KATY, Texas. – The Central Arkansas women's basketball team opened the 2021 Southland Conference Tournament with a game against Houston Baptist. The Sugar Bears were led by Briana Trigg, who recorded her third double-double of the season. With the 56-51 victory, UCA improved to 12-13 on the year, while HBU fell to 11-11.
 
Houston Baptist started the game on a 4-0 run within the first two minutes of the game. Briana Trigg put the Sugar Bears on the board with a layup and drew the foul. She made the and-1 and made it a one-point game. Terri Crawford added a layup and put UCA up 5-4 with 6:07 left in the quarter. It was back-and-forth for the remainder of the quarter. Savanna Walker hit a jumper with 10 seconds left on the clock to make the score 10-9, in favor of HBU after one.
 
The Huskies started fast in the second quarter and went on a 9-2 run. With 4:21 left in the half, HBU held a nine-point lead, 23-14. Thanks to Ayanna Trigg, Briana Trigg, and Walker, the Sugar Bears ended the half on a 5-0 run and cut the HBU lead to 23-19.
 
After the Huskies scored the first points of the second half, Briana Trigg made a layup and converted another and-1 attempt to pull the Sugar Bears within three. Jayla Cody added the game's next four points and gave UCA a 26-25 lead with 7:28 remaining in the third. Briana Trigg converted another and-1 chance and extended the UCA run to, 10-0. The Huskies cut the Sugar Bear lead to 31-30, with 5:14 left in the third, but the Central Arkansas offense picked up the tempo and ended the period on an 11-6 run. UCA held a 42-36 lead as the game went to the fourth.
 
HBU opened the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run and cut the UCA lead to just one, 42-41, with 7:44 left in regulation. Lucy Ibeh and Briana Trigg added layups to put the Sugar Bears up by five. Central Arkansas extended its lead to as many as seven points in the remainder of the game, while Houston Baptist was only able to get the deficit to three. UCA made six free throws in the final minute of regulation, which helped the Sugar Bears claim a 56-51 victory.
 
Briana Trigg had one of the best games of the season, as she posted a season-high 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, both were game highs. She collected her third double-double of the season. Walker finished the game with 11 points and added three rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Ayanna Trigg notched a game-high three assists and chipped in with five rebounds along with four points. Crawford was a force down low early for UCA as she recorded a season-high seven rebounds, all in the first half, and added seven points.
 
As a team, UCA outrebounded HBU 37-28. The defense was stout all game and held the Huskies to just one made 3-pointer and a 3-point percentage of just 11.1 percent. The Sugar Bears' bench outscored the Huskies' 18-6.
 
Julija Vujakovic led HBU with 14 points, six rebounds and two assists. Timia Jefferson finished with 14 points and had a game-high three steals.
 
The Sugar Bears advance with the win and will play Lamar on Friday, March 12, at 11 a.m. This will be the first meeting between the two programs this season, but UCA won the last meeting 53-29 on Feb. 5, 2020.
 
From the Coach – Head Coach Sandra Rushing
"I'm really proud of this team and the way they fought. We didn't play well in the first half. We came out better in the second half. Savanna Walker and Briana Trigg showed a lot of leadership in the second half. For us to have this opportunity to come to the conference tournament and win our first game after not making it last season, really says a lot about these young ladies. What a great job they (the team) have done this year along with our athletic trainers, and our administration dealing with COVID. I want to thank Kaci Griffin for all she has done this season. We just beat a really good basketball team. Donna (Finnie) does a tremendous job. We were concentrating on the three-pointers from HBU. That's all we talked about, was don't let the 3-pointers beat us especially late in the ball game."
 
From the Players – Senior, G/F Briana Trigg
"Coach Rushing knows what to say to get us going. We weren't playing our game in the first half. We were playing selfish in the first half. Whenever we came together, we found a way to win."
 
From the Players – Senior, G, Savanna Walker
"Coach ran our go-to play. It worked out for us. Our bigs showed up big time for us. Our freshmen didn't play like freshmen today. Our bench came and stepped up when we needed them the most."
 
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