KATY, Texas — In its first trip to the Southland Conference tournament, Central Arkansas put together a good run – winning twice and knocking off defending tournament champion and second-seeded Lamar. Unfortunately for the Sugar Bears, they couldn't come up with the third win needed for the title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
After surviving two close games to advance to the championship game, the Sugar Bears did not have the same luck in the final game – falling 71-50 to the top-seeded McNeese State Cowgirls on Friday.
"We got outplayed tonight in every facet," UCA head coach Matt Daniel said. "They made more shots than we did, they had a better free throw percentage, fewer turnovers and executed better than we did. And I don't think we'll forget that."
The Sugar Bears (21-11) fell behind early on and never really threatened the Cowgirls (26-6), who earn a bid to their first-ever NCAA Tournament.
McNeese got out to a 37-26 halftime lead and wasted little time extending it in the opening minutes of the second half. Just two minutes in, the Cowgirl lead had swelled to 19, then went to 25 five minutes later and the Sugar Bears were never a factor after that.
The Cowgirls were on all night, shooting 54.7 percent (29-of-53) for the game – including 57.1 percent in the first half.
"It felt like they were kicking them in," Daniel said. "It felt like every shot was going in. They hit a high percentage and we missed some easy shots. You look at the spread and we get beat 21 and they make 10 more field goals than us. They outrebounded us by 10. I'm not a big stats guy, but you look as the game gets out of hand and the reasoning why, and those alone weren't the deal but certainly led to why the margin was what it was."
The Sugar Bears, who had benefited from a decided advantage at the free throw line in the first two rounds of the tournament, were limited to just 8-of-14 shooting from the line on Friday while the Cowgirls were 9-of-13
Ashlyn Baggett, the tournament MVP, led all players with 23 points. Twin sister Caitlyn had 15 and led all players with six assists. Kendra Wells had 9 points and 13 rebounds.
Megan Herbert and Courtney Duever each had 13 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead the Sugar Bears.
Whether the season is over for the Sugar Bears remains to be seen, as an invite to the WNIT or WBI postseason tournaments is still a possibility. The fields for both will be announced Monday.
"I hope we didn't just play our last game," Daniel said. "We've got a good product to watch typically and we have a group that deserves it. This team has accomplished a lot of things and nobody can erase them. I'm not sure we've played our last ball game. Regardless, what this group has been able to accomplish is pretty incredible. For most programs, if you win 20 games in a year it's an astronomical accomplishment. Not with us. I'm a bit of a card player, so we always try to hit blackjack – 21. We were able to do that this year."
