NACOGDOCHES, Texas — It took just over six minutes for Central Arkansas to get on the scoreboard on Wednesday, and by that point the Sugar Bears had already dug themselves a 17-point deficit that they would never recover from as they fell 102-41 to the Ladyjacks in Nacogdoches.
"We got our tail whipped," said Central Arkansas head coach
Sandra Rushing. "We didn't show up, and this is unacceptable. I'm not saying it's going to be fixed by Saturday, because it's not, but I can promise you it will be fixed. Stephen F. Austin, they're legit. They execute, and they play together. We're not playing together. We have people arguing out on the court, and when adversity hits that's what we have happening. I left somebody on the defensive end of the floor – we played four on offense against their five, and we still couldn't stop them in transition. That's just unacceptable. We need to go back and evaluate, recommit, check our hearts, and see if we want to put on the Sugar Bear uniform. I do apologize for this mess. It's embarassing. They scored 100 points on us – we've got really great defense, right?"
The Sugar Bears (7-9, 3-4 Southland) came into the game leading the Southland and ranking 12th nationally in scoring defense, but left with a new program record for most points allowed in a Southland game, eclipsing the 98 given up to former Southland member UT Arlington in 2009.
The Ladyjacks (12-3, 5-1) won their 12th consecutive Southland home game with ease, sprinting out to a 28-6 lead after the first quarter before building a 52-20 lead at halftime. The 'Jacks would then put up 29 points in the 3rd quarter, and outscored the Sugar Bears 21-11 in the 4th en route to their sixth straight victory over the Sugar Bears.
"I take full responsibility for this," Rushing said. "I'm the only one who can fix it. I look up, we make a basket and we're what – 85 down? – and we want to celebrate and jog back down, and they're laying it up on the other end. Where's the pride? You're not only representing this program and our university, but you're representing your family. And if that kind of effort is approved, then that's wrong. I know that my dad, if he was alive, would say "what are you doing?" and tell me the truth. We can make excuses all day long – but you have to show up and at least compete. At least compete. And if you're not going to compete, you're not putting that uniform on. Bottom line. Period. We're going to have open tryouts next week – because we can go out in the student body and get kids who can give up a hundred points and score as many as we did tonight."
The 'Jacks knocked down a program-record 14 3-pointers and finished the night 35-for-64 overall (54.7 percent) while holding the Sugar Bears to 18-of-53 (34 percent) from the field and 0-for-8 from 3-point range. The 'Jacks were 18-of-31 from the free throw line, while the Sugar Bears were just 5 for 8. SFA scored 36 points off of 20 Sugar Bears turnovers, while committing just 8 turnovers of their own. SFA also had its way on the boards, out rebounding the Sugar Bears 42-32 – the first time the Sugar Bears had come up short on the glass in 9 games.
Terri Crawford had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 5 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench to lead the Sugar Bears, while
Alana Canady pitched in with 11 points on 5-for-10 shooting to reach double figures for the 5th straight game.
Carley Hudspeth added 6 points,
Briana Trigg and
Savanna Walker each had 4, and
Taylor Sells added 3 points and 4 rebounds in just 15 minutes. SFA had six players score in double figures, led by 14 each from Riley Harvey, Zya Nugent and Stephanie Visscher.
The Sugar Bears finish their road trip on Saturday at Nicholls, tipping at 1:00pm as the first half of a doubleheader with the Bears & Colonels to follow.
