SAN ANTONIO — Central Arkansas held UIW without a field goal in the second quarter, kept the Cardinals to a season-low four offensive rebounds, and held them without a 3-point field goal for the first time this season as the Sugar Bears opened Southland Conference play with a 47-37 win in San Antonio on Wednesday.
"I'm really proud of this team," Sugar Bear head coach
Sandra Rushing said. "I thought we fought hard and this team found a way to win. Came on the road and found a way to win. That's important – that builds confidence. I thought our defense was really good overall and we disrupted what they wanted to do. We didn't want to give up 3-pointers, they shoot well at home and we did a good job of keeping them from that tonight. This team came ready to play. It wasn't our beset basketball, it was an ugly win, but I will absolutely take it."
The Sugar Bears (5-5, 1-0 Southland) were slow out of the gate as they scored just eight points in the first quarter, but rebounded nicely by holding the Cardinals (3-5, 0-1) to 0-for-10 shooting in the second quarter – outscoring UIW 17-4 in the period to build a 25-16 halftime lead. The Sugar Bears would hold UIW to just six field goals over the final three quarters, and the Cardinals would go 0-for-11 from 3-point range after averaging more than 6 per game coming in as UIW was held to its lowest point total of the season.
Two keys in the victory for Central Arkansas was the Sugar Bears' performance on the glass and at the free throw line. The Sugar Bears outrebounded UIW 42-25, including tying a season-high with 17 offensive rebounds, and have 57 more rebounds than their opponents over the last three games. Coming in as a 54 percent free throw-shooting team, the Sugar Bears had their second-best effort of the season on Wednesday – knocking down 14 of 18 (77.8 percent).
Hannah Langhi had 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block in 30 minutes for Central Arkansas, while
Taylor Sells added 12 points and 2 rebounds.
Terri Crawford and
Romola Dominguez each had 7 rebounds while scoring 6 and 4 points, respectively, while
Briana Trigg tallied 6 boards.
Alana Canady added 7 points, 4 rebounds, an assists and a steal, and
Ayanna Trigg had 4 points and 4 rebounds.
The Sugar Bears, who have won three in a row and four of their last five, will look to keep the streak intact on Saturday as they head to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
"We need to enjoy this one tonight, but tomorrow we have to get back to work and get ready for a very talented Texas A&M-Corpus Christi team on Saturday," Rushing said. "They're one of the more talented teams in our league and Coach [Royce] Chadwick does a great job with them, and we know they're going to be a tremendous challenge."
