CONWAY — A 32-4 first-half run was all Central Arkansas needed to pull away from Sam Houston State on Wednesday as the Sugar Bears rolled to a 69-44 win in the Farris Center for their 9th straight victory over the Bearkats.
The Sugar Bears (10-4, 3-0 Southland) fell behind 5-2 but quickly erased that deficit and held the Bearkats (3-8, 0-2) to just two baskets over a span of nearly 16 minutes in building a 37-15 halftime lead, then outscored the Kats 32-29 in the 2nd half to notch their second straight win by 25 or more over SHSU and extended their home winning streak to 15.
With the win, the Sugar Bears move to 3-0 in Southland play for the first time since 2013.
The Sugar Bears had a pair of players with double-doubles, led by freshman forward
Mekaylan Hicks who had season highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds for the first of her career, while senior center
Kierra Jordan had her third straight with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Senior forward
Taylor Baudoin narrowly missed making it three for the Sugar Bears, as she added 13 points and 9 rebounds.
Those three alone equaled the Bearkats' rebound total as the Sugar Bears held a 44-31 advantage on the boards, their sixth straight game to outrebound their opponent. The Sugar Bears also limited the Bearkats to 30 percent shooting (15 of 50) and improved on the nation's 2nd-ranked scoring defense by keeping their fifth straight opponent to 50 points or less.
The Sugar Bears also had a decided advantage at the free throw line with season highs in both makes and attempts, going 25 of 33 (75.8 percent) led by Hicks' 9 of 12, while SHSU made just 50 percent (11 of 22).
Central Arkansas' attention now turns to Southland Conference preseason favorite Lamar – which received 18 of a possible 24 first-place votes in the league's preseason poll – as the Lady Cardinals visit the Farris Center at 1:00pm Saturday.
NOTES
• The Sugar Bears extend their current winning streak to five games and their home winning streak to 15
• With the win the Sugar Bears are now 33-3 in their last 36 games at home
• The Sugar Bears improve to 13-4 all-time against the Bearkats, including a 9-0 mark in Conway
• The win was the Sugar Bears' 7th by 20 or more points this season
• By holding the Bearkats to 9 points in the 1st quarter and 6 in the 2nd, the Sugar Bears have now held opponents to single digits in a quarter 22 times this season
QUOTES
Head Coach Sandra Rushing
"I'm happy for the win but, I thought we played some selfish basketball offensively and defensively – and when I say selfishly, I mean trying to make things happen that were't there. We have to let the game come to us. A win is a win, but we have a lot of work to do – Saturday is going to be a very challenging basketball game."
"A double-double as a freshman - not bad is it? I thought Mekaylan had a great game, thought she was a spark plug. Maddie Goodner came in, she didn't shoot the ball very well but she did some things really well defensively for us."
"Lamar has so many weapons, they can score and really get to the rim. We're going to have to do a better defensive job Saturday. Hopefully we'll meet the challenge. I think we have the tools, but we have to go put it all together. The players they definitely know how important the game is on Saturday."
