HOT SPRINGS, AR - The number one ranked Shaw women's basketball team fell to 18th-ranked Central Arkansas 87-73 in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Division II Women's basketball tournament at Summit Arena.  The Lady Bears end their season at 32-2. 

Shaw held an early lead as Kiarsha Curtis' lay-up with 15 minutes 47 seconds left in the first half put the Lady Bears ahead 14-6.  After Caronica Randle's jumper at the 14:56 mark pulled the Sugar Bears to within 14-11, Shaw outscored Central Arkansas 15-6 over the next six minutes and 26 seconds and led 29-17 on a lay-up by Curtis with 8:30 remaining.

But Shaw watched the lead slip away as a drought by the Lady Bears over the next eight minutes netted them only three field goals.  Meanwhile the Sugar Bears hit back-to-back three pointers within 34 seconds to pull to within 29-23 with 6:06 remaining in the first half.  A Leslee Anderson lay-up at the 4:47 mark stopped the Sugar Bear run momentarily putting the Lady Bears ahead 31-26.  Carone Harris then hit a three-pointer to pull Central Arkansas to within 31-26 with 2:53 remaining in the half.  Central Arkansas would outscore the Lady Bears 10-4 to end the half and Micaela Thomas' three-pointer with 18 seconds remaining in the half gave the Sugar Bears a 36-35 halftime lead, despite the Lady Bears shooting 54 percent from the field, limiting Central Arkansas to 38 percent shooting.

The opening of the second half was a seesaw affair as the lead changed four times.  Down 38-37, Shaw regained the lead on a three-pointer by Nastassia Boucicault with 18:33 remaining.  Shaw extended its lead to 42-38 on a lay-up by Jessica Hawkins a little over a minute later.  

But a three-pointer by Thomas and Caronica Randle's jumper with 15:58 remaining gave the Sugar Bears a 43-42 lead, a lead in which they would never relinquish.  Central Arkansas (28-6) would then outscore Shaw 19-7 over the next six minutes and held its biggest lead of the game 62-49 on a jumper by Randle with 9:10 remaining.  Central Arkansas was again ahead by 13, 71-58, but the Lady Bears had one more run in them.

Shaw went on a 9-0 run over the next minute and 21 seconds and Joy Hairston's lay-up at the 2:40 mark pulled Shaw to within 71-67.  But that's as close as the Lady Bears would get as the Lady Bears were forced to foul and the Sugar Bears knocked down 10-of-12 free throws down the stretch.

In her final game as a Lady Bear, Curtis became the CIAA's 24th all-time leading scorer surpassing Sharon Beard of Johnson C. Smith.  Curtis finished with a team high 20 points, finishing with 1,391 points.  Boucicault and Hawkins and 15 and 11 points, respectively.  Randle led the Sugar Bears with 27 points, while Harris added 22 and Thomas 17.  Central Arkansas outrebounded the Lady Bears 46 to 34.   

Central Arkansas will face Washburn in the Final Four tomorrow at 8:00 p.m.