RICHMOND, Ky. – Wrapping up a three-game road trip, the Central Arkansas women's basketball team fell to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, fighting to the end despite being shorthanded.
 
The Sugar Bears (8-17, 3-11 ASUN) continued to give everything they have, with everyone on the team contributing. Three players finished with double-figures, led by Siera Carter's 15. Kinley Fisher and Kierra Prim both added double-digits, with Prim scoring 12 and Fisher adding 10 with a couple of threes to her stat line.
 
Central Arkansas came out determined to get some early offense and did just that; surrendering the first basket, the Sugar Bears responded with a 6-0 run into the opening minutes of the quarter, muscling into the paint to close finishes at the hoop. Though the Colonels responded with a run of their own, the teams battled with the lead for the next several minutes, trading it back and forth as baskets fell. But after a Fisher jumper that cut the lead to two, EKU finished the quarter on a 9-1 run, bumping the lead to double-digits.
 
Just like the first quarter, the Sugar Bears came out with a flurry to start the second, opening the frame with a 9-2 run to slash the lead to four, and just like that, were right back in it. And then, right as the score got close, it slipped away again, with EKU going on a spurt to regrow the lead. Turnovers started to play a bigger role in the second; the Sugar Bears had 17 first half miscues leading to 17 points for the Colonels. Heading into halftime, Central Arkansas trailed by 16.
 
After struggling with ball control in the first half, the third quarter came as quite the reprieve for Central Arkansas, who cut that number to just five in the third. Again starting on a run, this time 7-1 sparked by a three-pointer from Carter, the Sugar Bears continued to show heart and fight. But the numbers and ball pressure from the Colonels weighed heavy on the shoulders of a team that was playing a third game in six days, carrying over into the fourth through the finish.
 
Central Arkansas has four games left on the schedule, with three of them coming at home. Up next for the Sugar Bears is a Tuesday makeup game against North Alabama, starting at 3 p.m. at the Farris Center.