Hogs unable to overcome hot-shooting Wildcats

The Arkansas women’s basketball team was unable to overcome a stellar performance from All-American Rhyne Howard and her Kentucky Wildcats, falling 78-55 in front of 8,292 fans — the eighth-largest crowd in program history — Sunday afternoon in Bud Walton Arena.

Howard and the Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders. As a team, Kentucky shot 80% from behind the arc in the first quarter and Howard scored 11 of her game-high 29 points in the opening frame.

"(Howard) is an all-around player," junior guard Makayla Daniels said. "She can go by you, she can shoot behind the screen, and to me, she never gets overwhelmed."

With Howard on the bench to start the second quarter, Arkansas mounted a run to cut the lead to 26-21 with just under seven minutes to play in the half. From there, with Howard back on the court, Kentucky immediately went on a 10-0 run to push the lead to 36-21 with 4:01 to play in the quarter.

The Razorbacks had a chance to cut the lead to single digits just before halftime, but redshirt senior Amber Ramirez’s layup missed off the front of the rim just before the buzzer. Kentucky held a 40-29 advantage going into the locker room.

Arkansas could not get anything going in the third quarter, and the Wildcats took advantage, pushing their lead to 22 points on a layup just before the buzzer sounded. Going to the fourth quarter, Kentucky held a 66-44 advantage.

Arkansas cut the Wildcat lead to 17 with six minutes to play in the game, but the Hogs could only muster 11 points in the final quarter on their way to a disappointing 78-55 defeat.

"You hope to capitalize on crowds better, but we're not used to having a crowd that big," Arkansas head coach Mike Neighbors said. "We didn't do anything to take advantage of it."

The Razorbacks will look to bounce back from the loss when they take on the Ole Miss Rebels at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Oxford, Mississippi. The game will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.