“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.
Vanderbilt then ended the game with six unanswered points.
Spencer led Arkansas with 19 points and Keats added 13. Poffenbarger left the game early in the third quarter when she fell hard to the ground and hit her left knee on the court. She returned later in the game and had a game-high 12 rebounds in 32 minutes played.
Jordyn Oliver led Vanderbilt with 12 points and Sacha Washington added 11. The Commodores shot 20 of 59 (33.9%) from the floor, 4 of 16 (25%) from three-point range and 18 of 21 (85.7%) from the free-throw line.
“There was so much emotion,” Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors said. “There was obviously a heightened sense before the game because we all read ESPN.com and look at Bracketology and all that. … It makes it a big important game. But it was going to be heightened. Our games with [Vanderbilt] are always heightened.”
The Commodores’ defense handcuffed the Razorbacks. Arkansas scored a season-low 53 points and shot 17 of 54 (31.5%), 7 of 30 (23.3%) from three-point range and 12 of 18 (66.7%) from the free-throw line.