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Razorbacks can’t overcome early deficit, fall on road to Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. — Mason Jones, Isaiah Joe and Desi Sills each scored 20 points, but Arkansas could not overcome a 14-0 start by Georgia and fell, 99-89, Saturday evening at Stegeman Coliseum.

Arkansas worked its deficit to eight at halftime and came out quick to start the second half. However, Georgia regained the momentum and led by 11 with 10:52 left.

Jones led a rally, accounting for 12 points (scored 8 and dished out two assists), to get to within one (73-72). The Hogs were also down one (83-82) after two free throws with 2:45 remaining but could not get over the hump.

After Harris’ free throws, Anthony Edwards, who scored 26 to lead the Bulldogs, assisted on back- baskets and scored nine points inside the final 1:07 to secure the 10-point win.

Jones and Joe each scored 26 in the loss and Sills pumped in a career-high 21 points with six rebounds.

Arkansas returns home to host LSU on Wednesday (Mar. 4) for Senior Day. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.

Huffine’s career day paces Arkansas to sweep over ’Nova, Kent State

FAYETTEVILLE — Senior Keely Huffine turned in a career day at the plate by smashing two home runs and driving in six runs as Arkansas swept a pair of games at Bogle Park on Friday evening.

The Razorbacks recorded an 11-1 (5 innings) run-rule victory over Villanova and topped Kent State, 9-5.

Game 1: Arkansas 11, Villanova 1 (5 innings)

The Razorbacks outhit the Wildcats 11-3 and used a six run third inning and four run fourth to do most of its damage. VU held a 1-0 lead for an inning on a solo homer, but the Razorbacks scored the final 11 runs of the game.

Huffine put the Razorbacks on the board with a run scoring triple in the second. She clubbed the first of her two homers on the day and blasted a three-run shot over the left field wall in the third.

The Harrisburg product set a new career-high of four RBIs. Senior Sydney Parr and redshirt freshman Valerie Ventura also delivered RBI knocks in the frame.

Junior Linnie Malkin hit a grand slam over the center field wall in the bottom of the fourth to shorten the game to five innings.

Huffine (2-for-3), Ventura (2-for-3) and junior Braxton Burnside (2-for-3) all collected multi-hit games.

Senior pitcher Autumn Storms (8-1) coasted in her five innings and allowed just one run with four strikeouts.

Game 2: Arkansas 9, Kent State 4

Arkansas led the entirety of the game as Ryan Jackson put the Hogs in front on a two run homer in the third frame.

Malkin hit a solo bomb to begin a six run Razorback fourth. Two batters later, Huffine crushed her second homer of the day, a two run shot to left.

Jackson picked up another RBI later in the frame on a single and junior Kayla Green got in on the act with a two RBI single.

The Golden Flashes would not go away however, and with Kent State down to its final pitch, hit a two RBI base hit to right field. Another Flash crossed the plate in the inning on an error to make the Razorback lead, 8-3.

Arkansas sent another run across the home on junior Hannah McEwen’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Kent State plated two more in the top of the seventh on a single and wild pitch.

Freshman hurler Jenna Bloom (2-1) completed 6.1 innings, allowed five runs, two earned runs, four hits and struck out a career-best eight. Storms was called upon to record the final two outs after Kent State led off the seventh with a single and a double.

Arkansas plays another doubleheader tomorrow, Feb. 29. The Razorbacks take on No. 9 Florida State at 4:45 p.m. and have a rematch against the Wildcats at 7 p.m.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.

Carter ties career high on floor, wins 23rd career title in team loss at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. — Junior Sophia Carter won her 23rd career title on Friday evening, tying her career-high score on the floor with a 9.950 in the event.

Carter’s performance helped Arkansas finish strong against No. 5 LSU but ultimately fell to the Tigers in Baton Rouge, 197.125 – 195.725.

Rotation One | Bars

Three performances highlighted the Gymbacks’ first rotation, starting with a 9.850 from senior Hailey Garner, who executed her giant full-Geinger, immediate overshoot beautifully.

Sophomore Kennedy Hambrick’s jaeger to immediate overshoot earned her a 9.825 on the bars, followed by Sarah Shaffer’s double-layout dismount that anchored Arkansas with a team-high 9.875.

Rotation Two | Vault

Sophomore Amanda Elswick continued to shine on the vault, hitting her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.850. Shaffer’s Yurchenko layout half earned her a 9.825. Arkansas finished the second rotation with a 48.850 on the vault, as they trailed LSU midway through the meet, 98.625–97.275.

Rotation Three | Floor

Arkansas picked up the pace in the third rotation, finishing with a 49.200 as a team. It marks the 19th meet-in-a-row that the Gymbacks scored 49.000 or higher in the event.

Redshirt-freshman Bailey Lovett’s famous double-layout first pass scored her a 9.900, making it six out of nine times this season she scored a 9.900 or higher.

Carter anchored the Razorbacks with her fiery routine, complete with double-back roundoff and double-pike last pass that earned her the event title. The floor title is the 13th of her career and fourth this season.

Rotation Four | Beam

The Razorbacks posted their second-highest beam score of the season in the final rotation, a 49.250.

Lovett and Hambrick tied their career highs with a 9.900 and 9.925 respectively. Lovett shined with her front aerial, back layout and Hambrick nailed her back-handspring layout, switch leap series.

Next meet

Arkansas is on the road again, next Friday as they travel to Denton, Texas, for a quad meet hosted by Texas Women’s University.

The Gymbacks will see LSU once again at in Denton and joined by Centenary as well.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story

Hogs lose first game of year against Oklahoma in Shriners Classic on Friday

HOUSTON — Arkansas suffered its first loss of the season, falling 6-3 to Oklahoma on Friday afternoon at Minute Maid Park in the first game at the Shriners College Classic.

The Razorbacks battled from behind to take a 3-2 lead, but a couple of fielding mistakes with the game tied proved to be the difference. The Sooners scored three runs in the seventh to drop its first game of the Shriners College Classic.

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Connor Noland started for the third consecutive Friday, going 5.1 innings against Oklahoma. He allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits, striking out five in the contest.

He gave way to right-hander Kevin Kopps, who entered with a runner on first in the sixth, allowed one in the frame, then retired the next two batters to keep the game tied at three.

He got the decision after allowing three runs, all unearned, on three hits.

For the first time this season, Arkansas did not draw first blood, as Oklahoma plated a run in the bottom of the second for a 1-0 lead.

With one away, OU put two in scoring position with a single and a double, allowing Trent Brown’s sacrifice fly to center field to score Brady Harlan for the first run of the game.

Oklahoma brought in another run afterward on an RBI groundout from Brady Lindsly, scoring Tanner Tredaway after he doubled and moved to third on a passed ball.

The reigning SEC Player of the Week Robert Moore evened the score in the top of the fifth thanks to a two-run home run to right field.

His second homer of the season scored Cole Austin (single) to tie the game, then Jacob Nesbit put his first home run of the year in the Crawford boxes in left field six pitches later to give the Hogs a 3-2 lead.

It was the second time this season Arkansas has hit back-to-back homers in a game, last doing so in the season opener behind knocks from Christian Franklin and Heston Kjerstad.

A home run from Lindsly in the bottom of the sixth inning tied the game again at 3-3.

OU quickly put runners on the corners with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh behind a two-base error and a fielder’s choice sac bunt.

A single from Brandon Zaragoza through the left side of the infield gave Oklahoma the lead, 4-3, then another single from Tanner Tredaway loaded the bases with no outs.

After a strikeout, OU added two more on another single to left field, then an errant throw allowed another runner to score to push the lead to 6-3.

Kjerstad and Nesbit both finished the game with two hits each, as Arkansas totaled 10 in the game.

The Razorbacks return to action on Saturday in primetime against Texas at 7 p.m. at Minute Maid Park.

Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Georgia tomorrow, Clay on the combine and more!

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Tye & Tommy on a Justin Stepp story, Georgia preview, Clay on the combine, plus a joke or two at the end!

Late seventh-inning clutch hits lift Baylor past Arkansas, 3-2

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas battled back from a one0run deficit in the fourth inning, but delivered clutch hits in the top of the seventh to earn a 3-2 road victory over the Razorbacks at Bogle Park on Thursday evening.

The Razorbacks collected two of their four total hits to begin the fourth inning. Junior Hannah McEwen sent a single up the middle which put a runner on base for junior Braxton Burnside’s two run home run to left field.

Burnside’s third homer of the season produced all the Razorbacks’ offense.

Senior pitcher Autumn Storms (7-1) was tagged with her first loss of the season and allowed all three earned runs in six innings of work. She struck out three but stayed out of trouble most of the game by inducing 14 ground outs.

The Lady Bears, who have won their last 13 games, continued their season-long trend of scoring late. Down to its final three outs, Baylor put two runners in scoring position on a single and double to table set the rally.

Arkansas went to its bullpen, but Baylor kept attacking and hit an RBI single and double to claim a 3-2 lead. Freshman Jenna Bloom inherited runners on second and third with nobody out and escaped the jam with a pop out and two strikeouts.

Arkansas attempted to start a two out rally in the bottom of the seventh as junior Kayla Green singled for the second time.

Junior pinch runner Nicole Duncan was the game’s tying run and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch but was left there on a strikeout.

Baylor’s Aliyah Pritchett moved from shortstop to the rubber in the fifth inning and earned the win (5-0). The freshman worked the final two innings and allowed just one hit.

Gia Rodoni completed the first five innings inside the circle for the Lady Bears and allowed both Arkansas runs but struck out seven.

Alyssa Avalos put Baylor on the scoreboard first in the third frame with a solo homer. The Lady Bears have won each of their last five games by one run.

Arkansas plays a twinbill as part of the second day of Wooo Pig Classic action on Friday. The Razorbacks face Villanova at 4:45 p.m. and Kent State at 7 p.m.

Musselman on Henderson’s improvement, Sills’ admitting mistake sign of maturity

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman on Thursday afternoon talked about Ethan Henderson’s increased minutes and Desi Sills making a mistake and coming to him with it during win over Tennessee on Wednesday night.

Tolefree’s 30-point night not enough as Hogs fall to Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. — There may have been an upset alert when Arkansas went on the road against No. 10 Mississippi State, but even Alexis Tolefree’s 30 points weren’t enough in a 92-83 loss Thursday night.

The Razorbacks are one of the country’s top scoring teams and the Bulldogs have been slumping on the defensive end of late.

State’s leading scorer, Rickea Jackson, was also questionable due to illness.

Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer turned to what he called his “secret weapon.”

Freshman guard Aliyah Matharu drew the start, played 38 minutes and scored 18 points.

Jessika Carter had 21 points and 11 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season and five Mississippi State players scored in double figures.

The Bulldogs shot 58% and dominated in the paint, outscoring the Razorbacks 56-34 inside and had a 38-25 edge in rebounding.

The Razorbacks built a 26-24 lead in the first quarter behind 16 points from Tolefree, but whe was held to just three in the second and third quarter combined.

Mississippi State outscored the Razorbacks by 21 points after the first quarter and had a 77-58 advantage going into the final frame.

The biggest issue for the Razorbacks was the lack of production from leading scorer Chelsea Dungee. Having averaged 17.8 points entering the game, Dungee was held to a season-low four points on 1-of-13 shooting. Amber Ramirez had 18 points and hit 6 of 10 3-pointers.

Danberry had 19 points as the Bulldogs’ lone senior on Senior Night. Andra Espinoza-Hunter had 13 points off the bench, and Chloe Bibby finished with 11 points.

After being picked third in the league, the Bulldogs finished ahead of their projected total and have now finished where they were picked or higher in the last six years under former Razorback assistant Schaefer.

Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Recap of the TN game, Richard Davenport and more!

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Tye & Tommy on the win over Tennessee, Richard Davenport talks recruiting, plus comparing last season to this season!