Box Score
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Leading for most of the first half Sunday against Alabama, Central Arkansas appeared poised to score its first-ever win against a Southeastern Conference opponent. But after taking a 42-41 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Sugar Bears couldn't keep pace in the second half and fell 87-76 to the Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum.
"We came out solid in the first half, but in the second half the mentality flipped," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. "Alabama's attitude flipped and ours changed as well – theirs for the positive and ours negative and it didn't play out the way we wanted."
The Tide (2-0) jumped ahead early in the second half, starting with a 15-6 run over the first 3:56 to surge ahead 56-48. They took the lead for good on the first of back-to-back 3-pointers from Ericka Russell, the second one giving Alabama a 52-48 edge with 17:24 left. The lead extended to as many as nine with 14 minutes to go, but the Sugar Bears refused to go away quietly.
UCA eventually sliced its deficit to three with 7:38 remaining on two free throws from Megan Herbert and had a chance to pull into a tie, but the Tide forced the Sugar Bears into one of their 19 turnovers. A bucket and two free throws from freshman forward Kaneisha Horn, followed by a pair of free throws from Alicia Mitcham pushed the lead back to nine with 6:10 remaining. From that point, the Sugar Bears never fully recovered and drew no closer than six the rest of the way.
"I feel like we let them off the hook in two-minute spans," Daniel said. "They had about three of those in the second half and one in the first, and that was probably the difference in the ballgame."
Alabama got 27 points from senior preseason All-SEC forward Tierney Jenkins, two off her career high. Russell had 12 and Katie Hancock added 10.
Herbert had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Sugar Bears, getting her second straight double-double to begin the season. She had 23 straight to begin last season and now has 29 in 31 games in her UCA career. Junior guard Sidney Stewart led the Sugar Bears in scoring with 22 points, the highest of her collegiate career. She also added six rebounds and three assists, but also had a game-high nine turnovers. Rice had 14 and Westin Taylor added 12, hitting 4-of-6 from 3-point range.
The Tide shot 48.5 percent from the field for the game, including 54.5 percent in the first half. UCA finished at 37.5 percent, shooting 29 percent in the second half after hitting 45.5 percent in the first half.
In the first half the Sugar Bears broke a 7-7 tie on a 3-pointer from Micah Rice with 15:32 left and did not trail the rest of the half. Alabama drew even again at 17 with 10:34 to go, but the Sugar Bears re-took the lead 12 seconds later on a Destinee Rogers free throw and led the rest of the period.
The lead grew to as many as eight with less than four minutes remaining, once on a Sidney Stewart basket with 3:56 to go and then again with 3:41 on a jumper from Rice. The UCA lead was six at 40-34 with 2:03 to go, but the Tide closed out the half with a 7-2 run to trail by one going into the locker room.
With the loss, UCA falls 0-4 all-time against SEC schools. The game was the second meeting for the Sugar Bears against an SEC foe since moving to Division I, having lost 104-63 to Ole Miss in 2006. Sunday's game was the first meeting between the Sugar Bears and Crimson Tide.
