NEW ORLEANS — A game after holding McNeese to 22 points below its season scoring average on Wednesday, Central Arkansas followed up by keeping New Orleans to 19 points below its average and held the Southland's leading scorer to her season low total as the Sugar Bears held off the Privateers for a 55-51 win at Lakefront Arena on Saturday.
The Sugar Bears (13-4, 5-2 Southland) won their fourth straight game by holding the Privateers (9-8, 4-3) to just 35.2 percent shooting from the field and 14.3 percent from beyond the arc, and on the offensive end made 21 free throws – their second-highest total of the season.
UNO's Randi Brown, who came in as the league's leading scorer at 21.7 points per game, was held to 12 points on Saturday – equaling her lowest outing of the season. She was held to just 4 of 16 shooting and was only 1 of 8 from 3-point range. Brown came in averaging more than three 3-pointers per game.
Kierra Jordan had her first double-double as a Sugar Bear, leading all players with both 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Brianna Mullins had a season-high 18 points while also pulling down 7 rebounds and getting 3 steals.
Maggie Proffitt had 5 points and 6 rebounds, while
Taylor Sells added 4 points and 3 rebounds in 25 minutes while drawing much of the defensive responsibility on Brown.
After struggling early on, the Sugar Bears closed the first half with a 9-0 run and outscored the Privateers 15-4 over the last 8 minutes of the 2nd quarter, holding UNO scoreless for the last 5:56 to take a 28-23 halftime lead. The UNO drought would extend to nine minutes, with the Privateers finally getting on the board 3:15 into the 3rd quarter after the Sugar Bears had opened up their biggest lead of the game at 32-23.
The Privateers would go on an 11-4 run and trim their deficit to as little as one at 35-34, but the Sugar Bears outscored UNO 7-2 over the final 1:38 of the third – including a steal and two free throws from Sells with a second left to give Central Arkansas a 42-36 lead going into the final quarter.
In the final period, the Sugar Bears were 7 of 10 at the free throw line and held UNO to 4 of 13 (30.8 percent) shooting to hang on to their lead. With 20 seconds remaining, an errant 3-point attempt from Brown that hit behind the backboard was ruled to have been deflected by Sells after a replay review and officials' conference. With the ball back to the Privateers, Brown attempted another 3-pointer with 15 seconds left, and got Jordan in the air to draw the shooting foul. Brown made two out of the three, cutting the Sugar Bear lead to two at 53-51.
The Privateers sent Mullins to the line with 11 seconds left, and the senior knocked down her sixth and seventh free throws of the game to make it a two-score game. UNO's Hallie Matthews misfired on a 3-pointer and Jordan corralled it with five seconds left and the Sugar Bears ran out the clock for their fourth straight win.
With the win, the Sugar Bears improve to 6-0 all time against the Privateers, and sit in a third-place tie in the Southland standings with Lamar and McNeese, trailing 5-1 Abilene Christian and 6-0 Stephen F. Austin. The undefeated Ladyjacks are up next for the Sugar Bears, as they travel to Nacogdoches on Wednesday as the first part of a UCA-SFA doubleheader.
