LORMAN, Miss. — Getting a major offensive spark from reserve forward
Taylor Strickland Central Arkansas outscored Alcorn State 46-29 in the second and fourth quarters combined en route to a 71-57 road victory on Thursday.
Strickland came in off the bench to score 12 of her game-high 22 points in the second quarter as the Sugar Bears (2-1) outscored the Lady Braves (0-3) 26-15 to build a 43-31 halftime lead. After Alcorn State had cut the Central Arkansas lead to as little as six early in the fourth quarter, the Sugar Bears once again turned to Strickland as she scored 8 of UCA's next 11 points in an 11-0 run to put the game away.
"I'm really proud of how we played tonight," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "Any time you can get a win on the road is great. I thought we fought and played hard. I'm really proud of Strick – she came in and really sparked us. She did a great job on the boards, getting down the floor and shooting the basketball. I'm really proud of the team – I thought
Raquel Logan played hard, we got good play from
Bhrea Griffin and
Taylor Sells,
Angel Williams gave us some good minutes, and on down the list."
The Sugar Bears scored the double-digit victory despite the Lady Braves making 10 of 22 from 3-point range (45.5 percent), knocking down 50 percent themselves (4 of 8) from long distance and 48.3 percent overall (29 of 60).
Maggie Proffitt had 18 points for the Sugar Bears and
Taylor Baudoin added 12. Logan had 8 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 6 assists, while
Brianna Mullins had 8 points, 4 rebounds and a game-high 8 assists.
On her final basket of the game, Mullins scored her 1,000th career point, making her the 26th Sugar Bear – 7th of the program's Division I era – to reach the milestone.
"I'd like to congratulate Bri on 1,000 points – it's well deserved," Rushing said. "She scores, but you also look at her assists, she's close to a school record there (18 shy of the program's D-I record), it tells you she's getting everybody involved. She's very unselfish and just wants to win."
The Sugar Bears return to Conway for their next four games, hosting Williams Baptist on Tuesday before a rematch with Alcorn State in the Farris Center as part of a doubleheader on Nov. 29 with the Central Arkansas and Little Rock men to follow. The home stretch concludes with Crowley's Ridge and Central Baptist on Dec. 2 and 12 before a trip to Texas Tech on Dec. 14.
