THIBODAUX, La. — After seeing an eight-point lead erased and turned into a two-point deficit early in the 4th quarter, Central Arkansas regrouped and went on a 14-2 run over the next eight-plus minutes to keep Nicholls at bay and leave Thibodaux with a 53-46 win on Saturday.
The Sugar Bears (8-9, 4-4 Southland) got out to a strong start, holding Nicholls (4-13, 1-7) to 21.4 percent shooting in the first quarter while building a 14-6 lead. After going into halftime up 25-22, the Sugar Bears were outscored 16-14 in the third quarter as the Colonels trimmed their deficit to one entering the final quarter.
Nicholls regained the lead early in the fourth, getting a 3-pointer from Tykeria Williams to go ahead 41-39. But from that point, the Sugar Bears would hold the Colonels without a field goal for 9:30 while putting up 14 points to increase their lead to as many as 10 in the final 1:30 to secure the victory. In the quarter, Nicholls would go just 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from the field.
For the game, the Sugar Bears shot 46.8 percent from the field (22 of 47) while keeping the Colonels to just 25.9 percent (14 of 54), and hit 4-of-10 3-pointers while holding Nicholls to 1-for-10. That would be more than enough to offset the disparity at the free throw line, where Nicholls was 17 of 22 while the Sugar Bears were held to just 6 attempts, making 5.
After being outrebounded for the first time in nine games in Wednesday's loss at Stephen F. Austin, the Sugar Bears bounced back in a big way on Saturday – getting 41 rebounds to the Colonels' 26, led by a season-high 13 from
Ayanna Trigg, the highest rebound total for any Sugar Bear this season.
It was a big day all around for the Trigg twins, with Ayanna getting 8 points to go with her 13 rebounds, and
Briana Trigg scoring a season-high 14 points to lead the team while also grabbing 4 rebounds.
Hannah Langhi scored 13 points and pulled down 7 rebounds while blocking a season-high 3 shots, and
Carley Hudspeth – making her third start of the season – tied her season high with 8 points and registered a career-high 5 assists to lead all players.
After splitting their two road games this week, the Sugar Bears will play just once next week – returning to the Farris Center to host Southland preseason favorite Abilene Christian on Saturday.
