The Lady Toppers (3-2) had a second-half comeback in them on Friday night, but it wasn’t big enough to claw their way back from a 17-point halftime deficit against Arkansas in the Caribbean Challenge.

After trailing 36-19 at the half, Western pulled within eight at 52-44 with 8:10 remaining in the game, but the Razorbacks finished on a 17-7 run to claim a 69-51 victory at the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico.

Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles called the holiday tournament a “disappointing trip,” citing a lack of offensive execution as a big factor for the Lady Toppers’ woes in Cancun. Western fell 70-43 to No. 10 Duke on Thursday night.

“It was a great opportunity for us as a team and us as a program to play this kind of competition and take advantage of the opportunity,” Cowles told Western’s Big Red Radio Network after the game. “I really feel like for the most part we backed away from that opportunity.”

Western opened an 8-5 lead early in the game, but the Razorbacks (4-1) answered with a 29-7 run to take a 34-15 lead with just over two minutes left in the first half.

Western did not score for over six minutes during Arkansas’ pivotal first-half run, and senior forward Jessica Magley said a large part of the team’s offensive problems came from a lack of translation from the drawing board to the court.

“When our coaches draw something up for us in the huddle, we have to be able to carry that over into the game,” Magley said. “I think our team has the ability to do that, so hopefully we’ll learn these lessons and apply them to our next game.”

The Lady Toppers began to climb back into the game early in the second half behind the hot shooting of freshman guard Lashay Davis.

Davis made three three-pointers in less than two minutes, and sophomore forward Teranie Thomas followed with a layup to bring Western within 49-38 with 11:52 remaining in the game.

The Lady Toppers had several consecutive possessions with the opportunity to cut the lead to single digits and finally got within eight points at 52-44 after Davis’ fourth three-pointer with 8:10 left, but Western only scored six more points in the game and ultimately fell behind by as many as 21.

Cowles said that Western recognized an advantage in the post in the first half, but the Lady Toppers failed to capitalize.

“It was obvious they didn’t have an answer for Jessica or (senior forward) Arnika (Brown), but we didn’t execute our offense,” Cowles said. “When we went to either one of them, good things happened … We’ve got to get to a point where, depending on what they take away, we’ve got to be able to make those adjustments and play basketball.”

Western shot only 23.3 percent in the first half and just 29.7 percent for the game.

The Lady Toppers also finished eight of 16 from the free throw line.

Davis led the Lady Toppers with 19 points, including five three-pointers, while Magley added nine points and a career-high nine rebounds. Brown pitched in eight points and 12 rebounds.

The Lady Toppers return home Wednesday night for a matchup with North Dakota at 7 p.m. in Diddle Arena.