HOUSTON — On Thursday, Central Arkansas gave up a basket with two seconds left that cost them a game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. On Saturday, the Sugar Bears' fortunes were reversed as Courtney Duever scored the go-ahead basket with three seconds to go, and the Sugar Bears got one final stop on the defensive end to escape Houston Baptist with a 57-55 win.
"I'm very proud of this team – they could've gone the other way today but they fought," UCA head coach Sandra Rushing said of her team, which outscored HBU 34-23 in the second half to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit. "We didn't make all the right decisions, but we played well enough in the second half to get a huge road win. We told them at halftime – one possession at a time, that we couldn't get all the points back at once. And we were able to come out and do that."
With the game tied at 55 and 12.6 seconds left, the Sugar Bears (16-8, 10-3 Southland) attempted to work the ball to Duever but the pass got away, forcing her to track it down headed for the baseline. She collected the ball near the end line, pulled up just outside the lane and sank the shot over the outstretched arm of HBU's Shanice Steenholdt to grab the lead. The Huskies (11-14, 7-7) got a final look just inside the 3-point line from Monet Neal, but the shot missed its mark.
"Courtney's playing with a little bit of a hurt back, but she was really big for us tonight, especially in the second half," Rushing said of the senior center, who had 13 of her game-high 16 points and six of her game-high nine rebounds in the second period. "I thought Brittany Agee did a great job tonight, and Jameka Watkins came in and did a really good job defensively. Brianna Mullins was just 4 for 11 but made some big stops for us. Maggie Proffitt made some key shots, and I thought Kelsei Ewings came in and gave us some good minutes."
HBU led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Ewings got the final basket of the first half to cut the Sugar Bear deficit to nine at 32-23. The Sugar Bears then began the second half by holding HBU without a basket for the first 11:46 of the half as they took a five-point lead after outscoring the Huskies 23-9 during that span. Duever gave UCA its first lead with a three-point play at the 10:35 mark, then jumpers from Mullins and Proffitt stretched the lead to five at 46-41 with 8:28 to go.
The Huskies regained the lead with just under five minutes remaining and the teams battled back and forth the rest of the way. With 59 seconds left, a 3-pointer from Proffitt put the Sugar Bears ahead 55-53, but the Huskies tied it again with 13 seconds left before Duever's decisive basket.
In addition to Duever's 16 and 9, the Sugar Bears got 12 points from Proffitt and 10 from Agee in her first start in 13 games. Watkins added a career-high eight assists, the most for any Sugar Bear in a game this season.
HBU's Shanice Steenholdt was held to 8 points and 8 rebounds, while Neal led the Huskies with 11 points.
The win, coupled with Lamar's loss to Northwestern State on Saturday, puts the Sugar Bears back in sole possession of first place in the Southland standings. UCA is 10-3 with Lamar at 9-4 and Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls both with 8-5 marks.
The Sugar Bears are off Thursday then play their final three home games of the season starting Saturday with Oral Roberts before Sam Houston State and Lamar visit the Farris Center the following week.
