CONWAY — After blowing a double-digit lead in Wednesday's last-second 65-63 loss to McNeese State, Central Arkansas looked poised to have a repeat performance on Saturday as an 18-point halftime lead all but disappeared against Sam Houston State, which had a chance at a lead in the final minute and a last-second attempt to tie.
But unlike Wednesday, this time the opposition misfired on its final shot and the Sugar Bears held on for the 66-63 victory over the Bearkats.
"I'll take the W, but this is the same thing that happened against McNeese," said head coach Sandra Rushing, whose team has suffered a program-record five losses by three points or less this season. "We get a lead and think we can relax, and we don't match their intensity. We've got to play a 40-minute game. It's been like that all season – we've got to have some sort of consistency. I'm happy with the win, but I'm not coaching just for this game. I'm coaching to win a championship, and if we're ever going to do that we've got to learn from our mistakes."
After a first half in which the Sugar Bears (15-11, 8-6 Southland) shot 59.3 percent and built their biggest lead in conference play this season at 41-23, things went decidedly in favor of the Bearkats (6-18, 5-9) through most of the second.
After holding SHSU's Shernise Robertson – the league's leading scorer at 19 points per game – to six first-half points, she single-handedly outscored the Sugar Bears 26-25 in the second half, making 7 of 10 field goals (including 4 of 6 3-point attempts) and was 8-for-9 at the free throw line.
Robertson had a chance to tie the game with nine seconds remaining but missed, and SHSU's Taylor Dorsey followed with another miss in the last second, with UCA's
Jameka Watkins grabbing the rebound to seal the victory.
"We had no answer for Robertson," Rushing said. "Absolutely no answer whatsoever. And I don't understand how they can get two 3-point shots off at the end when we're specifically telling the players to not give them a 3-point look."
The Sugar Bears were able to stay afloat in the second half largely due to the shooting of
Maggie Proffitt, who was 4-for-8, including 3-for-4 from 3-point range, en route to 14 of her team-high 18 points. Outside of Proffitt, the Sugar Bears were just 3 of 13 (23 percent) in the half. Another key moment came with under 30 seconds left as
Terai Sadlergrabbed an offensive rebound off a Brianna Mullins missed free throw, keeping possession with UCA with the Sugar Bears holding on to a 65-63 lead. After a timeout, UCA was able to work the ball to Proffitt, who drew a foul and made one of two free throws to set what would be the final margin.
In the first half, the Sugar Bears got 9 points each from
Mullins and freshman
Angel Williams, matching her season high. Mullins would go on to finish with 14 points and
Kendara Watts – who had 8 first-half points – finished with 12. Watkins had a game-high 6 assists, and Proffitt had a pair of blocks to lead the team.
Robertson led Sam Houston with 32, the most for an opposing player against the Sugar Bears this season. Dorsey added 16 points and 5 assists.
As a team, the Sugar Bears had just six turnovers, while Sam Houston had 16, helping to offset a 38-22 rebounding advantage for the Bearkats, who had 15 offensive rebounds to the Sugar Bears' 5.
With the win, the Sugar Bears move into a tie with Northwestern State for 6th place and three games ahead of the Bearkats for the 7th seed in next month's Southland Conference tournament, with four games remaining in the regular season. The teams will meet again on Thursday in Huntsville, Texas before the Sugar Bears return home for the home finale next Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana.
