Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas lost a huge lead but gained a little hero Monday night.
Malica Monk, the 5-5 freshman reserve guard from North Little Rock, followed consecutive misses by teammates Jordan Danberry and D.D. West with a rebound and putback to beat the buzzer and overtake Vanderbilt 57-56.
Arkansas (10-14, 5-6) snapped a four-game SEC skid.
“I told our kids in the last timeout that normally in a game like this, it’s not going to be the first shot that wins or loses, but it’s going to be the rebound,” Dykes said. “Malica Monk of all kids at 5-4 went in there and stuck it back in. When I challenged everyone to get on the offense glass I probably mentioned every name but Mal. But she listened and she is a tough kid. Just fitting that our smallest kid got the offensive rebound and stickback.”
Monk was asked to describe what happened.
“The play was designed for Jordan to make a play for all of us,” Monk said. “She did and D.D. took the ball. Then the ball came loose, and I knew I had to grab it and shoot it and I did. I didn’t know how many seconds there were on the clock, I just knew I needed to shoot it.”
Dykes said his Razorbacks played a great 30 minutes, but being a team unaccustomed to playing with a big lead, and despite Dykes and the assistants warning them, approached the fourth quarter like “you have this won.”
The Commodores “came right at us in the post and you could feel it turning,” Dykes said.
Melanie Balcomb’s Commodores (15-8, 4-6) galvanized, but ultimately fell short for the causes that had them playing from behind.