KATY, Texas — The streak is dead. The dream is still alive.

After five straight losses in the Southland Conference Tournament dating back to 2011, top-seeded Central Arkansas brought an end to that streak and punched their ticket to the tournament championship game for the first time since '11 – defeating 4th-seeded McNeese State 72-64 for their first win in three tries against the Cowgirls in Katy.

With the win, they advance to Sunday's championship game against No. 7 Sam Houston State at 11:30, televised on CBS Sports Network.

"I'm very, very proud of this team and how hard they fought," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing, who gets her first postseason win in her four years at Central Arkansas. "These players refuse to lose. We're excited to have the opportunity now to play for a championship – that's something we've talked about all year long.

"We've got 40 more minutes."

The Sugar Bears (27-3) led by as many as 12 in the first half, but the Cowgirls (20-12) – who had trailed by as many as 19 in their quarterfinal game against Lamar before coming back to win by 10 – had another run in them as they outscored the Sugar Bears 15-4 from late in the second period to midway through the third to take a 44-40 lead. Despite starting the third quarter 1 of 9 from the field, the Sugar Bears answered the Cowgirls' attack, retaliating with a 10-0 run to take a 50-44 lead in the final minute of the quarter – a lead they would not relinquish.

In the fourth quarter, the Cowgirls cut the Sugar Bear lead to one at 55-54 with 5:02 left, but the Sugar Bears would score the next nine to put the game away. Sandy Jackson got the decisive run going with back-to-back layups for four of her team-high 18 points, her highest output of the season. With the Sugar Bears up five, 59-54, senior Kendara Watts knocked down a 3-pointer (one of just three on the day for Central Arkansas) to make it an eight-point Sugar Bear advantage with 2:45 to play. Neither team scored for the next two minutes, and Watts pushed the lead to 10 with under a minute to go.

Jalyn Johnson – who had a game-high 27 points – knocked down a pair of 3s 20 seconds apart for the Cowgirls, but Brianna Mullins and Maggie Proffitt were 4-for-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to eliminate any real threat of a McNeese rally in the final moments.

In all, the Sugar Bears were 23 of 28 at the line (82.1 percent), while McNeese was 10 of 15 (66.7).

"We shot 82 percent at the line and that was huge for us today," Rushing said. "But you look at the stats, and this is ugly – absolutely ugly. But then you look down and it's 72-64, and what's what I like. It's ugly, but it's an ugly win. But we can't do that tomorrow. If we want to win a championship, we have to do a better job on the offensive boards and on 3-pointers."

The Sugar Bears were outrebounded 38-34 overall, and the Cowgirls had 19 offensive rebounds – but were able to convert those into only 10 points. Meanwhile the Sugar Bears got 9 second-chance points off of 10 offensive rebounds, and held a 21-16 rebounding edge in the second half.

Jackson, who had 13 points in last week's 76-52 win over McNeese in the regular season finale, followed that with 18 on Saturday to lead the Sugar Bears, shooting 5-of-6 from the field and 8-of-8 at the free throw line. She also added 7 rebounds, tying her season high. 

Mullins, who scored 24 against the Cowgirls in the Sugar Bears' win in Lake Charles in February, had 16 on Saturday and led the team with 8 rebounds, also contributing 3 assists. Watts had 11 points and 5 rebounds, and Proffitt added 10 points. Senior guard Jameka Watkins led the Sugar Bears with 5 assists. Taylor Baudoin had 6 points, 5 rebounds and a team-high 3 blocks in 19 minutes, and Olivia McWilliams had 6 points.

The win marks not only the first for the Sugar Bears at the Southland Tournament since the 2011 semifinals, but also is the first time they have gotten past the Cowgirls in Katy – having previously lost to McNeese in the second round in 2014 and the championship game of the 2011 tournament to start the skid which included four straight one-and-done showings. 

"It's gone," Rushing said of the losing streak. "As a staff we talked about it, but it was not really a big conversation we had with the players. We just told them we didn't want to go home. We want to win this, and it's something we started talking about back in June. They've bought in. I love this team, and they've been a lot of fun. They don't give up. This time of year, you lose you go home, or you win and advance, no matter how it looks. This is a very special team, and this wasn't pretty – but an ugly win this time of year is great."