Sugar Bears pick up third conference win, downing Queens

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Central Arkansas gutted out a 66-57 road win against Queens to pick up ASUN win number three of the season on Sunday, grabbing a much-needed road win early in conference play.

The Sugar Bears (9-6, 3-1 ASUN) stayed close and pulled away late with a flurry of free throws in the fourth quarter to overcome turnover troubles early in the game. Kinley Fisher tied a season-high with 18 points, and set a new career-high with 12 made free throws.

The senior guard was perfect at the charity stripe, including eight in the fourth quarter alone. As a team, the Sugar Bears hit 80 percent of their 30 free throws, which ended up being one of the key deciders on Sunday.

But the Sugar Bears came out slowly against the Royals. Defensively, Queens forces a ton of turnovers, and early in the game, that proved to be the case. Seven first frame miscues allowed the home team to overcome early shooting struggles, and UCA was only up one after the first frame.

Six more turnovers in the second continued to give Queens extra possessions and extra offensive chances, and the Royals took advantage, outscoring the Sugar Bears by four in the second to take a three-point lead into halftime. The Royals took 12 more shots than UCA, and only committed five turnovers in the first 20 minutes of game time.

UCA started to figure out the turnover situation in the second half, but still turned it over five times in the third frame. But a savvy, tough defensive team like UCA didn’t just let Queens take advantage; the Royals managed just 11 points on 33 percent shooting.

Additionally, with the exception of the three total free throws made in the quarter, both sides were unable to score outside the paint, and headed to the fourth quarter, UCA trailed by two in an environment that proved tough to generate runs.

The fourth quarter was a classic college basketball game, a slow back-and-forth affair that had both teams struggling for buckets early on. Over the first four minutes, UCA put together a 7-3 start to take the lead, the first since the 4:47 mark of the third quarter.

The tail end of that burst started the first real run by either team since the first quarter, an 11-0 run over 3:30 of game time to establish a nine-point lead.

The final three minutes ground to a halt, however, as fatigue and physical play started meshing together to create a parade to the free throw line for both teams.

From the 3:07 mark in the fourth until a meaningless final bucket with 19 seconds left, neither side made a field goal, but the teams still combined for 20 points, all at the free throw line.

UCA, for its part, was excellent under pressure; the Sugar Bears shot 15-for-18 from the free throw line in the fourth, compared to 9-for-16 by the Royals, which allowed UCA to break the lead open to double-digits until the final score of the game.

Jade Upshaw added 12 points, drawing to just four points away from 1,000 career points. Elizabeth Abiara was a point away from a double-double, and grabbed double-digit rebounds for the fourth time this season. Bree Stephens continued her tour de force on the defensive side, blocking four more shots against the Royals.

The Australian now has 22 blocks over her last four games, averaging 5.5 blocks per game in conference play. She also moved into sole possession of third place in UCA’s Division I history with 88 blocks in just 46 games.

UCA is back at home next week, playing a pair of schools from the Sunshine State in conference play.

The Sugar Bears will start with North Florida on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., before hosting Stetson on Saturday at 1 p.m.