Arkansas women's basketball advances in WNIT by beating Texas Tech. Kansas next.

Bre’Amber Scott was more than happy to return to her home state Friday.

The Texas Tech senior guard showed out in front of more than 100 family and friends in Fayetteville, Arkansas, scoring a game-high 28 points and nabbing seven rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Raiders dropped a 71-66 decision to Arkansas in a third-round WNIT contest inside Bud Walton Arena.

“The bigger the stage for, Bre, the better her performance is,” Lady Raiders coach Krista Gerlich said of Scott. “She was super excited about coming back to Arkansas to play. She had I think over 100 people here watching her.

“She just had to score in a variety of ways. And she does that for us. … We’re gonna miss her a lot, but she’s certainly cemented her name in our record books and in our program.”

With the loss, the Lady Raiders (20-15) end a banner season in which the squad accumulated 20-plus wins and advanced to the postseason for the first time since the 2013 campaign. In addition, Texas Tech netted its first postseason triumph since 2012.

“The last three weeks have been magical for us,” Gerlich said. ”It’s definitely been a turning point in our program. … Even when we were in this game, it was kind of symbolic of how our season has gone.

“Sometime we would jump out and be behind by 13, and I think early in our season we had to learn how to fight through that adversity, how to stay together, keep doing what we do and not fall apart. And I thought that’s exactly what we did tonight. … This team has just stuck together love each other so much. It’s important that that’s what they received out of our program. That’s what we’re building. We’re building a program, we’re not building a team for one season.”

Texas Tech was unable to get going offensively, or build momentum, while Arkansas’ Saylor Poffenbarger netted a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 15-0 offensive surge and advantage with about six minutes to play in the first quarter.

After digging a double-digit hole, the Lady Raiders fought back — forging a 12-3 run to close the gap to within two possessions 18-12 by the end of the first stanza.

Soon enough, the game — which had six lead changes and four ties — was knotted at 28-28 by halftime.

Arkansas took control by outscoring the Lady Raiders 19-14 in the third quarter and held off a late charge en route to the win.

The victory means the Razorbacks (24-12) are set to take on Kansas in a road contest in a WNIT Great Eight contest on Sunday (2 p.m.). Makayla Daniels netted 21 points and eight rebounds to lead Arkansas. Chrissy Carr added 17 points.

Katie Ferrell, a UT Arlington transfer, ended her basketball career by pouring in 12 points to go with three rebounds and one steal for Texas Tech.

“What a great game, what a great environment. That was a lot of fun when you’re in the moment,” Gerlich said. ”Obviously, frustrating toward the end. But I’m really, really proud of this team — just how hard they fought. They could have easily thrown in the towel when they were down 13-0. … But that’s not their makeup, at all.

“They’ve been fighters all-year long and have overcome and become a really good basketball team. … It’s always disappointing when you lose your last game. But, I could not ask for more of an effort and fight.”

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Arkansas women's basketball advances in WNIT by beating Texas Tech