Barnum’s career-high night lifts Hogs past Tulsa in a shootout

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In a clash between two undefeated teams on Monday night, Arkansas edged out Tulsa, 79-70.

On a cold snowy night in Northwest Arkansas, both teams were on fire from deep with a combined 23 3-pointers, while Erynn Barnum led all scorers for the third time this season with a career-high 27 points.

The Razorbacks have started the year 3-0 for the second time in the last three years, while handing Tulsa their first loss of the season, as the Golden Hurricane fall to 2-1.

Erynn Barnum (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

Tulsa struck first, but then went 0-for-4 from the field, which allowed the Hogs to cruise to an 8-0 run.

That run was capped off by one of Makayla Daniels’ four 3-pointers on the night.

Rylee Langerman then daggered one from deep and after another Daniels triple, Arkansas led 15-5 with 4:33 left in the field quarter. Out of the media timeout,

Tulsa went on a 4-0 run, but back-to-back steals by Langerman set up opportunities for the Razorback offense. After another Daniels 3-pointer, Arkansas extended its lead to 15.

Tulsa then started to heat up from deep, making back-to-back 3-pointers, as the the Hogs led 24-15 after one quarter.

The Golden Hurricane continued the hot shooting out of the break, cutting the lead to six after another 3-pointer.

Samara Spencer began to heat up from deep, registering 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to help the Hogs climb back up by 10 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.

The Razorbacks fell in a drought for some time, going 0-for-5 from the field, but still was ahead by nine with 4:24 left in the first half.

After the Hogs’ scoring drought, they shot 4-for-5 from the field, but that didn’t stop Tulsa from shooting 4-for-4 from the field to end the half. Arkansas still led, 41-34 going into the locker room.

Tulsa hit its seventh and eighth triples of the game out of the half to come within one point, but Langerman fed Barnum under the basket on the next possession to go back up by three.

Tulsa tied the game on (no surprise) another 3-pointer and a few possessions later, the Golden Hurricane took the lead, 46-45, following a 3-pointer with 4:38 remaining in the third quarter. Arkansas took a 6-0 run thanks to 3-pointers from Maryam Dauda and Spencer.

Samara Spencer (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

The Razorbacks led 54-48 going into the fourth quarter.

After Tulsa cut the lead back down to four to begin the fourth quarter, Chrissy Carr joined the party downtown with a triple to extend the lead back to seven.

Tulsa just would not back down and came within two points off a layup with 7:23 remaining in the game. That was as close as Tulsa got to taking the lead. The Hogs closed the quarter with a 21-13 advantage to clinch a 79-70 victory.

Barnum delivered 13 of her career-high 27 points in the fourth quarter and the team went 9-for-16 from the charity stripe in the frame, which was enough to solidify the win.

Hogs Highlights

• Barnum led the way with her career-high 27 points off a nearly perfect 10-for-12 day from the field and seven free throws. She added eight boards, two steals and a block.

• Daniels posted a season-high 19 points along with nine rebounds and three assists. She was 3-for-4 from deep in the first quarter alone.

• Spencer played in all but one minute of the contest, logging 13 points, four assists and three rebounds.

• Langerman added 10 points, five rebounds and matched her career-high of four steals off the bench. Her 10-point night marks her second career double-digit scoring performance at Arkansas.

• Saylor Poffenbarger was a monster on the boards with a career-high 10 rebounds. She also added three assists.

• The Razorbacks shot a season-high 11 3-pointers.

• Arkansas limited turnovers to nine, while forcing 17.

• The Razorbacks out-rebounded the Golden Hurricane 47-35. Seventeen of those rebounds were on offense.

• Free throw shooting was much improved on Monday night, as the Hogs went 18-for-28.

Next Game

Arkansas will host Kent State on Thursday with a 7 p.m. tipoff. The game serves as the kickoff of honoring Native American Heritage Month.