NATCHITOCHES, La. — Coming into Wednesday night's game, Northwestern State was undefeated at home, having gone 9-0 this season at Prather Coliseum.

Then the nation's No. 1 scoring defense came to town.

Central Arkansas dealt NSU its first home loss of the year and did so in historical fashion as the Sugar Bears rolled to a 74-49 win in Natchitoches, tying the Sugar Bears' program record for largest margin of victory in a Southland Conference road win and dealing the Lady Demons their worst home loss in 47 games

In doing so, the Sugar Bears – allowing a nation's-best 48.1 points per game – gave up just 49 points to the Lady Demons, 22 points below their average at home this season.

"I'm really proud of this team," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "The whole team did a great job defensively, we hit some shots, and I was very pleased with the bench – the bench helped tremendously tonight. I've said all along, I really enjoy this team. They play hard, they want to win and they compete. I can't tell you how proud I am. I felt like we could win, but didn't realize it would be that big a difference. Now we've got to keep building on this."

The win gives the Sugar Bears (17-2, 7-1 Southland) 17 wins before February for the first time in the program's Division I history, just the third time in overall program history and the first time since 2003.

Midway through the second quarter, NSU (11-9, 5-4) had cut the Sugar Bear lead to just two at 27-25, but the Sugar Bears scored the last six points of the half and never looked back as they outscored the Lady Demons 47-24 the rest of the way to win their 7th straight Southland game and 7th straight on the road. The Sugar Bears are now 9-1 away from the Farris Center this season, with the lone loss coming at Tennessee.

"It was funny, before the game I told our players that Northwestern State is undefeated here at home," Rushing said. "They looked at me and said 'well we're undefeated on the road since Tennessee.' You can tell they're focused. We beat a very good basketball team tonight."

The Sugar Bears came out of the gate hot, shooting 61.5 percent from the field and hitting all three 3-point attempts en route to 21 first-quarter points. After taking a 33-25 halftime lead, Central Arkansas put the game away in the third quarter – shooting a blistering 71.4 percent from the field (10 of 14) as they outscored the Lady Demons 26-11 in the period, holding the Lady Demons to just 30 percent. For the game, the Sugar Bears shot 56.6 percent – their best percentage of the year.

In the fourth, the Sugar Bears pulled away – eventually leading by as many as 28 midway through the quarter before coasting to the 25-point victory. The win ended a three-game losing skid in Natchitoches for the Sugar Bears, who had not won in Prather since 2012. With the win, the Sugar Bears have equaled last season's win total with 10 games remaining in the regular season. 

Taylor Baudoin had 12 points and 12 rebounds in 29 minutes for the Sugar Bears, notching her third double-double of the season. Maggie Proffitt led UCA with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Kendara Watts added 12 on 5-of-8 shooting. Jameka Watkins had 8 points and tied a career high with 8 assists, and helped limit NSU's Janelle Perez to 3-of-8 shooting and without an assist for just the second time this season. Brianna Mullins and Olivia McWilliams also had 8 points apiece, with McWilliams shooting 4-for-4 and Mullins going 3-for-5 including hitting 2 of 3 from 3-point range. Taylor Strickland added 6 points and 3 rebounds in 9 minutes.

Beatrice Attura had 17 points to lead NSU, with Perez getting 12. Attura had a game-high six turnovers as NSU had 17 compared to just 11 for the Sugar Bears, who scored 23 points off those NSU miscues.

The Sugar Bears return home for their next three, beginning next Wednesday against Southeastern Louisiana, followed by New Orleans on Feb. 6 and Northwestern State making its return trip on Feb. 10.