SAN ANTONIO _ For the sixth straight season, the University of Central Arkansas Sugar Bears will be heading to Katy, Texas for the Southland Conference Tournament.

    The Sugar Bears (20-3, 10-2) made sure of that Saturday with a convincing 76-57 road victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals at the McDermott Center. With six regular-season games remaining, second-place UCA is the first league team to assure itself a berth in the tournament. League-leader Abilene Christian is ineligible for the SLC Tournament.

    Coming off just their third loss of the season on Wednesday, the Sugar Bears fell behind 4-0 to start the game but answered that challenge quickly and decisively with a 12-0 run of their own and never trailed again. Three players _ Kendara Watts, Jameka Watkins, Maggie Proffitt _ all had eight points in the first half as UCA grabbed a 42-36 halftime lead. The Cardinals (6-17, 3-9) stayed as close as they did by hitting 5 of 8 from three-point range.
    
    The second half was all UCA as the Sugar Bears held the Cardinals to just 25 percent shooting (7 of 28) and 21 total points, just seven coming in the fourth quarter. UCA also dominated the boards, finishing with a decided 43-22 advantage in rebounding, with junior Raquel Logan pulling down a game-high 9.

    "I'm very happy, I'm pleased with the win,' said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "I'm proud of the players for responding to what happened the other night. One thing I was pleased with, we made some adjustments at halftime and the players made the adjustments. We went in there and then they were able to carry that onto the court.

    "I thought we had a little bit more leadership tonight with people talking. We're making some mistakes, but everybody does. I just liked our energy, our fight tonight. It really makes me smile, I'm happy.'

    UCA, which has now won 20 games for a league-high fourth time in the past seven seasons, opened the second half  with an 11-4 run that effectively put the game away. A short 6-0 burst by the Cardinals got them within nine points with 1:58  left in the third quarter but they would get no closer.

    Junior guard Brianna Mullins scored eight of UCA's first 10 points of the final period, including a pair of three-pointers, to give the Sugar Bears their biggest lead of the game at 19 points with 5:12 to play. The Cardinals would make just one more basket after that, a jumper from  Jordan Franks with 4:13 remaining.  

    Proffitt led five players in double figures with 15 points, followed by Watts with 14, Watkins and Taylor Baudoin with 12 each and Mullins with 10. The Sugar Bears shot 53.4 percent from the field and were a perfect 10 of 10 at the free-throw line. 

    UIW, which lost for the sixth time in its last seven games, got 15 points from Aricka Adams and 14 from Yvonne Maosa. UIW's second-leading scorer Brianna Williams was just 2 of 10 from the field and finished with nine points. 

    The Sugar Bears have now responded to their three losses this season with three solid victories in their next outings, by 10-, 11- and now 19-point margins of victory.

    "I'm just really happy how we bounced back from that loss the other night,' said Rushing, 'because we could have gone the other way. I said in the pregame, I know this team, they want to win, they are passionate about it, they are winners. I knew what they would do tonight.

    "I thought our bench came in an helped us. I think Angel (Williams) came in and did a tremedous job for us. She works so hard in practice. She came in and did a good job defensively and hit a big shot. Angel can shoot the basketball. I keep telling her to keep working hard. I'm just really, really proud of her.' 

    The Sugar Bears continue their three-game road trip at old rival McNeese State on Wednesday night and at Sam Houston State on Saturday before playing three of its final four games at home at the Farris Center.