BEAUMONT, Texas — In a battle of the Southland Conference's top defense and top offense, Central Arkansas held the prolific Lamar offense 23.3 points below its season scoring average on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Sugar Bears, they could not muster up enough offense of their own in the second half and fell victim to the Cardinals' defense, committing 29 turnovers en route to a 57-37 loss in Beaumont.
"I'm really proud of the ones who were in there," said Central Arkansas head coach Sandra Rushing. "We had them where we wanted them, then we got out of sync, got tired, got out of our pack line a little bit that had worked well in the first half. We wanted to control the tempo – they did in the second half, we did in the first half which is why we were tied. Then they punched us in the face again, and we just can't get over the hump."
The Sugar Bears (5-9, 0-4 Southland) led the Cardinals (11-4, 4-0) 16-10 after the first quarter but were held to just four second-quarter points as they went into the locker room tied 20-20 at the half.
With the game still tied midway through the third quarter, Lamar made its move – scoring 12 unanswered over a 3:52 span and holding the Sugar Bears to just three points over the final 6:19 of the period to take a 41-30 lead into the fourth.
In the final quarter, the Cardinals held the Sugar Bears to just 7 points to close out the game with a 37-17 advantage over the final 20 minutes.
The Sugar Bears' achilles heel was turnovers, as they committed a total of 29 – including 12 in the second quarter – against a Lamar defense that leads the nation in steals and turnover margin, coming in averaging 16.4 steals and 25.9 turnovers forced per game. Many of the Sugar Bears turnovers were self-inflicted – with several traveling violations – as Lamar came away with only 11 steals, tied for their second-lowest total of the season ahead of only 10 against Texas A&M.
The Sugar Bears got 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals an assists and a block in 36 minutes from senior guard Kamry Orr – who also committed a game-high 10 turnovers. Junior guard Taylor Sells had 7 points and 7 rebounds, but also 6 turnovers. Sophomore forward Mekaylan Hicks grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds in 40 minutes, and senior guard Antonija Bozic had 5 points, 2 assists and 0 turnovers in 26 minutes.
"I thought MK battled," Rushing said. "She was out there the entire game and fought. Really proud of her. Kamry battled, but she got a little tired. She's absolutely exhausted. And I thought Carley Hudspeth did an outstanding job. She didn't play much (13 minutes) but one thing I'm 100 percent sure of is she is going to give me her very best every practice and every game."
For Lamar, Chastadie Barrs – the national steals leader – recorded her second straight triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists while also adding 6 steals after missing a quadruple-double against New Orleans on Wednesday with 17 points, 10 rebounds, 12 steals and 9 assists.Moe Kinard had 18 points, and Miya Crump added 11.
The loss puts the Sugar Bears at 0-4 in Southland play since 2007-08 when they started 0-5. They will look to snap the skid at home next week as they host Incarnate Word on Wednesday and Nicholls on Saturday.
"I realize it's not working right now, but we're going to get there," Rushing said. "I'm cutting down our rotation now – it's been like Goodwill, everybody gets an opportunity to play. Not anymore. Now you're going to have to go get that spot or you're not getting on the floor. If we're going to come up short, we're going to do it with ones who have heart, have pride and care about this program. That's what you're looking for – you want to see players who are going to battle, you've got to get in there and fight, scratch and grind this thing out – and eventually we're going to win the war."
