LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears held on for two quarters, but a tough second half allowed the Kansas Jayhawks to pull away late, as Central Arkansas fell 69-48 on Saturday. Randrea Wright and Leah Mafua led all scorers, combining for 32 points.
 
Saturday's decision drops the Sugar Bears to 6-5 on the year, in a game where the defense held the Jayhawks' leading scorers under ten points until the final frame. Wright and Mafua each outscored last season's WNIT MVP, with Wright scoring 17 and Mafua adding 15.
 
Kansas burst out of the gates, scoring the first seven points after hitting a pair of early threes. Jade Upshaw got the Sugar Bears on the board with a fast break layup. Early in the game, the Sugar Bears relied on turnovers to get stops, forcing four in the first five minutes. But offensively, Central Arkansas struggled to hit open shots. The ball movement was good, and players were finding open shots, but the rim seemed to have a lid on it. Trailing by eight midway through the quarter, the Sugar Bears found a groove and put together a 10-2 run late in the frame to tie the game, only to give up four points in the final minute to head into the second trailing.
 
The Sugar Bears battled in the second quarter, desperate to keep the lead in the single digits, but the size differential started to show, as the Jayhawks scored 16 points in the paint. Offensively, Central Arkansas found trouble putting the ball in the cup, save Wright and her ability to find opportunities in the paint. On several occasions, the junior guard would simply burst past her defender and find open looks inside, shooting 4-of-5 in the second and scoring eight of the team's 12 points. But with the rest of the roster contributing four points, it made it difficult to keep up with the Big 12 opponent.
 
Wright had 13 points on eight shots in the first half, nearly matching her season high in just 18 minutes of play.
 
After scoring the first basket of the third quarter, the Sugar Bears gave up an 8-0 run, allowing the lead to stretch and grow to 20 midway through the frame. The only bright spot for Central Arkansas in the third quarter was Leah Mafua, who scored ten points and splashed a couple of three-pointers in an attempt to keep pace with Kansas. A true credit to the Sugar Bears, they never quit as the game progressed into the fourth quarter, not allowing the lead to get out of hand and keeping the Jayhawks' rotation in the game until the final couple of minutes.
 
But eventually, the size became too much to handle, as the Jayhawks scored 42 points in the paint and outrebounded the Sugar Bears by seven. It marked just the second time all season that Central Arkansas has been outrebounded, and the first time all year that an opponent has shot better than 45 percent from the field.
 
Central Arkansas returns home for its final game before the Christmas break, facing Northwestern State in a rescheduled game from earlier in the year on Wednesday. Tip-off against the Lady Demons is set for 2:30 p.m. in the Farris Center.