CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Central Arkansas held Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to just 29 points over the final three quarters, recovering from a 12-5 deficit after the first to score a 49-41 Southland Conference road win at the American Bank Center on Saturday.
It was the lowest point total the Sugar Bears have allowed to a Southland opponent since defeating New Orleans 62-30 on Feb. 8, 2014 – a span of 52 games.
The Sugar Bears (11-4, 3-2 Southland) scored just twice in the opening quarter – going scoreless for more than five minutes before a
Taylor Baudoin basket, then getting a 3-pointer from
Maddie Goodner with 3:31 in what would prove to be their final score of the quarter.
After the slow start, things picked up in the second quarter for the Sugar Bears as they shot 7 of 15 while holding the Islanders (6-11, 2-4) to 2-12 en route to a 15-5 scoring advantage – taking the lead for the first time on a 3-point play from Baudoin with under a minute left.
Having scored the last five points of the second quarter to build a 20-17 halftime lead, the Sugar Bears extended the run to 17-3 over the first 3:09 of the third quarter – making their first five shots – to extend the lead to 12.
The Sugar Bears hit their biggest lead of the day midway through the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer from
Olivia McWilliams to make it 47-33 with 5:55 left, but UCA would get just one more basket down the stretch as the Islanders finished by outscoring the Sugar Bears 8-2 to whittle the final margin down to eight.
The 41 points was 18 below the Islanders' season average and was their second lowest point total of the season. It also dropped the Sugar Bears' scoring defense – which was 6th in the nation and tops in the Southland coming into Saturday – to 52.4 points per game.
Baudoin finished with team highs of 16 points and 8 rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench to lead the Sugar Bears, while
Maggie Proffitt added 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. McWilliams, making her second consecutive start, added 7 points after scoring 11 in Wednesday's win at Houston Baptist, and added 3 rebounds and a pair of assists.
Raquel Logan added 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals to go with her 4 points.
The win was the 100th in Southland Conference play for the Sugar Bears, in their 11th season in the league. Since the 2010 conference season, UCA is 85-40 in Southland play and has 155 wins overall during that time, most among Southland programs.
After playing three straight on the road, the Sugar Bears return to action in the Farris Center on Wednesday when they host McNeese at 7:00pm before hitting the road for two more at New Orleans and Stephen F. Austin.
