CONWAY — Central Arkansas scored the first five points of Wednesday night's game against Nicholls, then proceeded to score a whole lot more as the Sugar Bears put together an exceptional first half and cruised to victory, crushing the Lady Colonels 91-56 at the Farris Center for their most lopsided conference win since joining the Southland in 2006.
"The first half was one of the best halves of basketball I've ever seen on any level by anybody," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. "With nine minutes to go we're 14-of-17 from the field and end the half with 18 assists, and did a great job defensively. The second half was a different story, but it's hard to ask teenagers to stay focused that long when the game's out of hand."
The Sugar Bears (11-6, 3-1 Southland) built a 27-6 lead less than 10 minutes into the game and went up by 30 with 5:53 left in the half when Megan Herbert's layup put UCA ahead 40-10. The lead would climb to 34 as the Sugar Bears held a commanding 50-16 lead at the break.
Nicholls (5-12, 0-4) struggled to get anything going offensively – shooting just 20 percent (6 of 30) in the half – and struggled nearly as much keeping the Sugar Bears from getting baskets on the other end.
UCA had its best shooting game in a decade, topping 60 percent for the first time since November of 2002, hitting 20 of 30 (66.7 percent) in the first half en route to 65.4 percent (34-for-52) for the game.
Nicholls found more success in the second half, shooting 45.7 percent, but was still outscored 41-40 by the Sugar Bears.
"They played hard and we knew they would," Daniel said. "They'd gotten down 20 or so at Northwestern State and fought back and only lost by three, then fought back against Sam Houston State and UT Arlington. It's not that they're that bad, we really played that well in the first half."
Leading the way for the Sugar Bears was sophomore guard Micah Rice, who finished with a game-high 19 points on the strength of 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Rice is now 20 for her last 34 from beyond the arc (58.8 percent) in the last six games, and is averaging 17.3 points in four league games.
Rice led five Sugar Bears in double figures with Herbert adding 15, Courtney Duever tying a career high with 13 and Desiree' Rogers and Jelessa Williams each adding 10.
The Sugar Bears ended the game with a season-high 30 assists, the sixth most in program history. Junior point guard Destinee Rogers – who was as high as third in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio last week – had a career-high eight assists and committed zero turnovers.
All 12 Sugar Bears who were in uniform played, with 11 scoring and nine registering assists.
"It's been a long time since I've seen a team have 30 assists in a game," Daniel said. "It's nice to have a game like that and be able to rest some kids you need to rest and be able to get everybody involved. I think everybody's pleased with their contribution tonight. I'm pretty excited about where we're at."
The win puts UCA in second place in the Southland's East division behind McNeese State, who remained perfect in the league with a 74-50 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday. UCA moves to 3-1, ahead of Lamar - which had the night off.
The victory marks the third straight for the Sugar Bears since losing by 10 at Lamar in the conference opener. The Lady Cardinals, the defending Southland champions, make the return visit to Conway on Saturday for the rematch.
"All I said after the game is that we play Lamar on Saturday," Daniel said. "If they can't get up for a game like that it's going to be a long night anyway. Everybody that can get here, we need you to come and bring six people – not one. Don't bring a friend, bring six. If you don't have a friend, talk to a stranger because it's going to take all of us."
