CONWAY, Ark. — After getting out to a 15-point lead in the first half Central Arkansas fell into a second-half lull and nearly let one get away against Lipscomb on Monday, but a pair of timely 3-pointers and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch was enough to lift the Sugar Bears to a 69-60 win over the Lady Bisons in the Farris Center.
After leading the final 17 minutes of the first half and holding a 40-27 advantage at the break, the Sugar Bears (3-4) were unable to maintain the momentum and the Lady Bisons (2-4) continually chipped away at the deficit. It took seven minutes for Lipscomb to trim the UCA lead to three, but the Sugar Bears maintained a slight edge up until the 5:49 mark when Lipscomb's Anna Bowers tied the score at 51.
The game remained tied after a score from UCA's Destinee Rogers and a jumper from Lipsomb's Brittany Duerk. The momentum finally swung back in UCA's favor when junior guard Sidney Stewart hit two 3-pointers and got a steal that led to a pair of free throws by Rogers, putting the Sugar Bears ahead 61-55 with 2:42 to play. After a Lady Bisons turnover, Stewart found freshman center Courtney Duever for a layup to put UCA ahead eight with 2:15 left.
Bowers connected from beyond the arc to cut the UCA lead to five, but the Sugar Bears got another score inside from Duever and then hit four free throws in the final minute to secure the win.
Sophomore forward Megan Herbert led all players with 22 points, 13 rebounds and a career-high three blocks. Duever finished with 13 points – her highest total as a Sugar Bear – and had three steals for the fourth time this season. Bowers had 19 points and Duerk 13 for the Lady Bisons.
The Sugar Bears built an 11-point lead less than five minutes into the game, hitting four 3s en route to an early 16-5 lead. The lead dipped to as few as three five minutes later, but a 15-3 run over the next 5:30 gave UCA their biggest cushion of the night. In the opening period the Sugar Bears owned a 22-2 advantage on points in the paint against the Lady Bisons, who got 21 of their 27 points from outside – hitting 7-of-12 3-pointers (58.3 percent) while shooting just 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) inside the arc. Lipscomb had zero free throw attempts in the first half and finished the game with just four, making them all. The Sugar Bears hit 15 of 20.
Herbert finished 8-of-16 from the field to lead UCA, which shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) after going for nearly 50 percent in the first half. It was the third straight double-double for Herbert, who has five for the season and 32 for her career.
The win marks the first for the Sugar Bears in four tries against Lipscomb, which most recently defeated UCA 68-60 in Nashville last season.
The Sugar Bears return to action next Monday, Dec. 6, against crosstown foe Central Baptist College.
