Sophomore Maryam Dauda hit a layup with less than a second left on the clock Wednesday to propel the Arkansas women’s basketball team to a thrilling 60-59 win over Illinois in the first of two games being played at the West Palm Beach Classic in Florida.
Down by a point, the Razorbacks got the ball to junior playmaker Samara Spencer with nine seconds to play. The savvy guard then found Dauda open under the basket for the winning score.
Spencer and SEC scoring leader Taliah Scott each netted 17 points to pace Arkansas. Dauda, a 6-foot-4 Bentonville product, was 4 of 5 from the field and finished with nine points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
Ironically, Spencer and Scott are both Florida natives and got to shine back in their home state.
“Happy for our Florida kids to come home again,” head coach Mike Neighbors said. “And with Sam making the right basketball play, and Maryam being ready, with her hands up ready to catch it and lay that thing in at the buzzer. It was really exciting.”
Arkansas jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, but went on a three-minute drought, allowing Illinois to respond with a 6-0 run.
The teams then traded the lead throughout the first half. Graduate guard Makayla Daniels scored on a layup, then hit one of two free throws late in the half to send the Razorbacks to the locker room with a 31-28 lead.
“Faced a lot of adversity with foul trouble early, and not being able to knock down free throws when we needed them,” Neighbors said. “But we really battled. I though defensively we really locked in when we needed to.”
After Illinois opened the second half with five straight points, Arkansas reclaimed a 43-40 advantage midway through the third quarter, on back-to-back threes from Spencer and sophomore Saylor Poffenbarger. But the Fighting Illini bounced back with a 7-0 run to retake the lead once again.
Illinois actually outscored Arkansas 23-17 in the third quarter, taking a three point lead into the final stanza.
Scott converted on a driving layup to put the Hogs back ahead, until Illinois tied the game again with a jumper. The score was knotted at 55-55 with 4:12 remaining.
The Hogs held Illinois to 0-for-8 from the three-point line throughout the contest, but only converted 4-of-23 themselves.
Arkansas trailed 59-56 with three minutes to play, but got two free throws from Poffenbarger and a key block from Dauda down the stretch.
Poffenbarger got the final defensive rebound with nine seconds left and passed to Spencer, who made her way right to the basket and found Dauda for the game-winner.
Poffenbarger scored eight points, while pulling down a game-high 19 rebounds, in addition to two assists and two blocks. The 19 boards was her third most this season.
Arkansas will play Illinois-Chicago Thursday at 10 a.m. (CT) to wrap up the West Palm Beach Classic. The game will be streamed on FloHoops.