WACO, Texas – The Central Arkansas women's basketball team faced the first of three Power 4 opponents this season Thursday night, falling at RV Baylor.
The 72-44 final score doesn't tell the whole story for the Sugar Bears (1-1), who fought valiantly on the defensive end despite giving up size and length at nearly every position.
Laylah Reese led the team with ten points, and Central Arkansas held a Baylor team that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year to just 37 percent shooting.
Tiani Ellison hit a three-pointer to get the scoring started, opening up the game and giving her team the earliest of leads. The first quarter was a back-and-forth quarter, with neither offense exploding out of the gates.
Jenna Cook scored five early points to keep the Sugar Bears in the game, and after Baylor led by seven midway through the frame, Central Arkansas never let the Bears get more than two possessions ahead through the rest of the first.
Reese scored four points early in the second to cut the lead down to five after Baylor opened the quarter with a triple, and the Central Arkansas defense was doing enough to keep the game within arm's reach, despite the fact that the offense wasn't quite adding a second punch. It took Baylor midway through the second to finally reach a double-digit lead, although
Layla-J Cameron connected on a triple to get the lead back to single digits not long after. The Sugar Bears put together a small spurt to get the lead down to six, but an 8-0 run by Baylor closed the first half with Central Arkansas down 14.
The second half is really where the score started to get away from the Sugar Bears, but similar to the first half, it wasn't really a defensive issue, shots just weren't falling Thursday. Baylor shot just 33 percent in the third quarter, then had its best offensive quarter in the fourth, shooting 44 percent to close out the game.
Central Arkansas is back on the road next week, at ULM on Monday before returning home next weekend. Tip-off in Monroe, Louisiana is set for 6:30 p.m.
