Oklahoma State stays unbeaten with fourth-quarter surge past Arkansas

DAYTONA, Fla. – Arkansas women’s basketball (4-4) opened its trip to the Dayton Beach Classic with a 70-56 loss to Oklahoma State (7-0) on Friday night at the Ocean Center.

Guard Izzy Higginbottom led all scorers with 26 points and has put up double figures in all eight games to start her senior season. The Batesville, Ark. native increased her scoring average to 22.1 ppg and ranks second in the SEC behind LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson (22.4 ppg).

The Cowgirls opened the game on a 7-0 run and led the rest of the way but Arkansas battled back to keep it a two-point game throughout much of the first half. Higginbottom had 15 of the Hogs’ 31 points who trailed by two at halftime.

Oklahoma State opened the game up after outscoring the Razorbacks 21-9 in the third quarter to get up by 14 points. The Hogs failed to cut the lead to single digits until they fired off a 7-0 run of their own with under four minutes to play.

Kiki Smith, who finished with 14 points, netted a three-pointer to get the lead down to six points. Arkansas called a timeout but did not score for the remaining 2:36 minutes. The Cowgirls closed the game out with an 8-0 run to pick up the 14-point victory.

Up Next

The Razorbacks will face Bowling Green (z-z) in Game 2 of the Daytona Beach Classic on Saturday, Nov. 30. Tipoff is set for 1:15 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on BallerTV. The Falcons (3-4) downed Stetson, 79-43, in their opening game on Friday.