THIBODAUX, La. — In the first half of Wednesday night's game, Nicholls State could not miss.
In the second half, they could not win.
After an abysmal first half in which Central Arkansas shot 0 for 8 from beyond the arc and dug themselves a 16-point hole, the Sugar Bears made a furious second-half rally and outscored the Colonels 43-20 to pull out a big 66-59 come-from-behind victory at Stopher Gymnasium.
"We proved to be resilient," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. "I can't tell you enough about that second half of basketball. It was impressive on both ends of the floor, and we did it with a zone against a 3-point shooting team. We just bowed our necks and were able to get it done."
Megan Herbert had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the second half en route to 18 and 17 total, and Micah Rice had all 16 of her points as the Sugar Bears (13-4, 3-1 Southland) stymied the Colonels (9-8, 2-2) and escaped with their fifth straight win over Nicholls.
"I'm glad to be 3-1 in conference play," Daniel said. "It's a tough place to play every year. And they're improved and play with a little swagger and shoot it with swagger. We were able to challenge shots and rebound the ball and get it where we needed it to go in the second half."
Not much went right in the first half for the Sugar Bears, who were just 3-for-19 from the field outside of Herbert and Desiree' Rogers, who were 7-for-11.
Meanwhile, the Colonels were perfect from 3-point range – hitting all five of their attempts – and hit 53 percent overall. Even with leading scorer Sumar Leslie sidelined for nearly the final nine minutes with three fouls, the Colonels built a surprising 39-23 halftime lead.
In the second half, not much went wrong.
After eight straight points from Rice, two free throws from Nakeia Guiden and a three-point play from Herbert, the Sugar Bears had trimmed their deficit from as many as 17 down to six with more than 13 minutes to play. After getting it down to three at 48-45 after a score from Rogers, the Sugar Bears surrendered five straight points to the Colonels and fell back down eight with nine minutes left.
The Sugar Bears tied it up with a 10-2 run, drawing even with 4:09 to go when Guiden blocked a shot on the defensive end, Herbert grabbed the rebound and the Sugar Bears raced down the floor for a fast-break layup by Rice to knot it at 55.
After the teams traded free throws to remain tied at 57, the Sugar Bears took over in the final moments. Guiden, who had 17 points, drove in for a layup to give the Sugar Bears a 59-57 lead, and the two teams went scoreless for the next few possessions until – with the shot clock about to expire – Rice drained a deep 3-pointer from NBA range to push the lead to five with a minute left.
The Colonels came up empty on the other end and Guiden, who was 9-of-10 from the free throw line, hit a pair to give the Sugar Bears a 64-57 lead with 36 seconds remaining. KK Babin hit a pullup jumper on the other end, but then Guiden came back with two more free throws to seal the deal. The Sugar Bears combined to shoot 89.5 percent (17 of 19) from the line.
"I think the team with the most energy won the first half, and the team with the most energy won the second half," Daniel said. "Our second half was a little better than their first half. I'm proud of the girls, proud of their effort."
"That's a really big win" said Rice, who scored all of her season-high 16 points on eight shots in the second half, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range. "We wanted to have some momentum coming into these three home games. We were disappointed in how we played in the first half, and being able to bounce back feels good. Against Stephen F. Austin we were in the same predicament and kind of fell short. We wanted to start early in the second half this time and chip away piece by piece."
They did just that, and improved to 9-2 all time against the Colonels. It also gave Daniel his 61st career win at UCA, tying him with Checola Seals-Horton for second most in UCA history.
It was the 55th career double-double for Herbert, who has averaged 21.5 points and 18.5 rebounds in her last two games at Nicholls.
Destinee Rogers had six assists and three steals for UCA, while committing just two turnovers in 37 minutes. Desiree' Rogers finished with 10 points.
Nicholls finished shooting 39.7 percent after shooting 53.3 percent in the first half. In the second half they were just 7 for 28, including 2-for-15 from 3-point range against the Sugar Bear zone.
UCA returns home for its next three games, beginning with a rematch with Lamar as part of a doubleheader on Saturday. Southeastern Louisiana and defending league champion McNeese State will follow.
