SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Despite a furious comeback at the end, the Central Arkansas women's basketball team came up just short against the Missouri State Lady Bears, falling 65-61 Monday afternoon. The Sugar Bears close non-conference 7-5 after Monday's result.
 
Central Arkansas forced 21 turnovers and had 18 steals, including six from Paris Santacaterina and five from Shae Littleford. Cheyanne Kemp led the team with 18 points, and Bree Stephens logged her third double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and pulling down a team-high 11 rebounds.
 
The first quarter was a very back-and-forth opening ten minutes. Central Arkansas had a five-point lead in the first three minutes thanks to a Santacaterina three-pointer, but the Lady Bears matched it with a five-point run of their own. Missouri State built itself a four-point advantage, but Jenna Cook and Kemp answered with a 6-2 run to tie the game again at 15-15. Five more points each way capped the scoring for the quarter, and the game was tied at 20-20 after the opening frame. Central Arkansas hit on four of its first eight three-pointers, shooting 50 percent in the opening frame.
 
It took a couple of minutes for anybody to score in the second, but finally Littleford put in a paint touch to five Central Arkansas a two-point lead. The teams matched buckets, but then an extended 11-1 run by the Lady Bears turned a one-point Central Arkansas lead into a ten-point deficit. A free throw and a fastbreak layup later, the Sugar Bears trailed by seven at half.
 
The scoring in the first half for Central Arkansas was balanced; seven Sugar Bears scored at least one point, and Santacaterina's seven led the team.
 
As the third quarter started, Stephens scored five points in an 8-4 run to cut the lead to three points by the seven-minute mark. Later in the quarter, Littleford took a defensive rebound the whole way and got a shot to fall through a foul, cutting the lead to two with just over three minutes to go. But Missouri State closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to push the lead back to nine before the end of the third.
 
Missouri State pushed the lead to 13 over the first couple of minutes, and the Sugar Bears seemed stuck. Santacaterina picked up her fifth steal and found Kemp for a turnaround jumper in the paint to try to get the offense moving, and it kickstarted a 10-0 run that featured three steals and six points from Kemp to slash the lead to three. Missouri State, once it could figure out ball-control again, steadied itself to keep the lead around two possessions as the clock wound down. The Sugar Bears fought to stay in it, and found a three-pointer from Kemp with 18 seconds left to cut it to four. After the Lady Bears split a pair at the line, Kemp scored in the paint to make it a three-point game. But with just four seconds left, the Lady Bears split another pair of free throws, but a four-point deficit would have been tough to get through with so little time.
 
Kemp had 15 points in the final frame, shooting 7-of-10 with a three-pointer over the final ten minutes. She nearly matched the Lady Bears' 17 points by herself, but the home team was able to keep the Sugar Bears just at arm's length to keep the lead.
 
Central Arkansas now looks ahead to ASUN play, opening the conference slate on the road for the first weekend. The Sugar Bears will play two of the best teams right off the bat, opening the season at Stetson on New Years and FGCU on the third. Tip-off at Stetson is set for 10 a.m. CT.