Courtney Duever scored eight straight points and added a block and two rebounds down the stretch Thursday night in help the University of Central Arkansas Sugar Bears hold off a torrid second-half rally by Stephen F. Austin and escape with a 57-54 basketball victory at the Farris Center.
The Sugar Bears (10-4, 3-0), with 20 first-half points from post Meagan Herbert, took a seemingly commanding 38-21 lead at the half. The Lady 'Jacks (6-9, 1-3) shut down the Sugar Bears with a packed matchup zone defense and hurt the hosts with a series of inside baskets from Daylyn Harris and Annette Davis. It resulted in a 24-3 run that gave them a 51-45 lead with 6:12 remaining.
SFA didn't score a field goal in the last 5:29 while Duever gave the UCA women the lead for good with two straight jumpers in the lane and a rebounded free throw with 26.9 seconds left.
Herbert had 26 points and 14 rebounds while Duever had 14 and 10 rebounds. Harris and Davis had 15 points each for SFA.
"We needed to have to win a close game, but the second half was absolutely ugly," said UCA coach Sandra Rushing. "We did just enough to win."
Further details in Saturday's print edition of the Log Cabin Democrat.