06 Dec 2023 Sugar Bears down Trojans for second straight year

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Central Arkansas Sugar Bears survived a poor first quarter and grabbed a 63-58 victory over the Little Rock Trojans on Dec. 2 in the “Governor’s I-40 Showdown” at the Jack Stephens Center.

UCA (5-3), which has now won two consecutive in the series, trailed 16-7 after the first quarter, a period in which it turned the ball over nine times and made just three field goals. But the tide turned quickly in the second quarter when the Sugar Bears outscored the Trojans 19-7 and returned the favor, holding them to only three field goals to grab a 26-23 halftime lead.

The teams played it evenly from there but the Sugar Bears were better down the stretch, getting back-to-back three-pointers from Bree Stephens and Leah Mafua for a four-point lead with three minutes remaining. Little Rock got back within one at 59-58 with a pair of free throws with 1:40 to play.

Junior guard Kinley Fisher, who scored 11 points, made the first of two free throws attempts, with freshman Elizabath Abiara pulling down the rebound to retain possession. Junior guard Leah Mafua then scored on a layup with just under a minute left to give the Sugar Bears a 62-58 lead. Both teams had turnovers before Little Rock misfired on a three-point attempt and Stephens pulled down the rebound. The junior forward made 1 of 2 at the line to seal it.

Mafua scored a game-high 16 points and added seven rebounds. Junior guard Jade Upshaw had 13 points, 5 rebounds and two assists, while Stephens had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Abiara, a freshman from Mansfield, Texas, added 8 points, 5 rebounds and two blocked shots off the bench. 

UCA, which has won three straight road games, won the rebound battle 38-31 against the taller Trojans. The Sugar Bears also finished with 14 turnovers, with just five in the final three quarters. 

UCA returns to the road next Tuesday at Tulsa at 5 p.m. at the Reynolds Center.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH ANTHONY KEMPER:

“This is a hard place to win. There is a reason why his name (LR head coach Joe Foley) is on the floor. He hasn’t lost a lot here. I told the team, this is the first time I’ve ever played a guy whose name is on the floor.”

“They guard really well. I do think that you see, even through that (first quarter), offensively we can score. We played probably as badly as you can play in the first quarter, then we put 19, 17 and 20 (points) on them. I think our staff was a little worried about energy level to start the game, and we were right. And I try not to look into that stuff too much. We have to start faster. But we definitely leveled off and won on a day… I think we played better at Lindenwood (on Wednesday). I think we had a little more pop to our step. But when we needed to pick it up today, we picked it up.”

“(Abiara) had energy. We always play a lot of people, but that was one of the things we were talking about, who can change the energy level of the game. And she was great, she really was. Really rebounded the ball well, was disruptive. We have a lot of players. Destine (Duckworth) was great last time out, and you think you kind of have it figured out. Then Liz is great. So that’s a good problem to have. I like our depth.” 

“We kind of played a different game today. At Lindenwood, it was basically free play for 40 minutes. They had structure and space and moved the ball, and we scored that way. Today was more of a grinder. We had to execute a lot of things, we had to get the ball to spots and to different people and they had to make plays when it mattered. And I thought Leah was fantastic. She was just tough, very physical, she could handle their physicality at the point of the ball.”