Whitley Rogers is from Arkansas, and Friday was her first big night for the Razorbacks.
The freshman guard scored 16 points in an 89-59 win over Northwestern State at Bud Walton Arena. The Hogs are now 2-0. The Lady Demons are 1-1.
She had help. Senior guard Emily Robinson scored 18, the most on the team.
Sophomore forward Daniah Trammell added 10. Senior D’Asia Thomas-Harris finished with 12 rebounds.
It was Elementary Day, so school kids filled a lot of the seats. The crowd of 12,327 is the third-largest in program history.
Arkansas forced 34 turnovers and outrebounded NSU 51-35. Those two numbers did most of the work.
A slow first few minutes
Rogers and fellow freshman Kyiah Prestridge both started. Seniors Jianna Morris, Thomas-Harris and Robinson joined them.
Prestridge got the first points on a second-chance layup after an NSU turnover. Northwestern State would cough it up 33 more times.
The early minutes went back and forth. NSU was ahead 10-9 at the media timeout.
That’s about when the visitors went cold. They missed their last six shots of the quarter, a stretch of 5:28.
Arkansas went on a 16-2 run in that time. Robinson made a 3, and so did guard Beautiful Waheed.
Two of those points came from the other team. NSU guard Karma Wynn accidentally put up a layup at her own basket.
Morris and Robinson were both dealing with early fouls. The Hogs still led 25-13 when the quarter ended.
Rogers heats up before the half
Points were hard to come by to start the second quarter. Each team made one field goal in the first 3:38.
Rogers changed that. She scored eight of Arkansas’ last 10 points in the half.
Her last basket was a 3 as time ran out. The Razorbacks went to the locker room up 20.
Her eight points led the team at the break. Thomas-Harris had nine rebounds, more than anyone else in the game.
The third quarter started badly for Arkansas. NSU went on a 12-2 run over 3:53 and got within 10.
The Hogs fixed it with a 13-1 run over the next three minutes. Robinson’s 3 off a turnover finished it.
Arkansas pulls away late
Fifth-year Kateri Poole hit a shot at the buzzer to end the third. Arkansas won the period 23-20.
NSU opened the fourth with seven straight points to make it a 16-point game.
The Razorbacks answered with a 14-2 run that lasted until 2:58 was left. NSU then made two layups in a row. They were its last field goals.
The Lady Demons didn’t hit a shot from the floor over the final 2:33. All three of their points in that span came at the line.
Arkansas scored nine. Trammell made an and-1, and Robinson hit one more 3 at the 1:02 mark.
NSU actually shot better, 41.7% to 38.8%. The Hogs still made 13 more field goals and 15 free throws.
Twenty-seven of Arkansas’ rebounds came on the offensive end. That’s its most in a game since at least 2004.
Next up for the Hogs
KP Parr led all scorers with 20 for NSU. Chloe Donnell, who scored 46 in the Lady Demons’ opener, finished with two.
The Razorbacks forced 51 turnovers against LSU New Orleans in their opener, setting a program record.
Arkansas hosts Kansas City on Monday, Nov. 9, at Bud Walton Arena. The game tips at 6:30 p.m. and streams on SEC Network+.
