FAYETVILLE, Ark. – The New Orleans women's basketball program continued its tour of the SEC as the Privateers dropped a non-conference matchup with No. 22 Arkansas, 82-52 at the Bud Walton Arena during the Razorbacks Elementary Day on Friday morning.
New Orleans was led on offense by freshman guard
Mia Deck who set a new career high with her 13-point performance which included going 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
Vaquela Pimpton chipped in 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Whitley Larry also contributed nine points but her impact was felt more on the defensive end as she ended the contest with 11 boards and five blocks. The senior forward matched her career high in rejections and was the first Privateer to record five blocks since she accomplished the feat in a win against Southeastern back on March 6 of last season.
As a team the Privateers were once again active on the defensive end as they forced 14 Arkansas turnovers, the second consecutive game the group has caused double-digit miscues in that regard. The team was also hot behind the arc as New Orleans shot an even 50 percent from 3-point land, as they knocked down 8-of-16 attempts.
"We fought out there on the floor," head coach
Keeshawn Davenport said. "I asked them as we're playing this tough schedule at the beginning just to get better every game. I thought we got better on this morning. When I look at us having more rebounds than last game at LSU, us doing a better job of executing, us playing them to a tie in the second quarter, it's a better game."
"I'm still not happy with our turnovers and I'm definitely not happy with free throws but I think there are moments that we got better today."
New Orleans was able to get out to an early 2-1 lead but Arkansas turned on the pressure and ended the first quarter up 26-12. They didn't let off the gas the rest of the way as they cruised to a 30-point victory.
The Razorbacks were led on offense by Wooden Award Preseason Watch List honoree Chelsea Dungee who scored 22 points despite being held to a 5-of-15 mark from the field and 2-for-9 from three. She did her damage at the line as she posted a 10-of-13 mark from the charity stripe.
Taylah Thomas was a force on the glass as she recorded a career-high 21 rebounds.
As an offense the 52 points scored by the Privateers was the most against the Razorbacks in their last four matchups. Arkansas improved to 9-0 against New Orleans all-time.
"We just have to do a better job of making that adjustment quicker," Davenport concluded. "I think we made them but we made them a little bit slow. We need to do a better job of making those adjustments quicker. If we take away their three-pointers, we have a different game."
The Privateers will be back in action with their home opener and Education Day against Pensacola Christian, set for Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 11 AM at the Lakefront Arena.
