The Lady Bulldogs hit the road and traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas for a 7 o’clock tipoff on Thursday night at Bud Walton Arena. And it was a good road trip for the UGA women’s basketball team as they knocked off No. 20 Arkansas 64-55.
The victory on Thursday night marked head coach Joni Taylor‘s and the Georgia women’s 12th on the season to move them to 12-7 overall and to .500 in SEC play at 3-3.
“First of all, Arkansas has an excellent team, and I really respect Mike Neighbors and what he has been able to do here,” head coach Joni Taylor said. “We knew coming in they shoot the 3-point shot really well and get to the free-throw line. Even though they hit some free-throws, our team did a great job keeping them off the arc. Gabby played really well for us and our post players were outstanding tonight.”
Junior Gabby Connally led UGA in scoring with 18 points, and junior Que Morrison followed up with 11. Senior Stephanie Paul led all players on the boards with 9 on the night.
Georgia jumped out to a quick 4-0 advantage as the Razorbacks went scoreless through the first three and a half minutes. Arkansas hit just one of its first six shots and finished the quarter shooting 33 percent from the field compared to a 24-percent effort from the Lady Bulldogs.
Arkansas’ 13-10 lead at the end of one remained the same through the first three minutes of the second period with neither team able to buy a basket. A 9-0 Georgia spurt near the end of the half was halted when Arkansas’ Amber Rameriz nailed a shot at the buzzer to knot the score at 29-29 at the break.
Connally led Georgia in the first half with 12 points off a 5-for-8 shooting effort.
The Razorbacks went a 13-2 run from the 30-second mark of the second quarter to the beginning minutes of the final half. Connally finally nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner to put an end to the Arkansas rally. Still, the home team led 41-36 with 4:38 remaining in the third.
Arkansas built its largest advantage of the game at 43-36 before Shaniya Jones hit a 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper to lead a furious 8-0 run from for the Lady Bulldogs. Jones guided Georgia to a 44-43 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Bulldogs scored the first seven points of the fourth frame and continued on a 19-2 run to put some distance between them and the home team.
Georgia hit free throws late to seal the 64-55 win.
Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs held the Razorbacks to a season-low 55 points, which is 31 points below their season average. Georgia shot 40% from the floor while they held Arkansas to just 19-of-59 shooting, 32%.
UGA faces a tough test at home next as they play host to No. 1 South Carolina at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, GA on Sunday, January 26th at 3:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.