CONWAY — Late in the first quarter of Monday night's game, senior forward Kendara Watts hit a jumper to put Central Arkansas ahead of Lamar.

And for the next 32:49, that's where they stayed.

Central Arkansas outscored Lamar 44-25 in the second half en route to their highest offensive output in Southland Conference play since February 2014 as the Sugar Bears rolled to a 74-49 victory over the Cardinals for their third straight victory. The 25-point loss was the most lopsided for the Cardinals in league play since a 77-48 defeat to Oral Roberts on Jan. 24, 2013 – a span of 57 conference games.

"I'm very pleased with how hard we played," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "I'm starting to see the offense come together and more scoring, and that's something that's been my concern all year long. I thought team-wise defensively we did an outstanding job. We beat a good basketball team tonight and I'm really excited for the win – but we don't have much time to enjoy this one. We'll turn right around tonight and start on Houston Baptist."

The Sugar Bears (13-2, 3-1 Southland) took a 30-24 halftime lead and ran with it in the second half, dominating the Cardinals (6-9, 2-2) as they shot 57.7 percent from the field in the half while holding Lamar to just 27.3 percent in the half and a paltry 26.2 percent for the game. The Cardinals had no answer for the nation's No. 2 scoring defense as they were held to 22 points beneath their scoring average in conference play, and were held to their second-lowest point total of the season – better only than their effort in a 90-45 loss to Oklahoma State in the season opener.

Meanwhile, the Sugar Bears shot 75 percent on two-point field goals in the second half (12 of 18) and were above 78 percent from the free throw line for the third consecutive game, finishing 18 of 23 (78.3 percent). Central Arkansas also went 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range, led by Maggie Proffitts 5 of 11 en route to a game-high 26 points. Coming off a 28-point showing at Stephen F. Austin last Thursday, it marks the second time in her UCA career that Proffitt has put together consecutive 20-point games, and the 54 is her highest two-game total. In hitting the five 3-pointers, she raises her career total to 160 – good for fourth in program history and leaves her six behind Micah Rice for the school's Division I record. Proffitt tied a career high with four assists, and helped hold Lamar's Jameisha Edwards – who came into the game as the team's leading scorer at 16 points per game – to just four points on 1-for-7 shooting.
 

"Maggie had another great game for us," Rushing said. "She's attacking the basket more and that's good to see. And she had a good night defensively as well. We wanted her to guard (Edwards), we felt like she could a good job, and we kept her well below her average and that was a big help for us."

The Sugar Bears also got big performances from junior center Raquel Logan and sophomore forward Taylor Baudoin, who combined for 15 points, 27 rebounds and 7 blocks. Logan tied a career high with 14 rebounds, getting six points and a career-high four blocks. Baudoin narrowly missed a double-double, getting 9 points with her career-high 13 rebounds (including seven on the offensive end), plus 3 blocks and a pair of assists. Sandy Jackson contributed across the board, getting 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in 26 minutes. Seniors Jameka Watkins and Watts also added 9 points apiece, a season high for Watkins, who also added 5 assists.

"Sandy Jackson really settled us down when early on we were taking some quick shots and were headed into getting into a fast-paced game," Rushing said. "She did a really good job, especially in the second half. Raquel Logan did a great job of getting her hands on the basketball. And Taylor B came in and did a really, really great job for us. We've been waiting for (Watkins) to have a breakout game, and she did that tonight and did a good job of handling the ball and playing defense. We're going to have to have that balance. We can't rely just on Maggie and Brianna Mullins. And we had a lot of people step up tonight."

With the win, the Sugar Bears have won three games in a span of seven days, all over teams picked among the top five in the Southland preseason polls. Lamar was picked first in both the coaches and sports information director polls, while Stephen F. Austin was picked second by the SIDs and third by the coaches, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi fifth in both.

The Sugar Bears will shoot for their fourth straight win on Wednesday when Houston Baptist visits the Farris Center in UCA's final home game until Feb. 3