CONWAY — Nearly a minute into the second quarter on Saturday, Central Arkansas freshman Alana Canady took a jumper that was off the mark.
It was the Sugar Bears' first miss.
And by then, the game was already all but decided.
Central Arkansas was perfect from the field in a first quarter in which they built a 28-10 lead, held Southeastern Louisiana to just four second-quarter points to go up 45-14 at halftime, and continued to pull away in the second half as the Sugar Bears routed the Lady Lions 75-33 in front of 1,825 fans in the Farris Center on Saturday.
The 42-point win is the second-largest margin of victory ever for the Sugar Bears in a Southland Conference game, and the 33 points is the second-lowest point total they've allowed to a Southland team in their 13 seasons in the league.
"I'm really proud of this team and how hard they worked," Central Arkansas head coach Sandra Rushing said. "I thought we started extremely well, and we had great leadership on the floor. I was very pleased with our defensive effort – it was a very solid effort for us defensively. Kamry Orr did a great job of getting us in our offense and knowing when to attack and when not to attack. She did a great job leading the team today. She set the tone for us. And I thought Antonija came in and did a tremendous job. AC got going a little bit, and Alanie has been consistent for us. I thought we did a great job of taking care of the basketball. Just really proud of this team. And I appreciate our fans, the crowd was great. It's exciting to play in front of a good crowd."
Less than 30 seconds into the game, the Sugar Bears (9-12, 4-7 Southland) took the lead on a Maddie Goodner 3-pointer, and they would hold it the rest of the way. They would go on to shoot 9-for-9 from the field in the opening period as they amassed an 18-point lead. In the second quarter, they held the Lady Lions (8-13, 4-6) to just 2-of-16 shooting (12.5 percent) from the field and to zero free-throw attempts, outscoring Southeastern 17-4 for a 31-point halftime lead.
It was more of the same in the second half as Southeastern shot 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) and the Sugar Bears continued the onslaught, outscoring the Lady Lions 30-19 in the final two quarters for the most lopsided win in 25 games between the programs.
Orr once again paced the Sugar Bears offensively with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 at the free throw line. It was her 6th 20-point game in the Sugar Bears' last 8, bringing her average to 20.3 during that span.
Canady had 13 points for the second straight game, also grabbing 6 rebounds after going for 13 and 8 in last Saturday's win over Northwestern State. Antonija Bozic had 11 points, including going 3-for-5 from 3-point range, and added a season-high 3 assists. Alanie Fisher had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists; Hannah Langhi added 8 points, 6 rebounds and a blocked shot; and Maddie Goodner logged 40 minutes for the first time in her career, getting 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and tying Fisher with a team-high 3 steals.
The Sugar Bears committed just 9 turnovers, their second-lowest total of the season, and forced 23 – outscoring the Lady Lions 31-2 off turnovers.
The lopsided victory came without the services of junior guard Taylor Sells – whose 16 starts and 28.9 minutes per game are both second-highest on the team – due to a foot injury suffered in last weekend's win over Northwestern State.
After winning the last two games of their three-game homestead, the Sugar Bears now head back on the road for three of their next four, beginning with Houston Baptist on Wednesday.
"We're going to enjoy this one tonight, but we've got a big challenge coming on Wednesday. Houston Baptist is big, size wise. We've got to keep getting better."
