CONWAY, Ark. – Last week, the Sugar Bears were the unstoppable force. This time, they were the immovable object, putting up a soul-crushing defensive effort into the 69-52 win over North Alabama in its first-ever ASUN Championship win.
Central Arkansas reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh time since moving to Division I, and now sits 20-10 on the season. Head coach Tony Kemper has been a part of three of those seven seasons.
Jade Upshaw finished with a game-high 17 points. She was joined by
Cheyenne Banks with 12 points and
Kinley Fisher with 10.
"It was a really good win. I told our team at halftime and after the game, that was a fun game to watch. To find a different way to get it done, we played defense very well against a team that has a lot of different people that can score the ball," Kemper said in his postgame press conference. "I thought we were steady. We played consistently hard throughout, and then you looked up, and we had a big enough lead to withstand some shots they made at the end."
The first quarter looked a bit more like the last matchup, both teams were flying up and down the court and shots were falling from all over. Neither team was able to gain an advantage larger than four points, every spurt was answered right away.
Jade Upshaw scored nine points in the opening frame, helping the Sugar Bears out to a 23-19 lead.
But after a blistering first quarter, the Sugar Bear defense locked in, allowing just eight points in the second. And while the home team's offense wasn't dazzling like in the first, holding North Alabama to 20 percent shooting and five turnovers did help build the lead to double-digits by halftime. Key to the gameplan that worked out tremendously for Central Arkansas was the work in the paint: At halftime, the Sugar Bears were outscoring the Lions 24-8 inside the paint.
Central Arkansas' defense really sunk its claws in during the third quarter. For a team that was third in the ASUN in three-pointers made and percentage, North Alabama only attempted one shot from distance in the third quarter, which took away one of the primary weapons for several of the Lions' top scorers. This allowed the Sugar Bears to continue to force turnovers and get into transition opportunities. Central Arkansas, on the backs of 11 combined points from Upshaw and
Randrea Wright, opened the lead up to 15 after three quarters.
What felt like a closely contested game for the bulk of three quarters started to get a little out of hand in the final frame. Up 15 to start the quarter, it grew to 20 by the midway point, then a quick burst had the lead at 25 a couple minutes later. Banks dominated inside, scoring eight points and simply overpowering the Lions. She would finish with 12 points on seven shots, pulling in five boards. Fisher capped the night and effectively ended the game with a pair of triples late in the fourth, sealing the deal for a team that has had North Alabama's number in all three meetings.
Central Arkansas now looks ahead to Tuesday, when the team hosts EKU in an ASUN Semifinal. It marks the first time that the Sugar Bears will play in an ASUN semifinal, let alone hosting one. Game time against the Colonels is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Farris Center.
