Sugar Bears Pull Off Third Consecutive 21-Win Season
By: Jason Snavely
Updated: February 18, 2012
As an avid card player, one of Central Arkansas head women's basketball coach Matt Daniel's favorite numbers is 21 - blackjack.
On
Saturday, the cards came up the Sugar Bears' way once again as they
defeated Sam Houston State 61-56 in front of 2,132 at the Farris Center
to hit the 21-win mark for the third
consecutive season - becoming the first Southland Conference team to do
so since 2002.
"What
a phenomenal accomplishment against a really good team," said Daniel,
whose team is 21-4 this season after going 21-8 and 21-12 in the
previous two seasons. "It's a special
thing to be a part of, and I hope we can sustain this run. I thought we
did a good job of adjusting and going with the flow of the game and our
team was resilient again. We protected the home court and put ourselves
in position to stay in the lead in the Southland
Conference."
It
was the 10th straight win for the Sugar Bears, who keep their
stranglehold on first place in the Southland with an 11-1 league mark
and stay undefeated in 14 home games this season.
The Bearkats, who led the Southland's West Division coming into
Saturday's game, fall to 8-4 in the league and 13-10 overall.
UCA
junior forward Megan Herbert led all players with 20 points and 13
rebounds, putting together the 61st double-double of her career
- breaking the UCA record previously held by
Angela Watson, and moving past former UConn star and Women's Basketball
Hall of Fame member Rebecca Lobo into a tie for 20th in Division I
history. Her 13 rebounds gives her 1,024 for her career, putting her
ninth in Southland history.
"Congrats
to Megan and her accomplishment," Daniel said. "She's passing some very
big names in women's basketball during her career here - Anne Donovan,
Cheryl Miller and now Rebecca
Lobo. I'm sure glad she's with us."
The
Sugar Bears took the lead a minute and a half into the game and never
looked back, staying ahead of the Bearkats by double digits for much of
the afternoon. After leading eight
at halftime, the Sugar Bears built their lead to as many as 18 in the
second half before Sam Houston State closed with an 18-6 run over the
final seven minutes.
Destinee
Rogers was 3-of-3 from 3-point range en route to 14 points, while
Nakeia Guiden added 12. Desiree' Rogers had 10 rebounds for UCA. The
Sugar Bears also got a combined five
points, three rebounds and four blocks in 20 minutes off the bench from
Westin Taylor and Courtney Duever.
"They gave us good lifts coming off the bench, and we're going to continue to need those lifts," Daniel said.
UCA
limited the Bearkats' Sequeena Thomas - the league's leading rebounder
at 14.9 per game in conference play - to less than half her average with
seven, and also kept her to four
points (more than 10 off her season average) on 1-for-10 shooting.
Angela Beadle, who averages 7.1 rebounds per game, had zero.
Britni Martin had 19 points to lead the Bearkats.
"I thought we did a good job on their two big-time rebounders, Thomas and Beadle," Daniel said. "I thought that was a big key."
Another
key was at the free throw line, where the Sugar Bears shot 75 percent
in the second half and finished 18 for 26 while limiting the Bearkats to
just 12 attempts - of which
they made just seven (58.3 percent).
The
Sugar Bears are home against Nicholls on Wednesday, their next-to-last
home game of the season. After the Nicholls contest, UCA will travel to
Southeastern Louisiana and UTSA
before returning to Conway for the regular season finale against Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi on March 3.
