[break] No. 24 Georgia rallied from an 18-point, first-half deficit to pull within one point with less 30 seconds left before dropping a 54-48 decision at Arkansas on Monday night.
[break] [break] Merritt Hempe scored a game-high 16 points to lead Georgia (17-7, 5-6 SEC). Jessica Jackson paced a trio of players in double figures for Arkansas (14-8, 4-6 SEC) with 15 points.
[break] [break] The Lady Bulldogs trailed 47-32 with 8:41 left before a 16-2 run closed the gap to 49-48 with 28 seconds left. Georgia then fouled Jackson, who converted both ends of a one-and-one to push the margin back to 51-48. A pair of potential game-tying 3-pointers by Erika Ford were blocked, but Georgia retained possession with just under 10 seconds remaining.
[break]

Georgia vs. Arkansas Box Score

[break]

Head coach Andy Landers was then whistled for two technicals for protesting a no-call on a rebound situation from the first 3-point attempt. Jackson made 3-of-4 free throws to supply the game’s final score.
[break] [break] “If I had it to do over, I’d do it again,” Landers said.
[break] [break] Georgia’s improbable comeback came after Arkansas had dominated most of the night. The Razorbacks opened the game on a 10-0 run and led by double digits for almost all of the next 20 minutes.
[break] [break] “I thought the game was won in the first 10 minutes,” Landers said. “I thought Arkansas was very, very sharp, ready to play on both ends of the floor and we weren’t. Consequently, we dug ourselves a deep, dark hole that we spent the rest of the night trying to dig out of. Arkansas tattooed us.”
[break] [break] Georgia missed its first seven shots from the field and fell behind 10-0 before Tiaria Griffin finally got the Lady Bulldogs on the board with a layup at the 13:19 mark. Jackson nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing 14 seconds later and the Razorbacks pushed their advantage to 17-2 before a free-throw line jumper from Hempe.
[break] [break] Arkansas’ first-half lead topped out at 18 points at 24-6 before Georgia took a slight dent out of that margin and trailed 30-16 at halftime.
[break] [break] Georgia trimmed the margin to 35-26 with 14:09 left, but Arkansas responded with a 6-0 surge to push the margin back to 15 points.
[break] [break] That’s the same separation the Razorbacks enjoyed when a Krista Donald jumper cut the gap to 47-34. Georgia followed with a jumper from Hempe and a layup by Griffin to get within single digits once again. A Melissa Wolff jumper ended that surge, but the Lady Bulldogs scored on a 3-pointer from Pachis Roberts, a reverse layup by Donald, a jumper from Hempe and a banked-in 3-pointer by Ford to close the gap to 49-48.
[break] [break] Jackson, who had missed two free throws prior to Ford’s trey, hit both ends of the one-and-one before Georgia failed to get a quality 3-point attempt to tie.
[break] [break] The Lady Bulldogs will return to Stegeman Coliseum on Thursday to host Florida at 7 p.m. The first 250 UGA students in attendance at the game will receive “Georgia > Florida” t-shirts and the first 100 students will receive free pizza.
[break] [break] Single-game reserved seat tickets for Lady Bulldog games are $5 for adults and $3 for children. UGA students, faculty and staff are admitted to all Lady Bulldog games free of charge with a valid UGA Card. Faculty and staff should pick up tickets at the Coliseum box office. Students are admitted to the arena via the entrance to the left of the box office by showing their UGA Card.
[break] [break] Single-game tickets are on sale via georgiadogs.com, by calling 877-542-1231 or in person at the UGA Ticket Office in the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall from 8:30-4:30 on weekdays. In addition, single-game tickets go on sale at the Stegeman Coliseum box office (closest to Sanford Drive) beginning 60 minutes before tip-off of every home game.