CONWAY — Central Arkansas is still in the driver's seat for the Southland Conference women's basketball regular season championship – but the road just got a bit bumpier.
The Sugar Bears, with a chance to clinch at least a share of the title in their final home game of the season, blew a six-point lead in the final 2:30 and allowed second-place Lamar to escape with a 56-53 victory and remain in the championship hunt.
"We played dumb basketball down the stretch," UCA head coach Sandra Rushing said. "We showed our youth. We turned the ball over, gave up a 3-pointer to somebody we know shoots it from out there because we switched when we weren't supposed to, there were a lot of things that went wrong at the end. They just wanted it more than us."
Up 53-47 with 2:50 left after a pair of Courtney Duever free throws, the Sugar Bears (18-9, 12-4) were unable to put another point on the board the rest of the way. The Lady Cardinals (16-11, 11-5) trimmed one point off their deficit with a JaMeisha Edwards free throw with 2:26 to go, then cut the UCA lead to two with 1:44 to go on Gia Ayers' fifth 3-pointer of the game.
After a Sugar Bear turnover, the Lady Cards tied the game on a basket from Edwards, then took the lead for the first time in 17 minutes on another Edwards score, going ahead 55-53. After a Sugar Bear turnover, Edwards hit one of two free throws to push the lead to three.
With a chance to tie, the Sugar Bears worked the ball to Micah Rice, their fifth-year senior who is the school's Division I career 3-point leader and has made numerous shots throughout her career in the final seconds of games and shot clocks. Unfortunately for the Sugar Bears, she was unable to add to her list of late-game heroics as her attempt to tie the game was off the mark, sending the Sugar Bears to their lone home defeat of the conference season.
Duever had 21 points and 15 rebounds in her final game in the Farris Center, giving her her 9th double-double in conference play and 13th of the season. She also added a pair of assists and steals. Junior forward Brittany Agee added 10 points, and freshman guard Maggie Proffitt had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Ayers led all players with 23 points, hitting 5 of 7 3-point field goals. Edwards had 12, with six coming in the final 2:26.
With a one-game lead over Lamar and Stephen F. Austin entering the final week of the regular season, the Sugar Bears still control their own destiny as they head to Northwestern State on Thursday and SFA on Saturday looking to claim an outright championship and the top seed in the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas.
