03 Jan 2024 Sugar Bears close non-conference with win over Bulldogs

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Despite a slow start against Alabama A&M, the Central Arkansas women’s basketball team stormed back for a 65-59 win on Dec. 29 over the Bulldogs. The road win sends the Sugar Bears into conference season on a two-game winning streak and eight wins overall.

Central Arkansas improved to 8-5 on the year with the win, matching last season’s win total before the turn of the year. Kinley Fisher led the team with 20 points, one of three players to reach double-figures. Jade Upshaw added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Kierra Prim scored a season-high ten points in her fifth start of the season.

But it was not all sunshine and rainbows to start the game, as the Sugar Bears came out flat and the Bulldogs took advantage. Racing out to a 9-0 lead, Alabama A&M looked to put the visitors away early, punching the Sugar Bears square in the mouth. Upshaw finally got the team on the board with a midrange jumper, kickstarting a 7-0 run in the other direction to close the gap. From there, Central Arkansas would take the lead before the two-minute mark, needing only five minutes to outscore the Bulldogs 13-2 and crawl out of the deficit. Fisher hit a jumper in the paint with a minute left, and the Sugar Bears took a two-point lead into the second.

The lead bounced around five points for most of the second quarter, before Jenna Rose Mafua sparked a 6-0 run with a steal and sprint for an easy layup. It marked the first score in Purple and Gray for the junior guard, who has been a terrific defender all season, but just hadn’t quite found that first score. She would finish with four points after hitting another paint touch later in the frame. Her second score put the lead at ten, the biggest lead of the game for either side.

But the Bulldogs didn’t go away after falling behind double-digits, putting a 7-0 run together down the stretch of the half to go into the locker room down just three points. Fisher had a team-best nine points at the break, and eight Sugar Bears had contributed on the scoreboard in the first 20 minutes.

Central Arkansas was unable to really build the lead back in the third, every punch from the Sugar Bears was quickly answered with a punch back from AAMU. Three times the lead got back up to six points, but the Bulldogs did just enough to keep the lead from getting out of hand. Then, over the final four minutes, Alabama A&M pieced together a slow, grinding 8-0 run to take a two-point lead with 25 seconds left after hitting a pair of free throws. And it wasn’t because the Sugar Bears were playing poorly, but shots just weren’t falling for the visitors. But on the final possession of the frame, Leah Mafua raced into the paint and scored a layup and was fouled. She knocked down her freebie to put Central Arkansas back in the lead headed into the fourth quarter.

The Sugar Bears ramped the energy back up in the fourth quarter, with Fisher immediately cashing in from deep to open the frame. Before three minutes had passed, the lead was back to six, and at the 4:30 mark, it was at eight. From there, the energy of the Sugar Bears was too much for the Bulldogs to overcome, as Central Arkansas seemed to win every 50-50 ball, fight for offensive rebounds, and in general apply a massive amount of pressure on both sides of the ball through the final horn. When the dust settled, Central Arkansas had only allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 26 percent in the second half, suffocating the home team.

Nine Sugar Bears scored points on Friday, and nine players contributed on the glass. The complete team effort snapped a 12-game home winning streak for the Bulldogs, who had lost just once in their new Event Center, which is in just its second season of use. The Sugar Bears also had their fourth game of the season with ten-plus steals, reaching the double-digit mark for the third time in four games. Alabama A&M was the sixth team that failed to reach the 60-point mark, and the sixth to shoot worse than 35 percent.

The Sugar Bears start conference play next time they take the court, opening Atlantic Sun games at North Alabama on January 6th. Tip-off against the Lions is set for 5 p.m.