CONWAY, Ark. – Playing Bellarmine for the second time this season, the Central Arkansas women's basketball team repeated the result from the first game, conquering the Knights with a 63-57 win at the Farris Center. Thursday's victory also marked the tenth home win of the season for the Sugar Bears, reaching double-figure wins at home for the first time since 2018.
The Sugar Bears improved to 17-8 on the year and 9-3 in the ASUN with the win.
Kinley Fisher led the team with 13 points, and
Randrea Wright added ten.
Bree Stephens had a big defensive night, coming away with five steals and two blocks.
The Sugar Bears jumped out to a quick lead, scoring on the first possession of the game and building a six-point lead by the six-minute mark. But Bellarmine would whittle the lead down quickly, tying the game a couple of minutes later. But Central Arkansas never relinquished the lead, keeping the Knights on their heels. The teams traded buckets over the last couple of minutes of the frame, ending the first up two.
Bellarmine responded in the first couple of possessions of the second quarter, taking its first lead of the night with back-to-back scores. From there, the teams traded baskets for most of the second frame, with neither team building even a two-possession lead until the 2:30 mark, when Fisher added a free throw to a
Jade Upshaw three-pointer for a four-point lead. The Knights scored the final basket of the second with just over a minute to play, trimming the lead back to two points. Upshaw had a team-high seven points at the break, but the Sugar Bears were shooting just 28 percent at halftime. Luckily, the defense was keeping Central Arkansas alive, forcing nine turnovers from the Knights and turning them into 12 points.
Central Arkansas opened the second half with a 6-0 run, breaking the lead open to eight points. Third quarters have been especially kind to the Sugar Bears, who have outscored opponents by 69 points in the third quarter of games this season. Now with a little breathing room, the Sugar Bears pounced on the Knights, forcing tough shots and growing the lead to double-figures for the first time in the game at the 4:32 mark of the quarter on a three-pointer from Wright. Bellarmine tried all it could to get the lead back to single-figures, but the Sugar Bears defense held the Knights to 21 percent shooting in the third, stretching the lead to 12 by the buzzer. Stephens did damage in the frame, scoring six points on 3-of-4 shooting, and was a +10 in the third.
But much like the run at the beginning of the third, the Knights mounted a run to start the fourth, scoring the first seven points of the quarter to cut the lead to just five points. Fisher would stem the tide with a big three-pointer at the 6:45 mark, halting the run and kicking the Sugar Bears back into gear. Over the next several minutes, the lead would touch ten three times in the middle of the quarter. But the Knights wouldn't back down, fighting the lead back to four points with just under a minute left. Central Arkansas would hit four free throws down the stretch, two from Upshaw and two from
Leah Mafua, to close out the game.
The Sugar Bears have one more game at home this weekend, playing Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Colonels were the first team to defeat Central Arkansas in ASUN play, winning the first matchup of the season in Richmond, Ky.
