Total team effort leads to 69-58 win

The Sugar Bears took another step toward finishing the season with a .500 record on Thursday night. All eight players who entered the game put points on the board, and that led to a 69-58 win over Southeastern Louisiana at the Farris Center.

“This was a complete team effort. It seemed like everything was clicking and we were hitting on all cylinders,” UCA head coach Checola Seals-Horton said.

SELA missed its first three shots, allowing UCA to put the first points on the board. The Sugar Bears then forced two turnovers and Mariesha Piggee made the most of the second, burying the first of her three 3-pointers to put UCA up 5-0.

And they would never look back. The Lady Lions never gained the lead throughout the entire game.

SELA shot an impressive 47 percent in the first half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Sugar Bears shooting 6-for-15 from outside the arc. UCA took a 33-31 lead into halftime.

Before the Lady Lions even made their first shot of the second half, the Sugar Bears scored eight and expanded the lead to ten. Caronica Randle started the half by scoring five points in the first 33 seconds. Piggee followed with her third 3-pointer, making all three of her attempts.

The Sugar Bears went on a dry spell for the next 6:16. They missed their next 6 shots and mixed in three turnovers, and found themselves with only a two-point lead, 41-39.

But UCA responded and with just under four minutes remaining, the Sugar Bears had built a 14 point lead, 59-45, with consistent play on both ends of the floor.

SELA’s Brooke Necaise cut it to nine after she was fouled shooting a three and made all three free throws.

After a Randle free throw, the Lady Lions tried to cut it to eight, but Meaghen Kelleybrew had a nice block on a Kristy Carlin shot. Randle retrieved the ball, and the Sugar Bears made 9-of-10 free throws to close out the game.

“When you’ve got balanced scoring and rebounding and it’s not all on Caronica, and everybody’s contributing – it makes for a great win,” Seals-Horton said.

The UCA defense in the second half forced SELA to shoot just 25 percent from the floor. For the game, the Lady Lions made just 2-of-14 shots from outside. The Sugar Bears countered by shooting 42 percent.

The Sugar Bears have two more games remaining before the season ends. A win on senior night Saturday against Nichols State would put them one game away from finishing their first season as a Division I program with a .500 mark.

14 free passes help Bears score 14

Unlike any game I’ve ever seen on any level, a college team – in this case Arkansas State University – hit eight Central Arkansas hitters with errant pitches. Two players were even hit twice. Add four walks and 14 hits and you’ve got a comfortable 14-5 win for the Bears on Tuesday afternoon at UCA Field.

Everyone has seen hitters get hit by pitches before, but the sixth inning saw four Bear batters reach base by HBP. Then in the bottom of the seventh, three more.

The ASU pitching staff struggled to find the strikezone. Even worse news for the Indians is that when they did find it, UCA usually hit it somewhere pretty hard.

Grant Gatlin and Chris Houk led UCA with three hits each. In all, 10 Bears got hits in the game.

The performances on the mound by the UCA pitchers were also good to see. Starter Matt Whitaker, who transferred from ASU, saw his first action of the season and after a rocky first inning got in a groove. Whitaker retired the next eight batters in order after giving up one run in the first. He gave up an unearned run in the fourth and was pulled after 56 pitches.

Bobby Pritchett and Jeremy Brewer combined for just three hits and one run in the next four innings. Pritchett was credited with the win.

Closer Josh Charette gave up two doubles and a walk in the ninth. ASU added its final two runs to set the final margin, and Charette ended the game by snagging a linedrive back at him – one of those self-defense catches.

The Bears had four players with extra base hits. Gatlin, Matt Warren and Jonathan Ashworth all had homeruns, and Tye Throneberry hit a triple in his only atbat of the game.

Leading 3-2, Ashworth started the fourth with a solo homerun. The Bears took advantage of just four hits to score five runs. Helping them along the way were a error and a wild pitch.

The four-run seventh was just the icing on the 10-3 cake. Warren and Gatlin sandwiched the third error by an ASU shortstop with their homers. Throneberry’s triple plated Houk who reached after being hit by a pitch. Houk finished 3-for-4, scored one run and had one RBI.