The Georgia Lady Bulldog basketball team led for over 31 minutes en route to a 80-72 road win at Arkansas Thursday evening inside Bud Walton Arena.
Georgia’s victory breaks a four-game win streak for the Razorbacks as the Lady Bulldogs improve to 13-8 and 4-4 in SEC play. Arkansas is now 16-6 overall and 5-3 in conference action.
Sophomore guard Gabby Connally led the Lady Bulldogs with 21 points, while redshirt-junior guard Taja Cole finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
“Gabby and Taja were tremendous,” head coach Joni Taylor said. “They had their hands full on both sides of the floor. They set the tone, like they always do and it was big for our team. I am glad to see them playing well. Overall for us, we were able to get the ball in the paint and hit some big shots, and that was the difference tonight.”
Maya Caldwell made only her second start in conference play and scored five quick points to put Georgia up 7-0 in the early going. The Lady Bulldogs withstood a 7-0 run by the quick-shooting Hogs and held a slim 18-17 lead going into the second.
Connally nailed a 3-point basket on Georgia’s first offensive possession of the second frame to help her team build its largest lead of eight with 6:47 remaining before the half.
Despite shooting close to 50 percent from the floor and 4-for-7 (67 percent) from 3-point range, the Lady Bulldogs went nearly three minutes without a basket to end the second quarter. Led by 10 points a piece from Malica Monk and Chelsea Dungee, the Razorbacks led 43-38 at the break.
The Lady Bulldogs stormed out on a 9-2 run as 3-pointers by Connally and Caliya Robinson helped Georgia build a 50-47 advantage. The Lady Bulldogs hit five-straight shots and outscored the Razorbacks 24-12 to go from down five points to up by seven — 62-55— going into the fourth quarter.
Arkansas never could regain momentum and Connally’s free-throws sealed the game in an 80-72 win.
Up next, Georgia heads to Auburn this Sunday to take on the Tigers at 3 p.m. ET live on the SEC Network.