CONWAY — After falling behind by as any as 17 in the first half, Central Arkansas rallied to tie the game in the second half, but could never pull ahead as the Sugar Bears saw their comeback bid fall short in a 67-58 loss to Nicholls in the Farris Center on Saturday.

The Sugar Bears (11-15, 7-10 Southland) found themselves in a hole early as the Colonels (10-16, 7-10) got out to a 20-9 lead at the end of the first quarter after outscoring the Sugar Bears 7-1 at the free throw line and holding Central Arkansas to 36.4 percent shooting (4 of 11).

In the second quarter, the Colonels extended the lead to 17 a little over three minutes in, but the Sugar Bears clawed back to trim the deficit to just five by halftime, going into the locker room down 32-27 after a 16-4 run over the final 6:34. The Sugar Bears would draw even at 35 early in the third quarter, but would then be held without a field goal over the remaining 7:44 in the period – getting only a Hannah Langhi free throw after seven scoreless minutes – as the Colonels extended the lead back out to nine.

The Sugar Bears cut the deficit to as little as four in the fourth quarter, but the Colonels were able to fend off the Sugar Bears by converting 12-of-16 at the free throw line and shooting 50 percent from the field in the period to outscore Central Arkansas 23-22 and leave Conway with the win and salvage a split in the season series.

With the loss, the Sugar Bears fall into a tie with the Colonels for 8th place in the Southland Conference standings, with three games remaining in the regular season to determine which eight teams will qualify for the league tournament in Katy, Texas. Both teams are a half game back of 7-9 Southeastern Louisiana for 7th place, and two games ahead of 10th-place Lamar.

Langhi had 13 points and 4 rebounds for the Sugar Bears, while Carley Hudspeth scored a career-high 11 points with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals – hitting a career-best three 3-pointers as the Sugar Bears went 5-for-11 from beyond the arc, their most in conference play. Taylor Sells added 10 points and a team-high 3 assists, while Terri Crawford pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds.

Nicholls got 23 points from Loan-Anh Johnson, who had 3 steals as the Colonels forced 22 Sugar Bear turnovers and outscored Central Arkansas 26-19 in points off turnovers.

The Sugar Bears have an open date on Wednesday before their final road game of the season next Saturday at Abilene Christian. They return to the Farris Center for the final two games, hosting Southeastern Louisiana on March 4 and Northwestern State on March 7.