NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Battling through another tough offensive game, the Sugar Bears couldn't quite pull off the comeback bid against Lipscomb, falling 65-59 on Saturday.
Central Arkansas falls to 18-10 on the season after dropping its fifth ASUN game. The Sugar Bears remain a top-three seed in the league despite the loss, with one more game to potentially add to the win count.
Randrea Wright poured in 16 points, and
Jade Upshaw and
Leah Mafua each scored 12.
Elizabeth Abiara snared ten rebounds in just 17 minutes, staying active on the glass on both sides of the floor.
The scoring was competitive through the first quarter, with three ties and two lead changes as the offenses battled. The high-scoring quarter had both teams on pace for more than 75 points. The Sugar Bears shot 50 percent in the quarter, and had seemingly kicked the poor scoring bug from earlier in the week.
But the ice-cold shooting would again plague the Sugar Bears in the second quarter, as the team would hit the slump of all slumps. Scoring just seven points, Central Arkansas made just one field goal in the second frame, again struggling to find the bottom of the net. Despite that, the defense was on another level, locking up the Bisons for just six points in the frame. After arguably the worst quarter of the season, the Sugar Bears actually cut into the lead, trailing by just one at the break.
Needing a hard reset, the offense got back into some sort of rhythm in the third, but so too did the Bisons. After trailing by just a point at halftime, the Sugar Bears allowed 30 points in the third, letting the chance at claiming the lead slip away. Trailing by 17 entering the fourth, the Sugar Bears rattled off a 17-2 run, scoring the first 12 points of the frame. Wright and Upshaw each scored six points in the 12-0 sprint, cutting the lead to two points on a pair of free throws with 2:08 to go. But the Bisons would go on to score the final four points of the game at the charity stripe, pulling just far enough away at the end.
Central Arkansas has one more game on the schedule for the regular season, facing North Alabama next Saturday. The regular season finale is set for a 1 p.m. tip-off, and has potentially sizeable postseason implications.
