CONWAY — A 13-point Lamar run spanning the third and fourth quarters proved to be too much for Central Arkansas to overcome, as the Sugar Bears fell 70-56 to the Cardinals in the Southland Conference opener for both teams in the Farris Center on Saturday.
After Lamar (8-3, 1-0 Southland) scored the first seven points of the second half to run out to a 14-point lead, the Sugar Bears (8-3, 0-1) answered midway through the quarter with a 9-0 run to cut the Cardinal lead to five with 2:55 left in the period. The Cardinals, however, would close out the period with a 7-0 run, then add on the first six points of the fourth to build a 16-point lead that the Sugar Bears would have no answer for.
In the final period, the Sugar Bears were unable to pull any closer than 12 as the Cardinals outscored UCA 20-16 in the quarter en route to their fourth win in five tries against the Sugar Bears.
The Sugar Bears held the Cardinals to 39 percent shooting from the field, but Lamar was able to get some separation from UCA beyond the arc – hitting 5 of 14 (35.7 percent) to just 2 of 14 (14.3 percent) for the Sugar Bears; and at the free throw line, where Lamar was 19 of 30 while the Sugar Bears were limited to half the attempts, going 10 of 15.
Lamar, the nation's leader in turnover margin at +10.1 per game, held true to form on Saturday as they forced the Sugar Bears into 18 turnovers – nearly 50 percent over their season average – while committing only 11.
Kierra Jordan, Brianna Mullins and Taylor Strickland each had 11 points for the Sugar Bears, with Jordan pulling down a team-high 8 rebounds. Raquel Logan added 8 points, 7 rebounds, and tied Jordan for the team lead with 2 blocks.
Moe Kinard, Lamar's leading scorer at 14.7 points per game coming in, led the Cardinals with 25 points while Chastadie Barrs added 16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Kiara Desamours added 10 points for the Cardinals.
The Sugar Bears continue their conference-opening home swing Monday night at 6 when they host Northwestern State as part of a doubleheader with the Central Arkansas men, who host Lamar at 8:00pm.
