FLORENCE, Ala. – After cruising through the first half, the Central Arkansas women's basketball team battled to a 62-55 final score. The win adds to an already impressive win streak, now eight in a row for the Sugar Bears.
The Sugar Bears jump to 19-10 on the year and 12-5 in ASUN games with the win.
Jenna Cook led the way with 17 points off the bench, including a big three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Cheyanne Kemp had 13 points, and
Shae Littleford added 12.
UNA opened with a three-pointer, but Central Arkansas quickly answered with six-straight to take a one-possession lead. The Sugar Bears had answers for everything in the first quarter, building a seven-point lead by the midway point of the first. North Alabama cut it to three with a pair of scores, but Cook hit a fast break three to halt the run and keep the Sugar Bears at arm's length. Late in the frame,
Emerie Bohanon came on to help get some stops, and the freshman answered with a deep three-pointer on the offensive end to add to the margin, sending the Sugar Bears up eight after the first quarter. Central Arkansas forced four turnovers in the opening quarter, scoring nine points off of miscues to take a 22-14 lead.
Bohanon scored again to start the second quarter, putting the lead at double-figures right out of the gates. Central Arkansas continued to pour it on, increasing the lead to 15 points to force a timeout from the home team. Over the final five minutes of the first half, North Alabama would put together a 12-6 run to inch the lead back down to nine points with just over a minute to play in the first half. With the final possession, the Sugar Bears forced a shot clock violation, and Littleford answered with a paint score to add back to the lead going into the break. The 11-point margin was built by solid defense and some well-timed threes; the Sugar Bears forced seven turnovers and hit six threes in the first 20 minutes.
Offenses started slowing down in the second half, as both teams went through multi-minute cold spells in the second half. The Lions fought the lead down to nine points to start the half, using the first few minutes to cut the lead back to single digits. Kemp hit an elbow jumper to get it back to ten, but the Lions continued to put the pressure on. North Alabama inched the lead down under ten and kept it there for the remainder of the third quarter, but the Sugar Bears kept it at multiple possessions until the end of the frame, taking a seven-point lead to the fourth.
North Alabama scored four-straight to get the lead down to three, threatening to claim its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. But Cook connected on a three-pointer to get the lead back to six, and the teams started trading free throws, something the Bears hadn't gotten to that point in the game. Linda Amaninig hit a big pair with just over five minutes to go to add to the lead, Kemp hit a couple throughout the fourth, and Littleford hit two with 35 seconds left to essentially ice the game, keeping the lead at seven points through the final whistle.
The Sugar Bears are back at home on Friday for Senior Day. The Sugar Bears will honor four seniors before facing Queens in the regular season finale. Tip-off against the Royals is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Farris Center.
