NCAAW Recap: No. 16 Arkansas’ quartet of star guards overpowers No. 4 Baylor

The No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks upset the No. 4 Baylor Lady Bears 83-78 Sunday night in Fayetteville, AR, behind phenomenal guard play from Amber Ramirez, Chelsea Dungee, Makayla Daniels and Destiny Slocum.

The Razorbacks improved to 5-1 with their only loss coming to the No. 14 Maryland Terrapins on Nov. 29. The Lady Bears fell to 2-1 and have looked vulnerable in two consecutive games — the first was a 67-62 win over the South Florida Bulls on Dec. 1.

Ramirez, who led Arkansas with 23 points, made two free throws with 10 seconds left in the game to increase her team’s lead to five. By making it a two-possession game, Ramirez all but ended things. The Lady Bears lost any momentum they had left and turned the ball over almost immediately on the ensuing possession. From there, Ramirez was able to dribble out the clock and begin celebrating.

Chelsea Dungee was second on Arkansas with 22 points, while Daniels and Slocum scored 16 and 14, respectively. The Razorbacks were 30-of-39 from the free throw line with Dungee going 10-of-12 and Ramirez going 7-of-8. Only Ramirez (2-of-3) and Daniels (3-of-8) registered at least one 3-pointer for the winners, but the sharpshooting Razorbacks still got the job done.

Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith cut Arkansas’ lead to two on a layup with 29.8 seconds left, but Caitlin Bickle missed a three to tie it with 11.7 ticks remaining. Graduate transfer DiJonai Carrington led the Lady Bears with a game-high 24 points after scoring just 15 points combined in the first two games of the season.

Arkansas was competitive from the start of the game and led 8-2 two minutes and 20 seconds in. The score was tied 19-19 after one and the Razorbacks led by two at halftime. Arkansas’ biggest lead of 10 came 19 seconds into the fourth.

Baylor won the points in the paint battle 44-32 and out-rebounded Arkansas 51-38.

Robyn Benton, No. 11 Kentucky Wildcats rally in fourth to defeat No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers 72-68 | Box Score

Robyn Benton free throws with 2:51 remaining in the contest gave the Wildcats (4-0) their first lead since the 2:12-minute mark of the first. Benton had recently made a 3-pointer with 3:22 to go to cut the Hoosiers’ lead to 59-58. She also made a layup with 37 ticks remaining to give Kentucky a five-point lead at the time and herself nine points in the final frame.

Indiana (2-1) remained in the game, however, until Chasity Patterson free throws with four seconds to go made it 72-68 in favor of Kentucky.

The Wildcats’ largest deficit was 14 points and it came with 6:44 to go in the second quarter. They trailed by 10 entering the fourth.

Preseason All-American Rhyne Howard scored a game-high 22 points, including 10 in the third quarter that helped Kentucky stay within striking distance. Her teammate Dre’una Edwards notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Patterson had 13 points, seven boards and six assists. Benton finished with 12 points.

Indiana had four key contributors in Grace Berger (21 points, seven rebounds), Mackenzie Holmes (16 and 11), Jaelynn Penn (11 and six) and Aleksa Gulbe (nine and nine). Their star player, Ali Patberg, was held to eight points and not much else on the stat sheet.

Aaliyah Wilson, No. 12 Texas A&M Aggies eke out 66-61 win over No. 25 Texas Longhorns | Box Score

A Celeste Taylor layup with 1:52 to go cut Texas A&M’s lead to 63-61, but the Aggies (4-0) made 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.

Aaliyah Wilson scored a game-high 17 points for Texas A&M, while her teammate N’dea Jones notched her fourth double-double in four tries with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Texas’ Charli Collier recorded a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double in defeat.

The Longhorns (3-1) took a lot more 3-pointers than the Aggies did, while the Aggies did more damage at the free throw line. Texas was 7-of-24 from deep (29.2 percent) while Texas A&M was 4-of-12. At the stripe, the Aggies went 20-of-26 (76.9 percent) and the Longhorns went 10-of-17 (58.8 percent). Though the points in the paint battle was tied at 26-26, Texas A&M’s ability to get to the line made the difference.

The Aggies led 21-11 after one before the Longhorns won the second and third quarters by four points each to make it a two-point game heading into the fourth. A 3-pointer from Audrey Warren 1:12 into the final frame gave Texas a one-point lead. Warren also made a lead-changing layup with 7:04 to go, but Wilson responded with a midrange make 16 seconds later to give the Aggies the lead for good.

Next up

Arkansas: 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at SMU Mustangs

Baylor: 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 9 at West Virginia Mountaineers

Kentucky: 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec, 9 vs. Marshall Thundering Herd

Indiana: TBD on Sunday, Dec. 13 vs. Butler Bulldogs

Texas A&M: 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 10 at Little Rock Trojans

Texas: 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 9 vs. Idaho Vandals