ARLINGTON, Texas – Several times this season, Central Arkansas has put together subpar first halves only to pull out a victory with a big second half rally.

But none quite like this one.

After trailing 16 at halftime and by as many as 24 in the second half – and still down 11 with 3:15 to play – the Sugar Bears put together their most furious comeback and walked out of the College Park Center with an improbable 53-51 victory over UT Arlington on Saturday.

“That’s one of the things we talked about – in order to win a championship you’re going to have to have some breaks,” said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. “You’ve got to have some things go your way, but you’ve also got to make some things happen. But we’ve got to stop doing this. Our luck’s going to run out at some point. But today we had some unbelievable breaks and here we are again.”

After a 3-pointer from Megan Herbert, who had 22 points and 14 rebounds for her 58^th career double-double, the Sugar Bears (18-4, 8-1 Southland) were down nine with 3:44 to play before a pair of free throws from UTA’s Briana Walker made it 51-40 with 3:26 to go.

Those points would be the last for the Mavs (4-16, 2-6) as the Sugar Bears nearly equaled their first-half point total in a three-minute span as they closed it with a 13-0 run for their seventh straight victory.

A free throw from Nakeia Guiden and another 3-pointer by Herbert got it to 51-44 with 2:58 to go, and Herbert then found Destinee Rogers on another shot from beyond the arc with 2:08 to get the Sugar Bears within four.

Herbert came back with her third 3-pointer in two minutes to trim the UCA deficit to one at 51-50 with 1:45 to play. Back on the defensive end, the Sugar Bears got a stop on a Micah Rice steal. On the ensuing possession, Britney Gowans drove down the right baseline and got past the Maverick defense for a layup to give the Sugar Bears their first lead of the game with 51 seconds to play.

UTA’s Desherra Nwanguma missed on a shot attempt on the Mavs’ next possession, and Courtney Duever was there to collect the rebound. UTA fouled Duever, who hit one of two for the game’s final point with 22 seconds to play.

Duever wasn’t done, though, as she blocked Sabreena DeNure’s shot on UTA’s next possession. UTA retained control of the ball until Bianca Sauls dribbled it off her leg and out of bounds with 3.5 seconds to go. UCA was then whistled for a five-second call on the ensuing inbound, giving the ball back to UTA. The Mavs worked the ball in to Sauls, who let off an errant shot as time expired to complete the Sugar Bears’ rally.

“I guess I’d rather be on this side of it, but it’s incredibly frustrating how we’re starting games,” Daniel said. “We played well enough in the second half to somehow get out of here with a win, and I think a big part of it was we only had five turnovers in the second half. We settled down and took care of it and got better shots. And we had a huge lift off the bench. Chantel Moss, Britney Gowans, Westin Taylor, Marci Moffitt all gave us good minutes.”

Herbert had 18 points, six rebounds, two blocks and a steal in the second half to lead the Sugar Bear comeback. Duever had 10 points in the game for the Sugar Bears, Guiden had eight, Gowans and Rogers each had five and Rice had three to go along with a game-high four steals.

Bianca Walker had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead UTA.

The Sugar Bears shot 50 percent in the second half after just 27.1 percent in the first half to finish the game at 37.3 percent. Herbert was 7-for-8 and Duever 4-for-5. The Sugar Bears were 7-of-27 from 3-point range, led by Herbert’s 3-for-3.

With the win, the Sugar Bears are now 8-3 this season when trailing at the half and have tied their longest Southland Conference winning streak at seven games. Herbert’s 58^th double-double ties her for second most in UCA history with Checola Seals, and extends her Southland record to double the old record of 29. It was also her 77^th time to score in double figures in 84 career games. The Sugar Bears also become the first road team to win in the new College Park Center, which UTA opened last Wednesday with a win over UTSA. 
It marks the third straight win for UCA over UTA, drawing the series even at 3-3 in the final meeting as Southland Conference foes, as UTA prepares to depart for the Western Athletic Conference following this season.

The Sugar Bears return home on Wednesday to take on Texas State in the Farris Center.