CONWAY, Ark. – Central Arkansas scored 29 points off 19 Southeastern Louisiana turnovers on the way to a 77-55 victory over the Lady Lions in Southland Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Farris Center.
The Lady Lions fell to 4-18 overall and 2-9 in Southland Conference play with the loss. . The defending Southland Tournament champion Sugar Bears (17-4, 9-2 Southland) extended their winning streak to eight games.
In addition to the points scored off turnovers, UCA held Southeastern to 32.1 percent (17-for-53) shooting from the floor.
"We had some problems with turnovers early, but I thought we executed much better in the second half," Southeastern head coach
Errol Gauff said. "We did a nice job of creating open looks, especially inside 12 feet and we simply missed too many of those to beat a good team like UCA."
Junior guard
Taylin Underwood led the way for the Lady Lions with 25 points and eight rebounds, recording her 12
th game of 20-plus points this season. Underwood was joined in double figures by junior guard
Bre Warren, who finished with 10 points.
Only six Lady Lions scored on Saturday, including freshman guard
Charliee Dugas with eight points, freshman guard
Courtney Dawsey and sophomore guard
Jaclyn Scholvin with five apiece and sophomore guard
Ashailee Brailey with two. Freshman guard
Tyler Morrison led SLU with two assists.
Southeastern also managed their 11
th game this season with double-digit steals, as the Lady Lions recorded 10 steals. Dugas, Underwood, Morrison and Brailey shared team-high honors with two steals each.
UCA was led by Brianna Mullins, who shared game-high honors with Underwood with 25 points. Mullins was joined in double figures by Kierra Jordan (18 points) and Taylor Baudoin (11 points). Baudoin and Raquel Logan shared team-high honors with eight rebounds each, while Taylor Sells dished out a game-high six assists for the Sugar Bears.
Southeastern hung tough with the Sugar Bears in the opening quarter, as neither team could get into much of an offensive rhythm. UCA made 8-of-10 from the free throw line to head into the second quarter with a 17-13 lead.
A three by Dawsey three minutes into the second quarter pulled the Lady Lions within three. But that would be as close as Southeastern would get, as UCA outscored SLU, 18-7, over the rest of the quarter and went into halftime with a 39-25 advantage.
While the Sugar Bears couldn't pull away in the third quarter, Southeastern also couldn't cut into the deficit. Central Arkansas finished a ragged quarter with a 12-11 scoring advantage and went into the final period up, 51-36.
Any chance of a Southeastern comeback was ended early in the fourth quarter. UCA scored the first five points of the period to quickly grow the lead to 20 points. SLU would get no closer than 14 the rest of the way.
Southeastern will play four of its next five games in the friendly confines of the University Center. The stretch opens with a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Wednesday will feature the annual Pack the House promotion as the first 300 students will receive free food and a SLU rally towel.
Underwood will be Wednesday's Spotlight Player of the Game. The first 150 fans will receive a trading card featuring the Livingston, Louisiana native courtesy of PRIDE.
It will also be a Cane's Challenge when the Islanders visit the University Center. If the Lady Lions score 50 points or more, fans can take their game ticket or student coupon to their local participating Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers by the close of business on Thursday to receive a free combo with the purchase of another of equal or greater value.
LionVision subscribers will be able to access a live video stream of Wednesday's game at
www.LionSports.net/watch.
