CONWAY — After losing the lead to Southeast Missouri in the final moments, Central Arkansas had a last-second desperation heave for the win, but Brianna Mullins suffered a leg injury on the final attempt and the shot was off the mark as the Sugar Bears fell 48-46 in the Farris Center on Saturday.

After breaking a 45-45 tie with 34 seconds left on a Mullins free throw, the Sugar Bears (4-4) gave the lead back up when Southeast Missouri's Jasmine Robinson scored the go-ahead basket with 16 seconds remaining. After a Sugar Bears miss on the ensuing possession, the Redhawks (3-5) got a free throw from Erin Bollmann to go up two. Bollmann missed the second attempt, and in her effort to chase down the rebound, went out of bounds with the ball to give possession back to the Sugar Bears with 5.4 seconds remaining.

Mullins got the inbound pass and quickly dribbled up the floor, working beyond mid court where she then tried to navigate between two Southeast Missouri defenders as she went up for the final shot, but was injured during her elevation and the shot went just off course as the final horn sounded.

"We lost the game but I'm proud of our effort," UCA head coach Sandra Rushing said. "I thought we played a solid game, they did the things we asked them to do, and showed a lot of heart. I loved our defense, we just made a bad decision down the stretch and threw a pass right to them. And we didn't shoot well, and free throws cost us the game again. But we showed a lot of heart and I'm proud of the team's fight."

The UCA starters logged 175 of the team's 200 minutes, with Mullins playing the entire 40 minutes and Maggie Proffitt and Kelsey McClure each logging 39. McClure tied her career high with 11 points and had a career-high 11 rebounds, getting her first double-double as a Sugar Bear, and led the team with four assists. Senior forward Brittany Agee added 10 points, and Mullins had seven points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals. Raquel Logan had three points, five rebounds and a block in 11 minutes.

Both teams struggled to find their shooting touch as UCA connected on just 31.5 percent of its field goal attempts and SEMO 36.5. The Sugar Bears were just 1 of 11 (9.1 percent) from 3-point range, meanwhile the Redhawks were 5 of 13 for 38.5 percent. 

Neither team had much success at the free throw line, with each team missing eight attempts. Southeast Missouri finished 5 of 13 for 38.5 percent, 22 percent beneath their season average. The Sugar Bears, who came into the game shooting 80.9 percent as a team, were just 11 of 19 (57.9 percent) on Saturday.

Robinson's 14 points led Southeast Missouri, which also got 12 rebounds from Connor King. 

The loss was the second last-minute loss to an Ohio Valley Conference team this season for the Sugar Bears, who also dropped a 56-55 decision to Eastern Kentucky in November in the Preseason WNIT.

The Sugar Bears are off next week as they take final exams, then return to action next Sunday at Georgia Tech.