LSU New Orleans turned the ball over 51 times Monday night in Bud Walton Arena, which is a lot.
That’s a school record for the Arkansas women, and it fueled a 127-48 win in the 2026-27 opener that also set a new Razorbacks scoring record.
The old record of 43 came against Murray State back in 1990.
Nobody should’ve been shocked. The Hogs forced 53 turnovers against Cameron in an Oct. 29 exhibition, so this is starting to look like a habit.
The Razorbacks cashed in those giveaways for 68 points, their best total off turnovers since at least 2009.
Their 27 steals were the most since 2004, when Arkansas swiped 28 against Centenary.
A scoring mark that lasted 39 years
The 127 points are the most the Hogs have ever scored in a game. They beat the old high, set against Oral Roberts in 1987, by 12.
The 79-point margin tied the biggest win in program history. Arkansas’ 108-29 win over Bartlesville Wesleyan in 1977 had held that spot alone until Monday.
LSU was the only Division I team to score more on opening night. The ninth-ranked Tigers put up 129 on Southeastern Louisiana and won by 94.
So the Razorbacks finished second in the country in scoring on Day 1. They’ll probably take it.
The defense didn’t give up anything from deep, either. LSU New Orleans went 0-for-7 from 3-point range, and Arkansas hadn’t held a team without a 3-pointer since 2024.
Coach Kelsi Musick is now 2-0 in season openers at Arkansas.
Johnson leads a deep bench
Ayianna Johnson came off the bench and still outscored everybody in the building with 23 points.
The senior forward finished three points short of her career high of 26.
She got hot in the middle quarters, with 10 in the second and 11 in the third. Nine of those 11 came on three and-one plays.
Arkansas’ reserves combined for 71 points. That’s the most for a Musick-era bench and the most for the Razorbacks in a game since at least 2008.
Every one of the 13 Hogs who played scored at least two points and pulled down at least one rebound.
Six players reached double figures. Sophomore forward Daniah Trammell had 17, senior D’Asia Thomas-Harris added 12 and guards Kateri Poole and Beautiful Waheed scored 10 apiece.
The 28 assists were the team’s most since 2013, when it had 29 against Ole Miss.
Prestridge makes her debut count
Kyiah Prestridge picked a good night to play her first college game.
The freshman guard started and finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
She had her 20 points by the end of the third quarter but needed one more board for the double-double. It came at the 8:05 mark of the fourth.
Fellow freshman Whitley Rogers started too, alongside seniors Jianna Morris, Emily Robinson and Thomas-Harris.
Thomas-Harris put the season’s first points on the board with a step-back jumper at 8:55 of the first quarter.
At 8:29, she forced a turnover and Rogers ran the other way for a layup. Arkansas led from there for the final 38:12.
How the gap kept growing
For about five minutes, the Privateers kept pace.
Then they went two minutes without a bucket, and the Hogs scored eight straight to go up 14.
Poole’s 3-pointer finished a 7-0 run in the last two minutes of the quarter, and Arkansas led 34-14.
The Razorbacks shot 13 of 24 (54.2%) in the first quarter. They made more shots than LSU New Orleans even tried.
Waheed hit a 3 to start the second quarter, and a 15-2 run over nearly five minutes made it a 35-point game. Trammell’s layup with 4:21 left in the half got Arkansas to 50.
The halftime score was 64-28. After three quarters, it was 98-39.
Waheed then opened the fourth just like she opened the second, with a 3 that put the Hogs up 60.
The record falls late
Freshman guard Julija Matic scored the basket that broke the record. Her driving layup with 2:42 to go made it 116.
Morris saved her scoring for the end. She hit two layups and a 3 in a 36-second span, and all nine of her points came in the final three minutes.
Matic added a 3 with 24 seconds left to push the lead to 81.
The Privateers got the last word with a layup at the seven-second mark. It didn’t change much.
Next up for the Razorbacks is Northwestern State on Friday, Nov. 6, at home.
It’s Elementary Day, with tipoff set for 10:30 a.m. on SEC Network+.
