Izzy Higginbottom scores 26, Arkansas women's basketball blows past Northeastern State in exhibition

FAYETTEVILLE — Izzy Higginbottom scored 26 points and the Arkansas women’s basketball team defeated Division II Northeastern State 88-54 in an exhibition game Friday at Bud Walton Arena.

Higginbottom, a 5-7 guard who transferred from Arkansas State, scored 18 points in the first quarter and helped Arkansas create separation. The Razorbacks led 15-13 with 4:05 left in the period before Higginbottom exploded for 14 points over a 4-minute span.

Arkansas went on a 21-3 run to close the quarter, with Higginbottom and Carly Keats combining for 19 points during the stretch.

“I was just taking what the defense gives,” Higginbottom said. “Seeing lanes, seeing who was open and just getting to my spots.”

Higginbottom fell one assist short of a double-double. She shot 9 of 18 (50%) from the floor, 7 of 8 (87.5%) from the foul line, had 9 assists and 6 rebounds.

“She’s so deceptive,” Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said. “She has crossed up almost every one of our men’s practice players to the ground this year. It’s just a lot of misinformation and deception. You think you’ve got her and the next thing you know, she’s by you.”

Jenna Lawrence was the second leading scorer for Arkansas with 15 points — all coming off three-pointers — including a trey with 1.4 seconds left in the first half. The sophomore shot 5 of 12 (41.7%) from distance and was on the receiving end of three Higginbottom assists.

“In our first 20 practices, when she passes it to Jenna,” Neighbors said of Higginbottom, “Jenna’s shooting like 70%. When others pass it to Jenna it goes down, because she throws a perfect strike. It’s at the right time [and] it’s on target almost every time.”

Northeastern State was held to 20-of-65 (30.8%) shooting, including 7 of 34 from three-point range (20.6%), and committed 18 turnovers. But despite the poor shooting, the River Hawks corralled 12 offensive rebounds and lost the overall rebounding battle just 46-41.

“I would say rebounding,” Higginbottom said when asked to identify the team’s most notable room for improvement. “Defensively and offensively. There were times where we would go up and try to grab it with one hand. We’ve got to grab it with two hands and also just initiate contact and then go get the ball, really.”

Vera Ojenuwa, a 6-4 forward from Lagos, Nigeria, who transferred to Arkansas from Barton (Kan.) Community College, led the Razorbacks with 13 rebounds. She added 8 points in 27 minutes played.

“I think she’s going to get better at it, too,” Neighbors said of Ojenuwa’s rebounding. “She got her hands on a couple that she didn’t corral. … If y’all would have seen her when we first got her on campus, and see how far she’s come in the strength and conditioning area and in the nutrition area, she’s still got a long way to go before she reaches her ceiling.”

Redshirt freshman guard Maryn Archer added 13 points for the Razorbacks to round out the team’s double-digit scorers. Archer was 4 of 6 (66.7%) from the field and 5 of 7 (71.4%) from the stripe.

“She’s so steady and she’s so coachable,” Neighbors said. “It was good chance for her to give us some minutes, knowing that [she can come in] if Izzy needs a rest. … She really, I thought, managed her teams well, and she will be excited.”

Reese Shirey, the daughter of Arkansas women’s basketball legend and director of operations Amber Shirey, is a freshman guard for Northeastern State.

Shirey, who played against her former Farmington High School teammate Lawrence, scored 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting and had 4 rebounds.

“She’s such a good kid,” Neighbors said. “I begged and begged Amber for her to come here and follow, wear No. 11 here. But I think she has a really good plan for what she’s going to do, and she’s obviously earned the starting spot as a freshman.

“[Northeastern State coach Keith Ferguson] is really high on her. We’ve watched her play for years and I’ve watched her grow up, so it was a fun game for us to do. Amber was the most nervous person in the building all night long.”

Freshman guard Phoenix Stotijn did not dress out Friday and will be unavailable to play for the first semester. The last day of final exams at the University of Arkansas is Dec. 13, meaning Stotijn could be eying the Texas Tech game Dec. 15 as her Razorback debut.

“She did not get an NCAA waiver that we hoped that she would get, so she’ll have to be out until the second semester,” Neighbors said. “It was something we knew was a potential to happen. We were hoping for better news. We didn’t get it. So, it’s a little unfortunate, because we had really high hopes of being able to play her and Izzy off of each other.

“Phoenix is really, really good at finding the paint and making decisions, and had an unbelievable summer with her national team. … She’s disappointed, but she has not missed a beat. Normally, I would relegate her to the practice team, but I’m not doing that with her. We’re rotating her in like she’s playing…because when she does, when they say yes, she can go, she needs to be ready to go.”

Neighbors said the Razorbacks will play a closed-door scrimmage Nov. 27 at TCU.

“We’ll get a big test when we go to TCU next Sunday,” he said. “That’ll be when we’ll see if some of those shots [go in]. I’m not going to pick at it, because we are picky here, but I felt like we should have made more open threes.

“We got a few really, really good looks that I think we’ve got to shoot a higher percentage on to beat the teams that we have on our non-conference schedule.”

Arkansas is scheduled to play its season opener against Fairfield on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville.