Jan. 20, 2011
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | 
Green’s Photos | 
Highlights | Interviews | Stats
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An early-evening snow shower caused a gridlock on Nashville’s roadways and limited the crowd size at Memorial Gym on Thursday, but it could not slow down Vanderbilt, who kept its undefeated home record intact by knocking off No. 23/24 Arkansas 65-54 in a key early-season conference game Thursday at Memorial Gym.
The win was Vanderbilt’s first of the season against a ranked foe and moved the Commodores (13-6, 4-2 SEC) into sole possession of fourth place in the SEC. Arkansas dropped to 15-3 overall and 3-3 in the league.
Vanderbilt took a three-point lead into the locker room, but Arkansas scored the first three points of the second half to tie the game for the first time since the 16:56 mark of the first half.
Arkansas looked well on its way to continuing its string of close contests with the Commodores after having battled to overtime in two of the previous three contests. However, Arkansas was never able to take the lead in the second half as Vanderbilt went on a 21-5 run from that point forward to take a 16-point lead with 10:09 to play.
Arkansas would not recover.
“I think it really helped that we had played so well at Alabama and this was a similar type of team that was going to press us the whole game,” Head Coach Melanie Balcomb said. “We had had that success in the past, so I kept reminding the team about the success we had in the game before Tennessee.”
Vanderbilt was paced by freshman Jasmine Lister, who scored 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Her five makes were a career high and tied a season high for the Commodores. Stephanie Holzer added 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while also matching a career high with four blocks.
Jence Rhoads added 13 points and set a career high with nine rebounds, finishing just one board shy of her third career double-double. Christina Foggie also added 10 points off the bench, which outscored Arkansas’ bench 32-2.
Vanderbilt leading scorer Hannah Tuomi was held scoreless for the first time since the Feb. 22, 2009 game at Ole Miss as she misfired on all three of her shots against Arkansas’ zone defense.
Vanderbilt held a 30-27 lead at the half after shooting 54.5 percent from the floor. Arkansas stayed in the game behind the play of C’eira Ricketts, who scored 13 first-half points and finished with a game-high 29.
The Commodores led 9-8 early and would add to their lead by going on a 16-5 run to take a 25-13 lead with 5:47 to play.
Arkansas would go on a 9-0 run to pull within three, 25-22, with 2:40 to play and were within three at the half.
The Commodores are now 10-0 at home and have won eight straight against Arkansas.
Vanderbilt shot 44% from the floor and 45% from beyond the arc. Arkansas was held to 35.8% shooting and just 33.3% from long range.
Vanderbilt will return to the court on Sunday when the Commodores travel to No. 19 Kentucky for a 3 p.m. CT tip on ESPNU.
