CONWAY — Central Arkansas held Nicholls to four 4th-quarter points and retook control of the game in the final minutes as the Sugar Bears escaped with a 56-51 win in the Farris Center to earn their 25th win of the season – the program's Division I record and most in a regular season in program history.
The Sugar Bears (25-3, 15-2) eclipsed the win total of the 2011-12 team that finished the regular season 24-5, and in doing so also set a new program high with 15 Southland wins with one game left to play on Saturday.
After going up by as many as 12 in the second quarter, the Sugar Bears went cold and Nicholls (9-18, 7-10) ended the half with an 18-5 run to take a one-point lead into the locker room. That margin would hold after three quarters as each team posted 13 in the third, sending them to the fourth quarter with the Colonels holding a 47-46 lead.
It would take more than five minutes into the fourth quarter for either team to notch a score, and it was the Sugar Bears who struck first on a layup by
Brianna Mullins to go up 48-47 with 4:51 left. After a pair of Nicholls free throws a minute later, the Sugar Bears regained the lead for good on another jumper from Mullins with 3:19 to play. The lead reached five after consecutive Colonels turnovers led to a pair of Sugar Bear layups, with
Taylor Baudoin's giving Central Arkansas a 54-49 advantage with 2:11 to play.
Nicholls' Hope Pawlowski got a score with 1:53 to go, but Nicholls was unable to draw any closer down the stretch. Down three with 25 seconds left, Pawlowski got a steal on a Sugar Bear inbounds pass, but LiAnn McCarthy misfired on an attempt to tie with 13 seconds left, then Marina Lilly grabbed the offensive rebound but could not convert on the putback. The Sugar Bears threw it deep on the ensuing inbound, hitting
Kendara Watts behind the defense for a layup with two seconds remaining to seal the win.
Mullins led the Sugar Bears with 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting, and added 5 assists and 3 steals. Watts had 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Baudoin added 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.
Jameka Watkins had 7 points, a team-high 6 assists and 4 rebounds.
Maggie Proffitt hit a pair of 3-pointers en route to 9 points, giving her 190 3s for her career and moving her into second place on the Central Arkansas career list ahead of Traci Graham, trailing only UCA Sports Hall of Famer Carone Harris, who had 271 in 132 career games. Proffitt has played 89 games in her career, hitting 36.3 percent of her long-range shots, the highest percentage among the Sugar Bears' top five in career makes.
Lilly had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Nicholls, with Tia Charles adding 11 points, and both McCarthy and Pawlowski getting 10.
The Sugar Bears wrap up their regular season at 2:00pm on Saturday with McNeese State in the Farris Center as the first part of a doubleheader with the Bears and Cowboys. They will then travel to Katy, Texas for the Southland Conference Tournament, where they have already locked up the top seed and will play in the semifinals Saturday, March 12 at 1:00pm
