Razorback women give Gators first SEC win

NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk MAN UP: Arkansas junior guard and Malvern High School graduate Raven Northcross-Baker, right, applies pressure to Florida's Dyandria Anderson Thursday during the Razorbacks' 65-51 loss at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk MAN UP: Arkansas junior guard and Malvern High School graduate Raven Northcross-Baker, right, applies pressure to Florida's Dyandria Anderson Thursday during the Razorbacks' 65-51 loss at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Florida women's basketball team was previously winless in Southeastern Conference play, but started Thursday with a 9-0 run to open the game and a 10-0 run to open the third quarter.

Those runs enabled first-year coach Cameron Newbauer's Gators (9-10, 1-5) to run by the Razorbacks (11-8, 2-4) 65-51 in Thursday night's game at Bud Walton Arena.

Coach Mike Neighbors' Razorbacks came home from Sunday's 68-58 SEC success at Auburn (10-8, 1-5), but lost senior starter Devin Cosper indefinitely with an ankle injury during the game.

Cosper is the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder. Arkansas will face Missouri (16-2, 4-1) on Sunday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79).

Arkansas junior guard Malica Monk of North Little Rock, almost singlehandedly brought the team back to compete after Florida's opening 9-0 punch with 13 first-half points, including three coast-to-coast fast breaks. She later keyed a late fourth-quarter comeback to get Arkansas within double digits after Florida started the quarter up 18.

"That kid is a player," Newbauer said. "She can score in a multitude of ways. You think she's dominant in one way, and you try to take that away, and she scores in other ways."

Minus Cosper, Neighbors said he told Monk to score every way she could.

"I told her, 'With Dev out you need to be more aggressive," Neighbors said. "I wanted her to be uber aggressive and I thought she was. We played her 39 minutes."

However, the rest of the Razorbacks did not match their intensity exhibited at Auburn and had not in the intervening practices, Neighbors said.

"From the get-go Florida, clearly established they had a greater sense of urgency with that 9-0 start," Neighbors said. "I saw it coming a little bit in practice yesterday. We were blah. And it's up to me make sure we're not blah so I take the blame.

"Our preparation for Auburn was fantastic but this just felt different. And give credit to Florida for imposing their will. We fought really hard in the fourth quarter, but we have to fight earlier."

Florida's forward combination of Paulina Hersler and Haley Lorenz was too much for Arkansas to overcome, even with Monk zooming everywhere to lead all scorers. Monk hit 9 of 28 shots for 23 points and led the Razorbacks in rebounds, with eight, and assists, with four.

Hersler led Florida with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Lorenzen double-doubled with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Florida guards Delicia Washington added 14 points and nine rebounds. Florida outrebounded Arkansas 54-42 and, other than Monk's fearless drives, often kept the Razorbacks from going inside.

"Florida's defense had something to do with that," Neighbors said. "They are tall and they are long. I think we all felt our 3-point shooting half against Auburn was an anomaly and they said, 'Let's see if you can do it again,' and we didn't."

With Arkansas 0-for-3 on threes during its 0-for-4 shooting start, the Razorbacks went to Kiara Williams inside and then to Monk for their next 11 points. Monk's trey brought Arkansas back to down just 15-13, but the Gators responded with successive treys, the first ending the first quarter and and the second starting the second quarter.

Florida peaked its first-half lead at 25-15 but Arkansas closed to down four before Heisler's trey two seconds before intermission had the Gators up 35-28 at half. Hersler's three opened Florida's 18-7 third quarter, enabling the Gators to start the final 10 minutes up, 53-35. Arkansas did cut the lead to eight points at 59-51 with 3:15 left in the game, but Monk missed a chance to cut it to six before Hersler put the Gators up 61-51.

Regarding Cosper's availability Sunday against Missouri, Neighbors said, "Dev is a tough, tough kid. She thought she could play tonight, but if you saw her you would know better. So, if we get her back Sunday, it would be a pleasant surprise."

Williams scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds. Malvern's Raven Northcross-Baker scored six points in 29 minutes in her first start of the season. Northcross-Baker tied for the team-lead in rebounds with Jailyn Mason and Taylah Thomas at six each.

Sports on 01/20/2018

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