LAKE CHARLES, La. — For the second straight game, Central Arkansas allowed its opponent to build a big lead before making a late rally. Unfortunately for the Sugar Bears, the rally came up short for the second straight game as the Sugar Bears ended the regular season with a 72-68 loss at McNeese State on Saturday.
After falling behind early and trailing by 16 with 7:00 left, the Sugar Bears (17-13, 10-8 Southland) scored eight straight over the next 1:10 to cut the Cowgirl lead in half. After a handful of missed opportunities to draw closer, the Cowgirls (17-12, 11-7) extended the lead back to 12 with 3:17 left. From there, the Sugar Bears went on a 9-0 run to cut it to 70-67 with 27 seconds left. After McNeese's Jayln Johnson made one of two free throws, the Sugar Bears misfired on consecutive shots in an attempt to get it within one shot, and the Cowgirls got another free throw from Alaina Verdin with 8 seconds left to go back up five. Kelsey McClure then made one of two free throws in the final second to set the final score.
"We can't be playing like this at the end of the year and expect to go somewhere in the conference tournament," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "We've got to get home and regroup. We're not playing smart basketball. It looks like two different teams out there. This time of year, we've got to play as a team and pull for each other. I'm happy with how we played in spurts late in the game, but I'm not happy with the loss and our overall play."
After a first half in which they shot 39 percent and trailed by six going into the locker room, the Sugar Bears turned it around in the 2nd half by shooting 50 percent from the field (including 57.1 percent from 3-point range) as they outscored the Cowgirls 39-37. But it was too little, too late as the Sugar Bears suffered their third straight defeat to the Cowgirls and lost in Lake Charles for the first time since 2011.
Though the Sugar Bears held McNeese's leading scorer Allison Baggett to 4 points (13 below her average), 0 rebounds and 1 assist in 20 minutes, the Cowgirls got a career-high 24 points from reserve guard Victoria Rachal, who hit 4 of 6 from 3-point range after entering the day 1-for-25 for the season. Johnson was 3-for-3 from 3-point range en route to 14 points and a game-high 7 assists.
UCA got 16 points and 5 rebounds from
Maggie Proffitt and 12 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists from
Brianna Mullins.
Kendara Watts had 15 points and 3 rebounds, and
Terai Sadler had 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Kelsey McClure had 8 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals all in the 2nd half, playing an instrumental role in the Sugar Bears' comeback bid down the stretch.
"I thought McClure gave us a good spark and did what I asked," Rushing said. "The guards who were on the floor weren't getting the job done, and we subbed McClure in and she did a really good job for us."
With the loss, coupled with New Orleans' 72-70 win at Northwestern State, the Sugar Bears will be the 7th seed and face No. 6 Northwestern State next Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Southland Conference tournament. It marks the fifth straight year that the Sugar Bears have qualified for the 8-team tournament, joining McNeese, Lamar and Stephen F. Austin as the only schools to make each of the last five Southland tournaments.
