CONWAY — A strong third quarter was more than enough for Central Arkansas to pull away from Central Baptist on Sunday as the Sugar Bears closed out their non-conference schedule with a 66-43 win over the Lady Mustangs in the Farris Center for their third win in their last four games.
Leading by 10 at the half, the Sugar Bears (4-5) would outscore the Lady Mustangs 20-9 in the third period – including a 13-1 run that included an 8-point spurt in less than 2 minutes – to take a 21-point lead into the final period, and from there would build a lead as large as 26 en route to their 11th straight victory over CBC.
After CBC had cut its deficit to 9 early in the third, the Sugar Bears would score on their next three possessions to push the advantage back to 15, then added seven more points while keeping the Lady Mustangs without a field goal for more than eight minutes to put the game out of reach. In the quarter, the Sugar Bears shot 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) from the field while holding CBC to just 2 of 10.
The Sugar Bears had their best game of the season on the perimeter, knocking down a season-high seven 3-pointers led by three each from
Brionna Budgetts and
Romola Dominguez.
Savanna Walker led the way offensively for the Sugar Bears, putting up a season-high 18 points – her third time in double figures in the last four games after scoring 13 against both Jackson State and Texas A&M. Dominguez added 11, while Budgetts had 9 in just seven minutes of action.
Taylor Sells led Central Arkansas with 8 assists to tie her career high, while also grabbing 7 rebounds and scoring 4 points.
Hannah Langhi had a team-high 9 rebounds to go with 6 points and a season-high 5 assists in 15 minutes, while
Alana Canady pitched in with 6 points and 7 rebounds in 19 minutes.
Kory Westerman led CBC with 13 points, and Sierra Carrier had 9 points and 9 rebounds for the Lady Mustangs.
The Sugar Bears now turn their attention to Southland Conference play, beginning with a two-game swing to Incarnate Word on Wednesday and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday. They will return to the Farris Center on Jan. 1 when they host Houston Baptist at 1:00pm.
