Sugar Bears
UCA takes comfortable win over UT-Martin on Saturday night
Jade Upshaw leads way with 22 points on 14 shots, drilling four three-pointers en route to career-high in points
MARTIN, Tenn. — Playing a top-tier OVC team for their road opener, Central Arkansas had no problem with UT-Martin, taking an 87-67 win Saturday night.
Jade Upshaw led the way with 22 points on 14 shots, drilling four three-pointers en route to a career-high in points. Kinley Fisher added 14, and Leah Mafua and Cheyanne Kemp each scored 11.
The first quarter opened with back-to-back scores before the Sugar Bears leapt out with a 10-0 run to jump ahead 12-4. The teams continued to trade buckets through the end of the frame, and Central Arkansas held a six-point lead after one. Despite shooting 58 percent in the quarter, five turnovers allowed the Skyhawks to stay close.
UT Martin was able to whittle the lead down to a single possession in the opening pair of minutes of the second quarter, but a driving layup by Upshaw steadied the momentum.
The teams battled back and forth around a five-point lead, with UT Martin not able to close the gap, but UCA was unable to make a push to grow it. Finally, a 7-0 run midway through the frame gave the Sugar Bears their first double-digit lead of the game, capped by a three-pointer from Upshaw.
The senior scored 12 points in the second quarter, knocking down a pair of triples to help UCA head into the locker room with a seven-point lead.
While the Sugar Bears were able to stretch the lead in the second quarter with the three-pointer, UT Martin was able to stay in it at the free throw line, connecting on 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.
The third quarter continued to be tightly contested, as the home team tried to keep the margin close, while the Sugar Bears looked to break it open further. Every basket was met with a response, every run answered in kind.
Especially late in the quarter, the lead hovered between six and nine points for the better part of the latter half of the frame, before a 7-2 burst at the end put the Sugar Bears up double-digits again, this time at the end of the third quarter.
UCA started the fourth with a five-minute, 12-0 run to really extend the lead, breaking the game open to move ahead 22 points with under five minutes to go. By the time the Skyhawks scored their first point of the quarter with 3:40 to go, it was too little, too late, and the Sugar Bears cruised on ahead to outscore the home team by 10 in the frame to ice the game.
It marked a third-straight game to start the season in which the Sugar Bears have held their opponent to at least one quarter scoring fewer than ten points. UCA ended the game making six of its last eight shots, while holding UT-Martin to 0-for-5.
The Sugar Bears stay on the road for the next one, taking on Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State on Wednesday.
