UCA gets ‘important win’ over UALR
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 63, UALR 58
The University of Central Arkansas women’s basketball team made the short drive down Interstate 40 to Little Rock and knocked off winless Arkansas-Little Rock 63-58 on Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center.
UCA’s Leah Mafua made two key three-pointers and finished the game with 16 points and seven rebounds. Jade Upshaw and Kinley Fisher also reached double figures for the Sugar Bears, finishing with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
“I think it’s an important win,” UCA Coach Tony Kemper said. “We have some kids from Arkansas and we got some kids from away, but what they do understand is that [UALR] is the OVC champions from last year. It’s hard to win in here.”
UALR (0-6) played a strong first quarter defensively, holding UCA to just seven points and not surrendering a made basket in the final 6:11 of the quarter. Faith Lee led the early charge for the Trojans with eight points as UALR led 16-7 after one quarter.
Lee finished with 13 points and six rebounds for the Trojans. Jaiyah Harris-Smith scored 14 points, collected 7 rebounds and dished out 4 assists.
UCA (5-3) found its footing in the second quarter as the Sugar Bears got hot from the three-point line and used a 19-7 run to take a 26-23 halftime lead. Mafua and Fisher both made three-pointers during the scoring run.
“We just challenged them to bring it a little more than they had [early],” Kemper said. “You do have to find some ways to space the floor, especially against a defensive team like that.”
As the game moved into the third quarter, UCA built a 40-32 lead. But the Trojans were able to stay within striking distance and trimmed the lead to 43-38 by the end of the quarter.
Things tightened even more in the fourth quarter as UALR used a 13-2 run early in the quarter to take a 51-47 lead following a three-pointer from Leilani Wimbish-Gay with 5:56 left.
UCA was able to stem the momentum as Upshaw snatched an offensive rebound, immediately went back up to the basket and converted a layup while being fouled to tie the game at 51-51.
Upshaw missed the free throw, but just 30 seconds later, Bree Stephens hit a three-pointer to give the Sugar Bears a 54-51 lead with 4:20 remaining.
UCA shot just 5 for 17 from behind the arc, but all five of the makes were timely baskets in key spots.
“We were able to isolate them because there are [players] out there that they can’t help off of,” Kemper said. “It’s part of what we want to do on offense is shoot it well. It’s a credit to them [UALR] that we didn’t get very many off and we didn’t make very many when we did. But they were timely and that should be part of who we are.”
The Trojans pulled within one point on a Harris-Smith made jump shot to make the score 54-53. But Mafua hit her second three-pointer of the game 18 seconds later to give UCA a 57-53 lead with 3:42 remaining.
Two free throws by Harris-Smith pulled the Trojans to within 59-58, but those would be their final points of the game as UALR went cold and the Sugar Bears were able to close in the final minutes.
“We’re on a pretty good run and playing pretty well,” Kemper said. “It’s been a long road for us. We’ve won some road games. We wanted to win this one, but we’ve been pretty good in our last three, too.”