CONWAY — Williams Baptist knocked down four of five 3-point attempts en route to 14 points in the first quarter on Monday – then the Central Arkansas defense took over, limiting the Lady Eagles to 17 points on 24 percent shooting over the final three quarters as the Sugar Bears rolled to a 77-31 victory in the Farris Center.
The Sugar Bears (4-2) were clicking from the outset offensively, posting 25 first-quarter points on 10-15 shooting (66.7 percent), and were 55.8 percent through three quarters before going just 5 of 17 (29.4 percent) in the fourth.
Despite their early offensive surge, the Lady Eagles (4-4) were unable to keep pace and quickly found themselves looking at a deep deficit as the Sugar Bears built a 45-22 halftime lead and kept WBC without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as the lead grew to 65-29 entering the fourth quarter.
Though the Sugar Bears shot just 29.4 percent in the final quarter, they were able to continue extending their lead as they held the Lady Eagles to just a single field goal on 12.5 percent shooting to outscore WBC 12-2 over the final 10 minutes.
All 11 Sugar Bears saw at least six minutes of action and got in the scoring column, led by 17 from senior forward Taylor Baudoin. Sophomore guard Taylor Sells added 12 and a career-high 7 rebounds, while senior center Kierra Jordan dished out a career-high 6 assists to go with 7 points and 8 rebounds in 17 minutes. Freshman center Hannah Langhi added 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 19 minutes off the bench.
The Sugar Bears dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Lady Eagles 45-20, with 21 offensive rebounds good for 22 second-chance points. The Sugar Bears totaled 14 steals in forcing 24 WBC turnovers, leading to 24 Central Arkansas points.
The Sugar Bears will host Central Baptist on Thursday in the final home game of the semester, then hit the road for their next five beginning with a trip to No. 21 Texas A&M on Saturday before eventually returning to the Farris Center on New Year's Eve for Southland Conference play, taking on Southeastern Louisiana.
NOTES
• The win is the 18th consecutive non-conference home win for the Sugar Bears
• The Sugar Bears' four wins this season have come by an average of 52.3 points per game
• The Sugar Bears have held an opponent to single digits in 11 of their 24 quarters thus far this season
QUOTES
Head Coach Sandra Rushing
"Our effort could be better – I'm not happy with that. Our timing was off, but it's a win. I saw a lot of good things tonight. We got to play a lot of people. Hannah (Langhi) was more aggressive, and we're seeing improvement, it's just going to take some time and a lot of work."
"I thought Taylor Sells can out again and had a great performance for us. And KJ did some good things. Let me tell you something about KJ – she's probably one of the best post passers I've ever coached. She sees it, knows where to deliver it. I'm not surprised at the assists, she can really deliver the basketball."
"Looking at the shooting percentage from our guards, we need to get in here and do a better job. We've got to put the ball in the basket. People are going to be doubling down on KJ and TB. I think there's some fatigue, we're better shooters than what our guards are doing right now."
"I want effort. They don't give me the effort I want all the time. For us to win a championship, we've got to keep it level and then be able to take it up a notch – not go down and take possessions off. I see a lot of things defensively we've got to work on."
"The thing I'm seeing from our younger kids is when they make a mistake, they know the mistake that they made, and that's great. It's repetition – the more playing time they get, the more understanding they'll have. These freshmen have to go up against KJ and TB every day in practice, and then get the opportunity to play, and they're going to keep getting better and better and better."
