CONWAY — Abilene Christian came into Saturday's clash of last season's Southland Conference co-champions as the league's 2nd-highest scoring team – averaging 76.1 points per game and outscoring their opponents by 10.5 points per game.

And then they ran into the Sugar Bears.

Central Arkansas (14-5, 7-1 Southland) held the Wildcats 31 points below their season average, and seniors Taylor Baudoin and Kierra Jordan combined to outscore ACU on their own as the Sugar Bears bounced back from Wednesday's loss with a 63-45 victory over the Wildcats behind 47 points from Baudoin and Jordan.

The Wildcats (12-6, 6-2) had no answer for the Sugar Bear tandem, as the two combined to shoot 21 of 31 from the field (67.7 percent) and equaled the Wildcats' rebound total with 22. Jordan had her 7th double-double of the season – and 6th in 8 conference games – with a season-high 23 points and 16 rebounds, also adding 3 assists and a pair of steals in 35 minutes. Baudoin led all scorers with a career-high 24 points and 6 rebounds while also recording a pair of assists and a steal with just one turnover in 36 minutes.

While the Sugar Bears were having their way inside on the offensive end, scoring 48 points in the paint, on the other end they were able to keep the ACU perimeter attack in check – limiting ACU to 3-of-13 shooting from 3-point range (23.1 percent), well below their season average of 9.6 made per game.

After a back-and-forth first quarter that ended with the Sugar Bears ahead 16-15, UCA had a 14-9 edge in the second to take a 30-24 lead at the half. The Sugar Bears continued to distance themselves from the Wildcats in the third, building a lead as large as 14 before six straight from ACU cut the UCA lead to eight with 1:28 to go in the period.

The Sugar Bears would push it back to double digits at the buzzer on a 3-point play from Angel Williams, and went on to shoot 70 percent in the 4th quarter – with Baudoin scoring 13 on 5-of-5 shooting and hitting 3-of-4 from the free throw line – as they built a 20-point lead in the final minutes.

The 18-point defeat was the largest margin in a Southland Conference loss for the Wildcats since the final game of the 2015 conference season, and gives ACU its first Southland losing streak since they suffered back-to-back losses to Lamar on Jan. 31 and Feb. 5, 2015.

The Sugar Bears outscored the Wildcats 19-5 in points off turnovers and 16-4 in second-chance points, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds to just 7 for ACU.

Kamry Orr added 5 points and a team-high 5 assists for the Sugar Bears, while Maddie Goodner led the team with 3 steals, also dishing out a pair of assists.

The Sugar Bears will look to reclaim a share of first place in the Southland standings on Wednesday when they travel to league-leading Stephen F. Austin, who sits at 6-0.

NOTES
• The Sugar Bears improve to 4-2 against the Wildcats and have won the last two meetings, both in Conway. The teams will meet again in Abilene on Feb. 24
• In giving up just 45 points on Saturday, the Sugar Bears have held 9 of their last 10 opponents to 50 or less, with New Orleans' 52 on Wednesday the lone exception
• The Sugar Bears have allowed just 45.2 points per game during that span
• With Baudoin's 24 and Jordan's 23, Saturday marked the first time two Sugar Bears had scored more than 20 in a game since Jordan and Maggie Proffitt at Houston Baptist last season
• Jordan finishes the week with a pair of double-doubles, and averaged 18 points and 15 rebounds over the two games. Baudoin averaged 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds


QUOTES
Head Coach Sandra Rushing
"I'm happy with this win, we beat a good Abilene Christian team. We got this one behind us, I'm proud of the way we responded after the other night, and now we've got a big road trip ahead of us. We've got to take care of business, we have to stay together and play hard."

"What I'm really happy with, is we did a better job of getting the ball inside tonight. Look at our percentage, and we scored more points. We've got shooters, and we can shoot outside – but let's get it inside. Then they're double and triple teaming, and we can get it out and then we're not forcing shots. We've got to work on our shot clock – have to work on that. I don't know what to do, but we're going to work on it. I thought we shared the basketball and moved the basketball. If you don't have a layup, you need to make three or four passes to make defense work."

"I thought we had hustle plays that we didn't have against New Orleans – I'm really proud to see how they came out and responded. I thought we were able to get more rotation with our bench, thought they played well."

"Angel has done a tremendous job all year. Her coming off the bench today really sparked us, and we've been looking for that spark. That spark really helped us today. I thought Taylor Sells was more aggressive, and she did attack. Kamry came out early and really attacked, and then got frustrated  –but we got her back mentally."