The UCA Women’s basketball team concluded the regular season by earning its 20th win, defeating the Queens University Royals (10-19, 4-14 ASUN) 65-47 at the Farris Center Friday, Feb. 27. 

Following a 5-0 deficit, Central Arkansas scored 10 unanswered points to establish an early 10-5 advantage that it would not relinquish. 

Queens would keep pace early on, as senior guard Deyuna Colvin’s layup to beat the first quarter buzzer cut the Sugar Bears’ lead to 13-12.

As the second quarter got underway, Central Arkansas employed its suffocating defense, holding the Royals to just 5 points in the period and adding 17 of their own to head into the halftime break with a 30-17 lead. 

Sophomore guard Cheyanne Kemp paced the offense for the Sugar Bears in the first half, scoring 9 of her 19 points. Kemp also finished with 7 boards to lead UCA in rebounding. 

UCA came out of the halftime break firing on offense, as graduate student guard Shae Littleford scored 10 of the Sugar Bears 22 third quarter points. Littleford also reached 19 points.

Graduate student forward Bree Stephens concluded the game with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. 

Kemper said, “[Stephens’] completeness as a player is off the charts. She literally doesn’t care about anything other than the score.”
The Sugar Bears opened the third quarter on a 17-7 run to take a commanding 47-24 lead with 3:38 left in the period. The Royals showed some fight despite the score, finishing the period outscoring UCA 7-5 to reduce the deficit to 52-31 entering the final quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, Central Arkansas continued its dominance, using a 13-5 run to take a game high 29 point lead over the Royals with 2:44 to play. 

Queens would finish the game on an 11-0 run, reducing the final margin of victory to 65-47 for the Sugar Bears.

Sophomore guard Jenna Cook gave the Sugar Bears a lift off the bench, contributing 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals in the win. 

The Sugar Bears finish the regular season with a 20-10 record, their second consecutive 20 win regular season under Coach Kemper. 

UCA enters the Atlantic Sun tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. as the number three seed, and will face the winner of the North Alabama vs. Queens first round matchup in the quarter finals on Friday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m.