THIBODAUX, La. — Central Arkansas put together its highest-scoring half of the conference season on Saturday, outscoring Nicholls 46-36 in the second half to overcome a four-point halftime deficit and defeat the Colonels 71-65 at Stopher Gym for their sixth straight victory.
With the win, the Sugar Bears (16-2, 6-1 Southland) get their first victory over the Colonels (6-11, 4-3) since 2013, ending their skid against Nicholls at four games, and assured them of a winning season – the program's seventh straight year to finish .500 or better.
Junior guard
Maggie Proffitt scored 13 of the Sugar Bears' 24 third-quarter points as Central Arkansas wrestled control of the game away from Nicholls. Proffitt, who finished with a team-high 18 points, knocked down three 3-pointers in the quarter and finished the game 3-of-6 to give her 167 for her career, supplanting Micah Rice for the program's Division I career record. It took just 79 career games for Proffitt to eclipse Rice, who made 166 in 132 games from 2009-14. Proffitt now ranks third overall in Sugar Bear history, trailing Carone Harris and Traci Graham, who had 271 and 189, respectively, from 2000-05 during the team's Division II era.
Proffitt, who also had four rebounds and two steals, led four Sugar Bears in double figures, with
Taylor Baudoin scoring a season-high 14 and getting a season-high three assists,
Brianna Mullins adding 14 points, six rebounds and three assists, and
Kendara Watts getting 10.
The Sugar Bears led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter after a Baudoin 3, but the Colonels held UCA to just one more basket over the next 3:28 as they got as close as three. But once again the Sugar Bears, who came in shooting 82.4 percent from the free throw line in Southland play, closed out the game at the line – making seven of eight over the final 44 seconds to build the lead back to nine before a Tia Charles 3 in the final seconds set the final score.
For the game the Sugar Bears were 17 of 19 (89.5 percent) at the line, and shot 44.2 percent from the field – including a 64.3 percent effort in the third quarter. They were 8 of 14 from 3-point range, with Proffitt hitting three, Baudoin two and Mullins,
Jameka Watkins and
Olivia McWilliams each hitting one.
Nicholls got 26 points from LiAnn McCarthy and 20 from Cassidy Barrios in the loss.
The Sugar Bears will look to complete the sweep of their three-game road swing on Wednesday when they travel to Northwestern State before returning to Conway for a three-game homestand beginning Feb. 3 against Southeastern Louisiana.
