Arkansas crushes Tech

? Ayana Brereton scored 16 points, and No. 25 Arkansas beat Texas Tech, 80-57, on Saturday to improve to 15-0, the best start in team history.

Arkansas jumped to a 13-2 lead in the first 10 minutes. The closest the Raiders came the rest of the way was nine points, and they trailed by 20 for most of the second half.

Texas Tech never recovered from the early hole and shot just 20-of-60 from the floor in its lowest scoring output of the season.

Charity Ford had 12 points for Arkansas. Lauren Ervin, Whitney Jones and Brittney Vaughn each added 11, and Sarah Pfeifer scored 10. Ervin added 11 rebounds, and Jones had 10 for Arkansas.

Dominic Seals had nine points – well below her season average of 14 points per game – for Texas Tech, which opens Big 12 Conference play at home against Baylor on Thursday.

Arkansas took its biggest lead of the first half, 32-13, on Ford’s three-pointer with 9:19 left. But Tech switched from a man defense to zone, and over the next four-plus minutes, forced six Arkansas turnovers and sliced the deficit to 32-20 on a three-pointer by Ashlee Roberson.

Following a timeout, Arkansas got a jump shot from Pfeifer that appeared to calm the Lady Razorbacks, and Arkansas recovered to take a 38-26 lead at halftime.

The second half was all Arkansas. Back-to-back shots by Ervin and Vaughn pushed the lead to 42-26. An 11-2 run capped by Vaughn’s steal and layup extended the margin to 59-36.