Arkansas, 9-3, celebrated the new year by holding the Cougars, 9-4, to a season-low 57 points. It was the first home loss of the year for BYU.

"When they made the mistakes, we burned them," UA head coach Gary Blair said. "We went in and took it to them. We needed this kind of win after the close games we've played recently."

The Lady'Backs shot 60 percent in the first half to roar out to a 42-25 lead at intermission, extending the lead to as many as 30 before the game was over.

Nesby was perfect from the field -- 6-of-6 -- to lead Arkansas in scoring as the entire team played and scored.

"I was thinking about TCU, and how we didn't have a lot of focus," Nesby said. "We knew we could get it inside, and I took advantage of how they were posting us up."

Almost half of Wright's 11 assists were to the 6-4 sophmore post.

"It was nice to have Stick today," Wright said. "She had it in her head that no one was going to stop her tonight."

The Cougars came into the game averaging 48 percent from the field, led by all-American Erin Thorn with almost 19 points per game.

Against Arkansas' smothering defense, BYU managed only 33.9 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from three-point range. Thorn hit her first shot of the game, then missed her next 12 against Wright's defensive play.

"We didn't let them reverse the ball and we extended our defense," Blair said. "Amy's job on Thorn was about as good a defensive effort as I've seen."

"I'm tired," Wright said. "The coaches told me I couldn't give her a look, so I just did what I could to prevent that."

Thorn hit her opening three-pointer of the game as the teams traded points early. Arkansas made it first -- and ultimately decisive -- push five minutes into the contest. Joy Oakley's second bucket of the game started Arkansas on an 11-2 run to take a 17-10 lead with 12:51 to play. A jumper by Danielle Chessman and a free throw from Jenn Leitner by BYU interrupted the Lady'Backs' progress, but a 12-1 run put the game away, 31-13, with seven minutes left in the half.

"Amy didn't score a shot in the first half, but she was doing exactly what a point guard should do," Blair said. "She dissected their defense, and that's why we jumped on them early."

Early free throws in the second half allowed BYU to show some life, cutting the lead to 13 before Arkansas turned to full-court play to shut the door.

Back-to-back breakaway layups by Dana Cherry started the move and a steal and layup from Lakishia Harper pushed Arkansas to its first 20-point lead, 61-40, with 12 minutes left.

After shooting less than 50 percent at the line against TCU, Arkansas opened 2002 by hitting a season-high 88.5 percent against BYU.

Four Lady'Backs had season highs in the game. Aside from Wright's assists and Nesby's scoring, Cara Wright and Carla Rhodes came off the bench for season bests. Arkansas' three post players combined to shoot 10-of-12 from the field. Oakley wasn't far behind Nesby, hitting 4-of-5 for eight points. Shameka Christon had 14 points and Cherry 10 to round out Arkansas' double-digit scorers.

Melanie Pearson came off the bench to score 15 to lead BYU, with Leitner adding 10. Thorn finished the game with eight points on 3-of-15 from the field and only 2-of-8 from three-point range. Last year, Thorn had 24 points against Arkansas off 9-of-14 at Fayetteville. BYU lost that game by 20, 94-74.

BYU averaged 9.4 three-pointers per game heading into the contest but shot only 4-of-14 for a season-low 28.6 percent from behind the arc.

The Lady'Backs return to Fayetteville Thursday to prepare for another road game -- the third in the last eight days -- as they open Southeastern Conference play at Oxford, Miss., against Ole Miss on Sunday, Jan. 6.