During the third quarter, tempers began to flare. Daniels and Vanderbilt freshman forward Khamil Pierre were assessed double technical fouls with 5:15 left in the quarter. Daniels made a driving layup later in the quarter and was fouled to pull the Razorbacks within 40-32 but was assessed an unsportsmanlike technical foul, which resulted in her ejection.
Neighbors walked with his fifth-year guard down the tunnel and to the locker room. The seventh-year Arkansas coach said he contemplated not returning to the sideline.
It was the second consecutive year Arkansas has banked in a shot at the buzzer against the Commodores. Last season, Daniels banked in a deep three-pointer as time expired and after Vanderbilt banked in a game-tying three with 4.3 seconds left. Daniels’ shot gave Arkansas an 84-81 victory.
The Razorbacks grabbed a short-lived lead to begin the third quarter when Maryam Dauda made a three-pointer, but Vanderbilt went on runs of 6-0 and 8-0 during the period to grow a 48-39 lead entering the fourth.
“Nothing’s going to change,” Neighbors said, recalling his conversation with Daniels. “No wins, no losses. We’re in the postseason five straight years. It [hasn’t been done since former Coach Gary] Blair’s time. Her legacy is cemented. Nothing about this game, nothing about the rest of this season changes her legacy. Don’t let this.
“I thought about staying back there with her. I really did. I was really worried that if I went back out, I’d end up joining her [with a technical] and it would cost us two free throws.”
During the same play, Dauda and Pierre were called for double technical fouls. Pierre was ejected because it was her second.
The three technical fouls on the play brought the game total to six. Arkansas’ bench was called for a technical foul in the first half.
“There’s always a lot of good, competitive talk or whatever, but today it wasn’t really so much so competitive,” Arkansas guard Samara Spencer said. “It was, I wouldn’t say degrading, but it was like, ‘What’s the need for it?’ And then when you go tell the refs and they’re like, ‘OK, we’ll stop it,’ and it’s still going on, it’s kind of like you feel like you have to take things into your own hands.”
The Razorbacks scored the first 7 points of the fourth quarter to get within 48-46. Vanderbilt went on an 8-3 run to get a 7-point lead before a Poffenbarger free throw and Carly Keats three-pointer shrunk the advantage to 56-53.