ATLANTA, Ga. – Fast starts in the first quarter and third quarter pushed the Central Arkansas women's basketball team to a dominant win over Samford, starting the Georgia State Thanksgiving Tournament off with a 67-44 victory.
The Sugar Bears improved to 3-2 on the year, and has been the case all year, the scoring was balanced across the roster.
Shae Littleford,
Bree Stephens and
Laylah Reese all scored 12 points, and ten Sugar Bears had points in the win. Stephens set a new career-high with seven assists, as did
Cheyanne Kemp with her five dimes.
After getting a stop on the first possession of the game, Central Arkansas answered with a three-pointer on the other end by Littleford, and the Sugar Bears would never give up the lead after that point. The three ball also started a 7-0 run to start the game, as the Sugar Bear defense stifled each and every Bulldog opportunity in the first quarter. After a pair of free throws by Samford, the scoring drought continued for the Bulldogs, and other than a layup at the very end of the frame, the Sugar Bears got stops on every defensive possession, allowing just four points in the first quarter on 1-for-13 shooting. It marked the fewest points allowed in the first quarter by the Sugar Bears this season.
Central Arkansas got the lead up to 18 points in the second quarter before hitting an offensive wall. And while Samford was able to trim the lead a little bit, the Sugar Bear defense remained locked in, giving up a few open three-pointers before shutting the door again. What the scoring troubles created was four minutes of scoreless basketball from both teams, save a pair of free throws by the Bulldogs at the end of the half. But the Sugar Bear lead was still seven points at the midway point, and Central Arkansas held Samford to 23 percent shooting in the first half.
The second half started almost exactly like the first half, with a massive Sugar Bear run. This time, it was a 16-3 run over the first four minutes that took a seven-point lead to 20. Four Sugar Bears scored on the run, which consisted of three paint scores, three triples and a free throw. The Bulldogs then couldn't generate enough offense to get the lead under 16 the rest of the quarter, and a
Paris Santacaterina three with two seconds left pushed the advantage to 22. The Sugar Bears shot 71.4 percent in the third quarter, including 60 percent on ten three-pointers. On the other side, Samford shot 36 percent in the frame, and had more turnovers (6) than field goals (4).
Kamryn Griffin opened the fourth quarter with a paint score off an offensive rebound to make the lead 24, and the game was basically out of reach at that point. The starters got the quarter off, the youngsters came in, and got some quality minutes at the end. Griffin had four points in the frame, and the bench squad still played solid defense, holding Samford to 12 points in the fourth.
Central Arkansas won the turnover battle 19-12, and scored 23 points off of the Bulldog miscues. The Sugar Bears won the paint battle (26-6), second chance opportunities (11-0), and bench points (26-19).
The Sugar Bears will play another one on Tuesday, facing Stony Brook at 1:30 p.m. CT.
