CONWAY, Ark. – The Central Arkansas women's basketball team couldn't quite overcome a tough second quarter against EKU Saturday afternoon, dropping an ASUN game to the Colonels 64-54.
The result moves Central Arkansas to 9-7 overall and 2-2 in ASUN games.
Cheyanne Kemp led the team with 13 points, but the Sugar Bears had another tough afternoon scoring the ball, shooting just 32 percent from the field and 16 percent from three.
Central Arkansas opened the game like a home game usually goes, with a staunch defensive effort that allowed the Sugar Bears to build an early lead. The early defense allowed Central Arkansas to score the first six points of the game, and build a 10-2 advantage a few minutes later. But EKU finally found a basket and used it to get right back in the game, matching the Sugar Bear start with a run of its own, tying the game at 11-11 with under a minute to go before a
Paris Santacaterina three-pointer had the home team up after the first quarter.
EKU tipped the scales in a large way to start the second quarter, opening the frame on a 12-2 run to turn the three-point Central Arkansas lead into a seven-point advantage for the Colonels. Meanwhile, the Sugar Bears couldn't get anything to fall to stop the bleeding, making their first field goal with just over three minutes left in the quarter. By that time, EKU had a double-digit lead, that would hold through the halftime buzzer.
The momentum remained with the Colonels for much of the third quarter, as the Sugar Bears searched for an answer. The Central Arkansas bench came in to change the energy, and created 11 points in the third quarter, helping the Sugar Bears close the gap to ten with just over a minute left in the frame, but a three-pointer to close the quarter by EKU kept the deficit at 13. Even in the fourth, Central Arkansas just couldn't create big scoring runs to get back into the game, and took just its second regular season loss at home in the last three seasons.
Central Arkansas will look to reload next week, heading back down to Florida to face the two ASUN schools in Jacksonville. The Sugar Bears will face the Dolphins on Thursday before playing at North Florida on Saturday.
