubles taking care of the ball. Arkansas committed nine first-half turnovers to Tulsa's three.
Tulsa scored the first six points of the third quarter, ballooning its lead 37-22 at 7:02 on Williams' two free throws. Tulsa peaked its third-quarter lead 48-32 on Williams' trey at 2:13 and began the fourth quarter up, 50-35.
Wakefield's trey inflated Tulsa's lead to 53-35.
Sports on 11/25/2015