JONESBORO — Despite a late push, 21 turnovers and a subpar shooting performance proved too much for Central Arkansas to overcome on Saturday as they fell 58-51 at Arkansas State in the first meeting between the teams since 1983.
The Sugar Bears (4-3) trailed by just one at halftime, but fell behind as many as 13 late in the second half. Down 10 with less than three minutes remaining, they got back-to-back baskets from senior Tracey Parsons to cut the ASU (2-6) lead in half at 56-51 with 1:30 to go. UCA got a stop on the defensive end and came back with a chance to cut further into the Red Wolves lead, but – as they did all too frequently – turned the ball over.
After getting another stop, UCA's Desiree' Rogers misfired on a 3-point attempt with 33 seconds left, and the Red Wolves responded with a fast break layup on the other end for what would prove to be the final score of the game.
"Credit to ASU, they've got a good team," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "I'm proud of our effort tonight, but I thought the mental part of the game killed us. We came out and turned the ball over and made a lot of mental mistakes. For us to do what we need to do this year, we're going to have to get tougher mentally."
The Sugar Bears, who lost senior guard Micah Rice 17 minutes into the game with a knee injury, committed 21 turnovers to just 10 for Arkansas State, and the Red Wolves converted the Sugar Bears' miscues into 19 points. To compound matters, UCA was just 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range and shot just 34.4 percent from the field.
"We're taking too many 3-pointers," Rushing said. "We were 2-for-14 tonight, and that's going to get you beat. Our free throw percentage was great, and you look at the difference in rebounding (UCA led 48-38), but we had 21 turnovers and didn't shoot it well. When Micah went down, that hurt us mentally. We have to learn to overcome things like that."
Megan Herbert led UCA in scoring with 18 points and narrowly missed her 70th career double-double as she pulled down nine rebounds. Courtney Duever had eight points and a career-high 13 rebounds to lead all players in that category, and Desiree' Rogers added seven points and a season-best 12 rebounds.
Arkansas State got 13 points and eight rebounds from Jane Morrill, and Carlisha Wyatt added 10 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
It was the first regular-season matchup between the teams since 1983, and UCA had won the previous four meetings – last losing in November of 1981. ASU leads the series 12-7.
The Sugar Bears will resume play on Dec. 18 when they take on Southern Arkansas in the Farris Center.
