DENVER, Colo. – The triumph of victory, the agony of defeat. Denver, Colorado provided both feelings for the Sugar Bears, who fell 67-65 in overtime against Nevada on Saturday. The slugfest saw Central Arkansas up at halftime before the Wolfpack was able to make a comeback and ultimately steal the game in overtime.
The loss drops Central Arkansas to 3-3 on the year, but the Sugar Bears did a lot of things well against the Wolfpack. Hitting nine three-pointers for a fourth-straight game, Central Arkansas got production from beyond the arc from a number of sources, including
Kinley Fisher's four, which tied a career-best.
Jade Upshaw and
Leah Mafua each added a pair of threes of their own.
Defense was the name of the game early, with the Sugar Bears struggling to make shots until the end of the quarter, and Nevada struggling to take any. The Wolfpack committed seven turnovers in the opening stanza, relying on offensive rebounds to produce offense. On the other side, Central Arkansas scored ten points in the paint, and got the other nine from distance.
Randrea Wright, Mafua and Fisher combined for the lion's share of the offense, scoring 14 of the team's 19 on 6-of-8 shooting.
The lead would hover in the single digits for the Sugar Bears, with seemingly every basket answered with a corresponding shot on the other side. Both sides traded threes a few minutes into the frame, with Mafua pushing the lead to nine, Nevada answering with a three, and Fisher responding with yet another from distance, only for the Wolfpack to mirror the shot. Nevada whittled the lead down to two points with just over two minutes left in the half, but an 8-2 run to close the half had the Sugar Bears ahead by six after the first half. Fisher had reached double-figures by the break, scoring ten points on four makes.
Nevada came out of halftime and made adjustments to what the Sugar Bears were able to do in the first half, cutting the lead all the way back to one by the media timeout midway through the third. After surrendering the lead for a possession, the Sugar Bears went on a 7-0 run to retake the lead, only for the Wolfpack to hit a triple before the end of the quarter.
The Wolfpack went right to work, opening the fourth on a 7-0 run to take the lead. A layup from Upshaw stymied the run, but after leading for basically the entire game, suddenly it was the Sugar Bears on their heels. The teams traded buckets as the quarter wore on, with the lead never exceeding five. Finally, with 3:24 left,
Bree Stephens put in a layup to even the score again, tying it at 54 a side. Thirty seconds later, Nevada hit a triple to go back up three. But on the ensuing possession by Central Arkansas, Fisher broke open and cashed in on her fourth triple of the game to lock it back up at 57. The final 2:30 saw the teams combine for six shots, all of which missed, and four turnovers, with both defenses locking in and refusing to be the one that breaks. Nevada had the final possession of regulation, but the Sugar Bears forced one final miss to send the game to overtime.
Overtime started the way regulation ended: tight defense. Both sides missed early opportunities to score before Nevada tossed in the first shot more than a minute into the extra time. Coming down on the other side, the Sugar Bears worked the ball around until deep in the shot clock. Kicking it out to the corner, it was
Kierra Prim splashing her first three-pointer as a Sugar Bear that gave Central Arkansas a one-point lead. The sides would trade buckets until under the minute mark. Offenses would stall until Nevada hit a final score with 1.7 seconds on the clock.
Central Arkansas regroups and heads back on the road next week, playing a pair of games at Lindenwood and Little Rock. The Sugar Bears start with the Lions on Wednesday, tipping off at 6 p.m. in St. Louis.
