CONWAY — Last season when Central Arkansas and Northwestern State met in the Farris Center, the Lady Demons escaped with a 76-72 overtime victory – an outcome the Sugar Bears had no desire to see repeated on Saturday.
It didn't take long for them to ensure a different result on Saturday as UCA built a big lead early and kept building until they had constructed their widest margin of victory ever in a Southland game, defeating the Lady Demons 84-43 in the Sugar Bears' home opener in league play.
After shooting a season-worst 24.6 percent in Wednesday's loss at Stephen F. Austin, the Sugar Bears (12-4, 2-1 Southland) answered back with one of their best shooting outings of the season as they connected on 47.5 percent of their shots (29-of-61) and tied their season high by hitting 11 3-pointers in 25 attempts – 44 percent, their third best effort of the year.
The Lady Demons (4-12, 0-3) took a 2-0 lead to start the game, but were never again within striking distance. They trailed 23-14 with 7:18 left in the first half, but the Sugar Bears closed with a 17-7 run to lead 40-21 at the half.
The second half was no different as four different players connected from long range to spark UCA to an 18-4 run over the first 7:15 to extend the Sugar Bear lead to 33.
The Lady Demons trailed 74-43 with 3:52 to play, but the Sugar Bears pitched a shutout for the duration of the contest and put up 10 of their own to pull away for the 41-point victory. It eclipses UCA's 35-point victory over Nicholls last season for their widest margin of victory in a Southland game.
The win puts the Sugar Bears at 9-0 inside the Farris Center this year with an average margin of victory of 33.8 points per game. It is also the ninth time this season that UCA has held its opponent to less than 50 points.
Six Sugar Bears scored in double figures for the first time since 2003. Megan Herbert had a team-high 13, also pulling down 10 rebounds for her 54th career double-double. She was 6-for-6 at the free throw line, moving into 7th on the Southland career list.
Courtney Duever had 12 points and nine rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench, also picking up a pair of assists and steals. Westin Taylor also added 12, including nine in the first half, hitting 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Micah Rice added 11, hitting 3-for-7 beyond the arc, and both Nakeia Guiden and Desiree' Rogers had 10.
Rice and Rogers each added seven rebounds, a season-high for Rice, as the Sugar Bears outrebounded the Lady Demons 47-36. Destinee Rogers had a season-high seven assists (one off her career high) and no turnovers.
Duever, Desiree' Rogers and Marci Moffitt each had two steals as UCA tallied 10 in all, forcing the Lady Demons into 17 turnovers. UCA committed 14.
Trudy Armstead led Northwestern State with 11 points and nine rebounds. Jordi James, NSU's leading scorer at 14.3 points per game, was limited to just five on 1-for-8 shooting in 26 minutes off the bench. James had 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in last season's meeting in Conway. James was one of just two players to come off the bench for the Lady Demons, who were outdone 37-7 by UCA in bench scoring.
The Sugar Bears will play on the road for the third time in their first four conference games on Wednesday when they travel to Thibodaux, La. to take on Nicholls.
