CONWAY, Ark. – Fresh off of their first win of the season, the UCA Sugar Bears (1-1) take to the road once more, heading west to face Oklahoma (2-0) on Tuesday. Tip-off against the Sooners is set for 6 p.m., at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.
Central Arkansas opens the week on a positive note after claiming its first win of the season last Friday, defeating in-town opponent Hendrix College with a 74-35 final score. Junior
Lucy Ibeh led the team with 18 points and nine rebounds, while freshman
Randrea Wright continued to impress, netting 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Wright earned ASUN Freshman of the Week honors after netting double-figures in both of UCA's games last week.
In all, four Sugar Bears reached double figures, with
Jayla Cody dropping a career-best 11 points of her own, and grad student
Hannah Langhi, making her season debut, scored 11 as well. More importantly for this team, the defense was locked in. UCA forced 16 turnovers from the Warriors, while holding the visitors to just 19 percent shooting from the field and 15 percent from three.
Wright, Ibeh and Langhi all average double-figure points, led by Wright's 16 per game. Ibeh found a hot hand against Hendrix, raising her average to 12.5 points per game, while Langhi has 11 points in her only appearance of the young season.
Central Arkansas is 0-2 all-time against Oklahoma, with a game in 2007 and most recently in 2018. The 2018 contest finished with a final score of 52-65 in favor of the Sooners, with Langhi contributing five points and six rebounds in the loss.
Oklahoma hosts the Sugar Bears with a 2-0 record in the new season, opening their season at South Dakota before hosting its home opener against Arkansas State last Friday.
After a narrow 73-71 win over South Dakota, the Sooners posted a 101-89 win on the Red Wolves, with six players scoring double-figures. Oklahoma shot 49 percent from the field, outscoring Arkansas State 50-28 in the paint.
Four Sooners currently average double-figure scoring, led by Madi Williams' 18.5. ana Llanusa has scored 17.5, Taylor Robertson follows her at 17, and Emma Svoboda has scored 10 points per contest off the bench. Robertson and Llanusa have also combined to hit 15 of the Sooners' 19 three-pointers.
Oklahoma is led by first-year head coach Jennie Baranczyk. Baranczyk was hired in April after long-time head coach Sherri Coale retired after last season. Baranczyk was head coach at Drake for nine seasons before joining the Sooners Athletic Department.
