LORMAN, Miss. — After struggling offensively in the first half, Central Arkansas found enough firepower in the third quarter to pull away from Alcorn State – snapping a two-game losing skid with a 57-46 victory on the road Wednesday night.
Leading 19-16 at the break following a half in which they shot just 6-for-28 (21.4 percent) from the field, the Sugar Bears outscored the Lady Braves 19-9 in the third quarter – knocking down 8 of their 16 field goal attempts – to take a lead as large 14 in the period. They would eventually extend the advantage to as many as 16 in the fourth quarter en route to their 8th consecutive win over the Lady Braves, remaining perfect in the series against Alcorn State.
"It's been 10 days since we played a game and it was obvious," said head coach Sandra Rushing. "I'm happy to have the win. We'll take the win on the road, but we have a lot to work on. I learned a lot about this team tonight. We got outscored in the 4th quarter, we relaxed down the stretch, so we've got to go back and look at that and try to make some adjustments."
The Sugar Bears (3-2) ended the game shooting just 34.5 percent (19 of 55) and came up empty in seven attempts from 3-point range, but benefited from a considerable advantage at the free throw line – hitting 19 of 34 while Alcorn State (0-5) connected on just 7 of its 19 attempts (36.8 percent). The Sugar Bears also kept the Lady Braves without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in the second and third quarters, where Alcorn State scored just 14 points on 5-of-27 shooting.
Senior guard
Kamry Orr led all players with a season-high 21 points – including hitting 11 of 16 free throws – while adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Sophomore forward
Mekaylan Hicks narrowly missed a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds in 25 minutes; while senior guard
Alanie Fisher added 9 points and 6 rebounds and junior center
Alexyse Thomas added 6 and 8 in 19 minutes.
"Thank goodness for Kamry Orr tonight," Rushing said. "She scored 21 points – her shooting percentage was horrible, but she got to the free throw line and that's something we needed tonight. I thought Alanie Fisher came in and gave us a spark – I love the way she drives, the way she rebounds. We've got to have that. Alex did a good job on the boards, and I thought at times Mekaylan did – but we go to the other end and they're attacking our posts. Our post defense was horrible."
Toddriana Isler led Alcorn State with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Sugar Bears, who entered the game as the nation's 7th-leading offensive rebounding team at 19 per game, grabbed 23 on Wednesday as they out rebounded the Lady Braves 47-40 and held a 17-12 advantage in second-chance points.
The Sugar Bears return to the Farris Center on Saturday when they host Crowley's Ridge College at 2:00pm before rounding out non-conference play with three of four on the road including trips to Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Kansas State.
