CONWAY — Despite a monster effort from Kamry Orr and a solid season debut for Antonija Bozic, Central Arkansas came up short in the Southland Conference opener on Monday, falling 73-65 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Farris Center.
In the most productive game of her collegiate career, Orr narrowly missed a triple double as she poured in a season-high 27 points along with a career-high 12 assists and tied her season high with 9 rebounds, also getting a career-high 3 blocks and 2 steals while playing all 40 minutes. Bozic, playing her first game of the season after missing the entire non-conference slate with a stress fracture, came off the bench to score 13 points – including hitting a team-high three 3-pointers – in 26 minutes.
But it would not be enough, as the Islanders (7-5, 1-0 Southland) rallied from a 9-point deficit late in the 3rd quarter with a 28-point fourth quarter to deal the Sugar Bears (5-6, 0-1) a rare Southland home loss.
"I'm happy with the effort, but it's still a loss," said Central Arkansas head coach Sandra Rushing. "We made a lot of mistakes and turned the basketball over too many times. Corpus' defense is very good, and Royce (Chadwick) does a great job – we've got to give credit to them. We knew they were going to attack our posts, and they did. But we turned the ball over too many times and we've got to get better in the post defensively – if not, it's going to be a long year."
The Islanders had a 32-18 advantage in points in the paint, including a 14-2 margin in the 4th quarter as A&M-Corpus Christi shot 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) from the field. The Islanders also committed just 7 turnovers in the game, while the Sugar Bears had 17 which led to 25 Islander points. Though each team had 14 offensive rebounds, A&M-Corpus Christi converted those into 19 second-chance points while the Sugar Bears had just 6.
The Sugar Bears were 14 of 17 (82.4 percent) at the free throw line, led by Orr's 9-of-10; but the Islanders got 28 attempts - making 19 (67.9 percent).
Dalesia Booth had a career-high 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting to lead the way for the Islanders, who also got 14 points from Alexes Bryant and 11 from Emma Young.
Though the Sugar Bears did see the return of Bozic and junior center Alexyse Thomas – who has missed five games this season due to injury – they were without sophomore forward Mekaylan Hicks, who missed the game due to a concussion suffered at Kansas State. Hicks was the lone Sugar Bear to have started every game this season.
The loss drops the Sugar Bears to 9-7 all-time against the Islanders, and is just the 6th in their last 30 home conference games dating back to 2015.
The Sugar Bears will hit the road for their next three, visiting Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday before traveling to Sam Houston State and Lamar next week. The Sugar Bears return to the Farris Center on Jan. 16 and 19, taking on Incarnate Word and Nicholls.
