CONWAY — Central Arkansas committed a season-low five turnovers, had an 11-point advantage at the free throw line and got a career-best 18 points from sophomore guard Kelsey McClure as the Sugar Bears defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 63-59 in the Farris Center on Tuesday for their fifth straight win. 

"It feels great to win," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "Corpus is an athletic team that is extremely well-coached, and we're very fortunate to get out of here with this win today. You look at the rebound margin (44-29 Corpus), and most of the time when you rebound that bad you're not going to win. But what I like is that we only had five turnovers, and our free throw percentage was great, and that might've been the difference."

The Sugar Bears (9-5, 2-0 Southland) have now won five straight for the first time since January of last season, defeating the Islanders (4-8, 0-1) by four in Conway for the second consecutive season. Last year UCA won 66-62 in Conway, but dropped the return meeting 45-42 in Corpus Christi. The last four meetings in the series have been decided by an average of just over 3 points per game. 

In another close game with the Islanders, the Sugar Bears took advantage of their trips to the free throw line, making 13 of 16 (81.3 percent) in the second half while holding the Islanders to just three attempts. That more than made up for a 10-8 field goal disadvantage and being out rebounded 21-15 in the half.

With the game tied at 54 with 2:42 left, the Sugar Bears got a jumper from Brianna Mullins to reclaim the lead for good with 2:16 to play, but had to rely solely on free throws from that point on, making seven in a row to keep the game just out of reach for the Islanders. 

A&M-Corpus Christi was down 60-56 with 15 seconds to go after Mullins made a pair, but the Islanders' Shay Weaver knocked down a 3-pointer with 7 seconds to play to cut the deficit to one. On the Sugar Bears' ensuing inbound pass, the Islanders' Jennifer Ramirez was whistled for an intentional foul, giving UCA two shots and possession. Kendara Watts knocked down both to push the lead back up to three, and UCA then worked the ball to McClure, who drew a foul with three seconds left. McClure knocked down the first to make it a four-point game, then missed the second and time expired before the Islanders could get off another shot.

UCA got out to an early 21-9 lead, making 7 of its first 11 field goal attempts, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, but the Islanders battled back and took a 32-29 lead with under 2 minutes left in the half before the teams eventually settled into a 34-34 tie at the half. 

McClure, who was averaging 5.1 points per game and shooting 20 percent from 3-point range for the season, had a career-high 18 (with 13 in the first half) and made 3-of-5 from long distance. Mullins had 12 and Maggie Proffitt had 11, with each going 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Terai Sadler led the Sugar Bears with 8 rebounds, in addition to scoring 7 points. McClure and Mullins led the Sugar Bears with 3 assists each. Olivia Fouty led the Islanders with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Weaver had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

"McClure had an outstanding game," Rushing said. "I thought Kendara came on and did some things better in the second half. Terai and Agee both did some good things, and everybody did great at the free throw line and taking care of the ball. I was really proud of our focus in the last three minutes of the game – bless our hearts, we're worn out. We were fatigued, but we had good focus and mental toughness and got through it. Now we've got one more at home on Thursday and then we can rest."

The game was the Sugar Bears' second in three days, and they'll play their third in five when they host defending Southland champion Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. on Thursday.