[November 20, 2006]

CONWAY, Ark. – Facing an old foe with a new affiliation and a new conference didn’t change the result for Southern Arkansas University as they suffered an 84-63 loss at the hands of the University of Central Arkansas on Monday at the Farris Center.

It was the first meeting between the two teams since the Sugar Bears moved up to NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference. The Lady Muleriders (0-2) have now lost 12 straight to UCA, with their last win coming in the 2000-01 season. It was the first win of the year for Central Arkansas (1-3), having dropped their first three games to Tennessee-Martin, at Southeast Missouri State, and at home to Oral Roberts.

SAU never led in the game, falling behind 3-0 on a three-pointer by Caronica Randle, who scored a team-high 17 points for the Sugar Bears. Southern Arkansas got back to within one at 3-2, and again at 5-4 at the 16:57 mark, before UCA blew it open with a 19-5 run to post their largest lead of the first half at 24-9 with 12:20 remaining. The Lady Muleriders never really countered and Central Arkansas went into halftime with a 38-24 lead.

SAU got to within 12 a couple times early in the second stanza, the last trailing 40-28 with 18:51 showing, but the Sugar Bears outscored their visitors, 35-19, from then until the 5:58 mark to take their largest lead of the game at 75-47. Southern Arkansas then whittled it down to 78-59 with 2:44 left, but it was already over as UCA coasted in with the 84-63 final.

Randle was six of nine from the field, including four of five three-pointers, and hit one of two free throws for her 17 points. Central Arkansas got 14 points from Allyson Sample, and 12 points and four steals from Mariesha Piggee. Whitney Betts and Shannon Oden pulled down six rebounds each, and Renita Dobbins tossed out six assists. The Sugar Bears played 13 people off their 14-man roster.

Beth Grigsby scored a career and game-high 18 points to lead the Lady Muleriders. She was five of 10 shooting, four of nine on threes, and hit all four free throws. Kayla Jones added 15 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Brooke Grigsby dished out six assists, and Goldie White picked off four steals.

Central Arkansas shot a hot 58.6 percent in the second half on their way to 49.2 percent for the game on 31 of 63 shooting. The Sugar Bears hit 11 of 21 threes for 52.4 percent, and were 11 of 16 at the free throw line for 68.8 percent. SAU, still not shooting the ball well, hit a dismal 20 of 59 for 33.9 percent, including eight of 26 treys for 30.8 percent, and were 15 of 22 at the charity stripe for 68.2 percent.

UCA had a huge 45-33 rebound margin, and committed 21 turnovers to Southern Arkansas’ 20. The Lady Muleriders, which haven’t used their bench much so far this year, were outscored 32-13 off the pine, and were out-muscled in the middle, 24-12.

SAU tries to rebound Tuesday in their home-opener as they host Texas Woman’s University at 6 p.m. in the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.

#SAU#