CARROLLTON, Ga. – Make it seven in a row! The Central Arkansas women's basketball team used a terrific second half to keep its winning streak alive and get one step closer to clinching a first round bye in the upcoming ASUN Championships on Saturday, downing West Georgia 73-59 in Carrollton.
 
The win improves the Sugar Bears to 18-10 overall and 11-5 in ASUN games. Bree Stephens and Cheyanne Kemp led the team with 14 points each, including a ten-point burst in the third quarter from Kemp. Linda Amaning had nine points and nine rebounds off the bench, providing a spark when Central Arkansas needed it.
 
But it was the Wolves that came out aggressively in the first quarter. After Central Arkansas scored the first bucket, West Georgia responded with threes on back-to-back possessions and several trips to the free throw line over the first few minutes. Central Arkansas did enough to keep it close, with seven Sugar Bears scoring in the opening frame, but the free throws and pair of threes allowed West Georgia to cling to a small lead. After the first ten minutes, the Wolves led 20-17, despite Central Arkansas shooting 50 percent from the field. All seven of the Sugar Bears' field goals were in the paint.
 
Stephens scored first in the second quarter, getting the lead down to one point to start the stanza. But the Wolves responded with a 7-0 run to break it back open. Central Arkansas battled to get the lead back down, forcing five turnovers in a three-minute span to get the lead back down to three with under two minutes to go in the first half. West Georgia would go on to hit a three-pointer to get the lead back to multiple possessions before the break, but the momentum had shifted into Central Arkansas's direction.
 
The Sugar Bears went into the locker room having struggled mightily from three-point distance, making zero of 15 attempts. However, shooting 12-of-20 inside the arc, or 60 percent, gave a confidence to the Sugar Bears that if threes started to fall, the outcome of this game was far from determined.
 
Julianna Gibson and Kemp scored to start the third, getting the deficit back to two points. After West Georgia scored, a three finally fell, the first attempt of the second half; Littleford connected from distance and suddenly, the lead was just one. A few minutes later, with just over 5:30 on the clock, Littleford buried a pair of free throws to tie the game, the first time Central Arkansas had been tied or in the lead since 7:37 left in the first quarter. A Kemp jumper tied the game at 41-41, and Jenna Cook followed it up with a gigantic three-pointer that gave Central Arkansas a one-point lead. The Sugar Bears matched WGU bucket for bucket as the quarter continued, and the score was tied three more times after Cook's triple before a 7-3 run to close the third gave the Sugar Bears a four-point lead going into the fourth. Kemp was big-time in the third, scoring ten points on 3-of-4 shooting and four free throws.
 
It took a minute for either team to score in the fourth, but a successful coach's challenge gave Central Arkansas possession with 8:50, and Amaning scored on the possession to boost the lead to six. Back-to-back scores by the super-seniors gave Central Arkansas a ten-point lead, and the Wolves called timeout to try to stop the momentum. The Wolves scored immediately following the timeout, but Stephens responded with five-straight points to erase whatever salvaged momentum the Wolves thought they had. Central Arkansas continued to score unanswered until the lead grew to 20 with 3:37 left on the clock, and by that point, the game was now decided. WGU got the lead back down to 14, but it was too little, too late.
 
The Sugar Bears dominated the second half, outscoring the Wolves 45-25 over the final two quarters. Central Arkansas forced eight second half turnovers, turning those into nine points, while nine offensive rebounds turned into 12 second chance points. On the other side, West Georgia shot just 33 percent in the second half, including a 23 percent showing in the fourth.
 
Central Arkansas now has two games left in the regular season, playing at North Alabama next Wednesday before hosting Queens for Senior Day on Friday, February 27^th.