CONWAY — Tied at 64 in the waning seconds of regulation, Central Arkansas failed to get up a shot attempt and Nicholls took advantage in the overtime period, making its last four field goal attempts and holding off UCA at the end as the Sugar Bears fell 75-72 to the Colonels in the Farris Center on Saturday.

"I'm disappointed, our players are disappointed," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "We made a lot of mental mistakes and missed some assignments. I thought we fought, we just made some dumb decisions. And free throws, I thought, was the difference in the game. We make one or two more, we win this ballgame. We were this close, and we've got to win at home if we're going to make the conference tournament. We're just not there yet."

After Nicholls tied the game with 20 seconds left on a Tia Charles free throw following a block call on Brianna Mullins near the basket, the Sugar Bears (10-9, 3-4 Southland) had a chance to end it in regulation, but failed to get a shot attempt before the final horn, sending the game into the extra period. 

In overtime, the Sugar Bears briefly took a 67-66 lead on a Mullins jumper, but the Colonels (8-10, 4-3) took the lead for good a minute later on an Emani White layup. After another Mullins basket a minute later to cut the Nicholls lead to one, the Colonels answered with a 3-pointer from Charles to go up 73-69 with 1:18 remaining.

UCA countered with a Terai Sadler basket to cut it back to two with 45 seconds left followed by a Mullins steal. Mullins drew a foul on Charles and made one of two free throws to cut the Colonel lead to one with 30 seconds left. On the other end, Jameka Watkins was whistled for a foul on White, who made both free throws to push the Nicholls lead back to three.

The Sugar Bears worked the ball to leading 3-point shooter Maggie Proffitt looking to tie, but her attempt to tie with 10 seconds left was off the mark. Kelsey McClure came up with a steal and was able to get one final shot attempt off, but it missed the mark and went out of bounds to the Colonels with just 0.2 seconds remaining. After a review to determine how much time remained, the Colonels inbounded the ball to run the clock out and win for the second straight time in Conway and third straight time in the series.

UCA led by as many as 13 in the first half, but the Colonels (8-10, 4-3) closed it to two at the break and then shot 54 percent in the second half while the Sugar Bears shot just 39.1 percent to pull even and force OT in a game that saw 11 lead changes and 11 ties. While it was the Sugar Bears who took advantage of turnovers in the first half with 15 points on nine Colonels turnovers, Nicholls flipped it around in the second half by converting seven Sugar Bear turnovers into 11 points while UCA generated just three points on five Colonel turnovers.

McClure had a career-high 21 points for the Sugar Bears, adding 7 rebounds and a team-high 5 assists. Mullins added 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, and Kendara Watts had 14 points – including 11 in the first half. Sadler led the team with 8 rebounds to go with 8 points. Proffitt, the team's leading scorer for the season, was held to 6 points and was 0-for-5 from 3-point range, just the third time this season's she's been held without a 3-point field goal.

Nicholls got 18 points from Shay Arnick, 15 points and 6 assists from Charles, and 11 points off the bench from Marina Lilly. Jenny Nash, Nicholls' leading scorer for the year at 13.2 points per game, had just 8 in 43 minutes.

The Sugar Bears are back at home Wednesday, taking on Northwestern State at 7 p.m. in the Farris Center.