CONWAY, Ark. – Despite hanging around for most of the game, the Sugar Bears couldn't find all the answers as they fell to Lipscomb in their ASUN home opener on Monday. The 63-54 final score came in large part to the difference in shooting percentages, as Central Arkansas shot 35 percent, compared to the Bisons' 45 percent.
 
Lucy Ibeh tallied her conference-leading eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 16 rebounds, pulling in seven offensive rebounds. Hannah Langhi added 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in the loss, her second-straight game with 15-plus points.
 
The teams traded buckets most of the first quarter, with Langhi getting the Sugar Bears on the board with an old-fashioned three-point play. It stayed a one-possession game until about the four-minute mark, when Lipscomb was able to string a couple of shots together to take a seven-point lead. Randrea Wright added an and-one to cut into the lead, ending at a six-point deficit for the Sugar Bears after one.
 
A 6-2 run to start the second helped Central Arkansas take the lead down to just two points, capped by a free throw from Wright to make it 21-19 in favor of the visitors with 5:06 left in the half. Carley Hudspeth knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the quarter, each responsible for draining the lead to a single possession. It marked the fifth game of the season that the Grenada, Miss., native has hit multiple three-pointers. Ibeh hit a pair of free throws to trim the lead to one, before an 8-2 run by Lipscomb built the lead back to seven at the buzzer.
 
Central Arkansas was unable to cut into the lead in the third quarter before mounting a rally in the fourth. Throughout the period, the Sugar Bears would get stops and buckets to get within five, but each time, Lipscomb would find a way to push the lead back up. After cutting it again to five with just over three minutes left, the Bisons pulled away for good.
 
The Sugar Bears have two more home games this week, starting with one on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Jacksonville State, before hosting Liberty on Saturday at 1 p.m. On short rest again because of a COVID rescheduling, Central Arkansas will then play North Alabama next Monday.