Sugar Bears
Sugar Bears roll to another win, downing North Alabama, 73-51
Sugar Bears improved to 18-6 overall and 12-1 in ASUN games with another big night from Jade Upshaw
CONWAY, Ark. — Central Arkansas dominated from start to finish against North Alabama, adding yet another win to the streak and pushing it to 11-straight games.
The 73-51 win also marked a 10-straight at home this season, led by Jade Upshaw’s 23 points.
The Sugar Bears improved to 18-6 overall and 12-1 in ASUN games. In addition to Upshaw’s scoring burst, Leah Mafua added 15 points, and every Sugar Bear contributed in the box score, securing yet another home win for UCA.
Upshaw burst on the scene, scoring the first eight points for the Sugar Bears as the home team sprinted out to a six-point lead. The defense continued to hound the Lions, holding them to four points past the midway point of the first quarter.
A three-pointer by Jenna Cook with under two minutes left pushed the lead to ten points, but a 4-0 run by the Lions cut the lead to six as the quarter came to a close. Upshaw, who hit three shots from beyond the arc in the first, scored 11 points by herself, needing just 7:14 to reach double-figures.
The lead hovered around ten points for much of the second quarter as North Alabama started to get the offense figured out, although the Sugar Bears never let the visitors close the gap.
After seeing the Lions trim the lead to nine with 4:29 to go, the Sugar Bears put together nine of the next 13 points, closing the first half up 14. And while both sides attacked the offensive glass in the quarter, combining for 13 offensive boards, it was UCA who held the Lions to just 26 percent shooting, coming away with enough stops to build the lead to double-figures before the end of the half.
By the first half horn, Mafua had also reached double-digit scoring with ten points, while Bree Stephens put together five rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
North Alabama came out of the locker room looking to get the lead back closer to single digits, but the home team had much different plans.
The Sugar Bears started dicing up the Lion defense, getting into the paint and finishing close shots at will. Over the first six minutes of the third, Upshaw and Mafua scored eight of the ten points in the paint for the Sugar Bears, including a pair of sneaky offensive rebounds and putbacks by Upshaw.
A couple of and-ones through the heart of the quarter, and UCA was looking at a 24-point lead that had completely taken North Alabama’s wind. The teams traded a few jump shots down the stretch, and the Sugar Bears headed to the fourth with a 20-point advantage.
With the game all but over after three quarters, the fourth was relatively even, as the Sugar Bears emptied what the bench could offer.
Both sides scored the ball well in the paint, combining to score 22 of the 43 points inside the arc, including 12 of 16 for the Lions.
Meanwhile, UCA held the lead at 20, letting it slip to 19 once in the frame before immediately returning the favor to push it back up. The 21-point win is tied for the largest margin in the current win streak, and marked the third-straight game of 70-plus points for the Sugar Bears.
UCA is back at home on Saturday, playing the rematch against Austin Peay at 1 p.m. Up 3.5 games over the No. 3 seed Lipscomb Bisons with four games remaining, Saturday represents a chance to lock up a top-two seed in the ASUN Championships in March.
