NATCHITOCHES, La. – It wasn’t easy, or pretty, but Central Arkansas once again rallied late to pull out a 67-61 win at Northwestern State to run its league-leading winning streak to six games.
The Sugar Bears (17-4, 7-1 Southland) trailed the Lady Demons (5-16, 1-7) five at the half and, despite taking a lead late in the half, once again found themselves down five with under four minutes to play. But the Sugar Bears closed strong, scoring the game’s final 10 points to escape with their third straight win inside Prather Coliseum.
The game-clinching run started in unique fashion, as Megan Herbert was only granted the first free throw of a two-shot foul coming out of the media time out. After she made the first to trim the NSU lead to 61-57 with 3:40 to play, the ball was given to the Lady Demons, who inbounded and ran nine seconds off the clock before play was stopped. After the officials conferred, Herbert was sent back to the line for one free throw which she missed, and possession was given back to the Lady Demons on the dead ball.
A minute later, she cut the Sugar Bear deficit to two at 61-59. NSU’s Trudy Armstead then missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Courtney Duever responded with a 3-pointer on the other end to give the Sugar Bears a 62-61 lead with 1:50 left.
Duever, who had a season-high 19 points, extended the Sugar Bear lead with 34 seconds after Nakeia Guiden had penetrated into the lane and found her open along the baseline. NSU’s Jordi James misfired on a 3-pointer on the Lady Demons’ ensuing possession and the Sugar Bears closed it out with three free throws.
Herbert led all scorers with 23 and had 13 rebounds for her 57th career double-double. Duever, who was one off her career scoring high of 20, had seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks in just 20 minutes. Guiden added nine points and six assists.
It was the second straight season in which the Sugar Bears used a big second half to defeat the Lady Demons. Last season UCA outscored NSU 43-19 in the second half, and followed it with a 44-33 performance this season. The Lady Demons, who shot 60 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, were 0-for-6 in the second.
Jasmine Upchurch had 18 points for NSU, Jordi James 17 and Meredith Graf 10. Trudy Armstead had eight points and a game-high 18 rebounds.
The Sugar Bears are on the road at UT Arlington on Saturday.
