The UCA women’s basketball team fell to the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles for the second consecutive year in the ASUN Championship Final, 68-51. 

“I’m really proud of them, I think what we were trying to get done, especially on the defensive end, we did well. We had some moments in the first half where we got to the spots we wanted, they just didn’t go in the basket,” UCA head women’s basketball coach Tony Kemper said to ucasports.com. “But we turned it over too much, and that’s a really good team, they’re really tough to play in here.”

After a 70-65 victory against the Lipscomb University Bisons in the semifinals, the Sugar Bears (23-9, ASUN 15-3) were able to punch their ticket to the ASUN final for the second year in a row. 

The Sugar Bears were able to keep within striking distance of the Eagles (30-3, ASUN 18-0) in the first quarter. 

Although FGCU was able to gain a 5-point advantage on UCA in the first minute, the Sugar Bears clapped back with a 3-point shot by senior guard Kinley Fisher after rebounding twice in their second possession. 

The next two minutes saw a scoring stalemate, but it was broken by UCA senior guard Leah Mafua’s 3-pointer to give the Sugar Bears a 6-3 lead. 

The Eagles responded with a layup by fifth-year shooter Emani Jefferson and a 3-pointer by fifth-year shooter Casey Santoro to reclaim the lead. 

UCA was able to tie the game with two successful free throws from senior guard Jade Upshaw and retake the lead for the last time in the game shortly after with a layup by Mafua. 

The Eagles went on a 6-0 scoring run to establish a permanent lead against the Sugar Bears, and they ended the first quarter in the lead with the score at 16-12. 

The second quarter saw no points scored by either team for the first two and a half minutes, but the scoring stalemate was broken by FGCU fifth year shooter Dolly Cairns with a 3-point shot, which kicked off the Eagles’ dramatic lead increase. 

Although Mafua was able to break UCA’s three-and-a-half-minute scoring drought with a layup followed by a 3-pointer, FGCU took off, scoring 22 points in the second quarter to UCA’s 12 to bring them to a 38-24 lead going into the second half.

FGCU kicked off the second half with a 7-0 scoring run, once again holding the Sugar Bears to zero points for the first three and a half minutes of the third quarter. 

Mafua was once again the one to break the Sugar Bears’ scoring stalemate, this time shooting two successful free throws after drawing a foul from FGCU senior Khamari Mitchell-Steen.

These points began an 8-0 scoring run for the Sugar Bears. 

Despite UCA’s increase in momentum, the Eagles continued to increase their lead. 

With 6:54 remaining in the third quarter, UCA senior forward Bree Stephens suffered an ankle injury, leaving her in a boot and bringing an end to her playing time in the game. 

Sophomore guard Cheyanne Kemp was subbed in for Stephens, who went on to score 10 points throughout the game. 

Despite Stephens’ injury, the Sugar Bears were able to push to another 8-0 scoring run, but the Eagles ended the third quarter with a 57-40 lead.

Entering the final quarter in a 17-point deficit, UCA looked to make things interesting in the last few minutes. 

However, despite holding FGCU to 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Sugar Bears missed 10 out of 16 shot attempts in the final 10 minutes and were unable to cut into the Eagles’ lead.

The Eagles went on to defeat the Sugar Bears in the ASUN Championship final for the second consecutive year 68-51, securing their ninth straight ASUN title. 

Despite the team’s loss, Kemper commended the Sugar Bears for their efforts against the Eagles, as well as the senior players for their contributions to UCA’s progress in recent years.

“We’ve got a lot of really good players, and I appreciate them all. I thought Leah was aggressive early and throughout. Jade got going in the second half, what a player, what a career at Central Arkansas,” Kemper said to ucasports.com. “All of these seniors, great careers here at Central Arkansas. This senior class is really special, and for them to come to Central Arkansas when it was nothing, and build it to a team that played in this game twice, there’s only one thing that would have made it better, and that would have been winning today.

FGCU was selected as a 12th seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face No. 5 seed Virginia Tech March 21. 

UCA will play its pick of postseason games outside of the NCAA Tournament, with game times and opponents to be announced.