CONWAY, Ark. – It was a triumphant start to 2025 for the Sugar Bear basketball team, who defeated the Jacksonville Dolphins 74-63 on Saturday. A blistering first half gave Central Arkansas enough of a cushion to withstand a potential comeback, and late play carried the home team to the win.
The Sugar Bears improved to 7-5 overall and won their ASUN opener for the second-straight year.
Jade Upshaw led all scorers with 19,
Leah Mafua added 15 and
Elizabeth Abiara put in ten points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor in her second start of the season.
As has happened many times over the last two seasons, Central Arkansas came out guns blazing at the start. Breaking open a 13-0 run, the Sugar Bears took out the frustrations of the last couple of games on the Dolphins, hitting open shots and smothering JU on the other side to race out to the early lead. But even after the Dolphins got on the board, the Sugar Bears continued to bully the visitors, breaking open a 24-3 lead with just over three minutes to go in the opening stanza, the largest lead the game would see. Upshaw shot 5-for-6 in the first, including a pair of threes, outscoring the Dolphins 12-9 by herself as the Sugar Bears shot 69 percent in the first.
Jacksonville got going in the second quarter, taking better care of the ball and using possessions to their fullest, shooting 8-for-18 in the second. In doing so, the Dolphins were able to take Central Arkansas out of easy transition buckets, and the lead started to dwindle as the quarter went on. Over the course of the second, JU took a 21-point lead to just 11 with less than a minute left, and a
Cheyenne Banks three-point play let the lead stand at 14 by halftime.
After starting the second half with a bucket, Central Arkansas would give up a three-minute long 12-0 run, seeing a 16-point lead shrink to four. A 6-0 answer by the home team buoyed the lead, but another run by Jacksonville cut the lead to a single possession, a far cry from the 21-point lead in the first.
Randrea Wright answered with a bucket, and Upshaw added a pair at the line, and Central Arkansas claimed a little bit of momentum at the end of the third as both teams braced for a competitive fourth quarter.
But try as they might, the Dolphins couldn't get the lead back under seven in the fourth quarter. The Sugar Bear defense locked in, holding JU to just 28 percent shooting in the final period, and allowing just 12 total points in the fourth, after giving up back-to-back quarters of 21.
Bree Stephens, in particular, settled in and shut the paint down, logging four blocked shots in just the fourth quarter, as part of a career-best six-block effort. On the offensive side, five Sugar Bears put in clutch buckets, boosting the lead to double-digits late and holding on for a big win.
Central Arkansas is on the road for the next one, playing less than 48 hours later at Bellarmine. Tip-off against the Knights is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday in Louisville.
