UCA holds off Lipscomb to reach second straight ASUN final

CONWAY, Ark. – The Sugar Bears are headed to the ASUN Finals bound!

Central Arkansas held on to defeat Lipscomb 70-65 on Tuesday, claiming a five-point win to advance to a second-straight ASUN Championship Final.

Jade Upshaw poured in 25 points to improve the Sugar Bears to 23-8 on the year, and put her squad in a position to compete for an ASUN title.

After giving up an early three, the Sugar Bears responded with a 13-0 run to jump out in the first five minutes.

After a timeout, the Bisons settled down and started to trade buckets with the Sugar Bears, and the lead stood at eight after the first quarter.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

Upshaw tallied seven points, including a couple of threes, to help build the lead, and the home defense held the Bisons to 29 percent shooting.

The lead hovered near double-digits for the first few minutes of the second quarter, but then Lipscomb started to whittle the lead away.

As the clock went under seven minutes, the Sugar Bears saw the lead decrease to seven, and by the four-minute mark, the lead was just two.

The bench helped prop up the scoring and end the slide, and UCA took a five-point lead into halftime after a Randrea Wright layup with under a minute to go.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

While the Sugar Bears shot 50 percent in the frame, Lipscomb shot 56 percent, trimming the lead after the first quarter by three points before the break.

Out of halftime, the Sugar Bears rebuilt the lead to eight points, before turnovers started to play a factor in the quarter.

Miscues from the Sugar Bears gave Lipscomb an opportunity to get back into the game, and by the four-minute mark, took the lead for the first time in the game.

Over the last five minutes of the third quarter, the teams traded the lead four times and were tied once.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

But a Wright three and an Upshaw and-one lifted the Sugar Bears from down two to up four by the end of the quarter. Upshaw scored nine in the third, accounting for more than half of the Sugar Bears’ 17 points.

The fourth quarter went very similarly to the third; over the first few minutes, the Sugar Bears held a multi-possession lead, going up seven at the 6:36 mark. But Lipscomb never went away, never gave up.

With UCA up nine with under a minute to go, back-to-back steals and scores cut the lead to four points with 19 seconds left, and the game very quickly shifted from a done deal to a dogfight.

After evading the trap, Wright split a pair of free throws to inch the lead back to five.

A bucket on the other end trimmed the lead to three with six seconds left, and Fisher iced the game with free throws on the next possession.

Upshaw’s 25 points were the second-most in a game for the senior guard this season, trailing only the last time Lipscomb played in the Farris Center.

Photo by Ted McClenning-AllBears+ Images

Upshaw averaged nearly 25 points per game over three matchups with Lipscomb, a series that was decided by 18 points.

Elizabeth Abiarawas a key factor on the offensive glass, pulling down eight offensive boards to help UCA tally 11 second chance points.

UCA now turns its attention to the ASUN Championship Final.

Hosted by Florida Gulf Coast, the Sugar Bears will head to Fort Myers for a second-straight postseason, hoping to dethrone the reigning champion Eagles. Tip-off in Fort Myers on Saturday is set for 1 p.m.

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.