CONWAY — Central Arkansas took Williams Baptist's best shot on Tuesday afternoon, but the Sugar Bears overcame a sluggish start and were dominant over the final 11 minutes as they closed the game with a 25-4 run to defeat the Lady Eagles 73-57.
"I'm glad we won this game, and I'm glad it's over," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing, whose team outscored the Lady Eagles 44-21 after the break. "We didn't play our best basketball today. We've got to play with more passion and drive – I'm not happy with the effort at all. We've got a lot of work to do, but I'm just glad we won. We'll run with it, get back to practice tomorrow, get better and get ready to go again on Friday."
The Sugar Bears (5-5) trailed for more than 28 minutes, not taking the lead for good until the 8:40 mark of the second half after the Lady Eagles (4-7) had built a lead as large as nine in the second half. But after shooting just 28.6 percent in the first half, the Sugar Bears were 16 of 30 (53.3 percent) in the second half and limited the Lady Eagles to 29.6 percent in the half and just two field goals over the final 14:52 while forcing WBC into 13 second-half turnovers.
Down 53-50 with just over 10 minutes to play, it was one of UCA's nine second-half steals that got the game-changing rally started as Brianna Mullins got one of her career-high seven steals and got down the floor for an easy layup to cut the WBC lead to one. A few possessions later, with the score unchanged, Mullins put UCA ahead for good with a 3-pointer to make it 55-53. The run continued with a steal and layup by Terai Sadler, another steal and layup from Mullins, and a 3-point play from Brittany Agee to give UCA a nine-point advantage at 62-53 with 6:24 left.
Michaela Thompson scored inside with 6:09 left to get WBC to within seven, but it would be WBC's last field goal of the game as the Sugar Bears scored 11 of the game's final 13 points to improve to 7-1 all-time against the Lady Eagles and 3-2 at home this season.
The Sugar Bears did much of their damage at the free throw line, shooting 85.5 percent (17 of 20) while holding WBC to 10 attempts. UCA had its best turnover margin of the season, committing just seven while forcing 16, getting 22 points off those turnovers including 10 fast break points. The Lady Eagles did have a rebounding advantage, getting 40 to the Sugar Bears' 33, including 17 offensive rebounds.
Maggie Proffitt led the Sugar Bears in scoring for the third time this season, posting 19 points in 30 minutes on 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) 3-point shooting, the third time this year and fifth time in her career she's made five or more from long range. Mullins had 15 points, six rebounds, and led the team with four assists and seven steals in 38 minutes. Sadler had her best outing of the season with 11 points, eight rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal. Kendara Watts added 10 points, Brittany Agee had nine points and five rebounds, and Kelsey McClure adding six points.
Thompson led WBC with 20 points, Alisha Stone had 11, and Meagan Goza added nine points, nine rebounds and a game-high five assists.
UCA will host Blue Mountain College, an NAIA member institution, on Friday at 2 p.m. in the final game before the holiday break. The Sugar Bears will then return to action on Dec. 30 against Austin Peay in the final game before Southland Conference play begins Jan. 3 at Abilene Christian.
