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UCA 74
Nicholls State 72

Sugarbears Win...Sugarbears Win!!!!!

Burly Bear

yes they did, in come from behind fashion! They also made it home safe and sound as the SugarBear Express pulled in around 2:45 am this morning!

Nicholls beat reporter's account.... I know UCAsports.com has the unedited and correct article up from our perspective!


Central Arkansas edges Lady Colonels
Raymond Legendre
Staff Writer
THIBODAUX – Nicholls State senior guard Jamie Octave achieved a career milestone in the first half of Saturday’s Southland Conference game against Central Arkansas, then watched from the bench as her team achieved an unwanted milestone in the second half.

Octave scored 19 points to become just the eighth Lady Colonel to score 1,000 career points, but, in spite of her individual achievement, Nicholls suffered a 74-72 loss in Stopher Gym. The loss was the Lady Colonels’ 15th of the season and dropped them to 1-6 in SLC action.

“It would be much better if we had won,” Octave said about reaching the 1,000-point mark. “We had the opportunity.”

Octave’s 3-pointer with 35 seconds left capped a 6-0 run to pull Nicholls within 69-67. But Central Arkansas’ Renita Dobbins sliced through the Lady Colonels’ defense for a layup to make it a two-possession game.

Lady Colonels reserve Kelli Johnson answered with her fourth 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 71-70 with 16 seconds remaining.

Despite being pressured on the inbounds, the Sugar Bears (9-11, 3-5) were able to run off eight seconds before Octave was whistled for her fifth foul.

After Alex Velazquez hit the first free throw, her teammate Sharece Love grabbed her miss on the second shot and was fouled. Love hit her first free throw to push Central Arkansas’ lead to 73-70, then after a Nicholls’ lane violation gave her a mulligan, she sank her second free throw to clinch the Sugar Bears’ victory.

“It was a tough game,” Central Arkansas coach Checola Seals-Horton said. “Our legs were a little tired and our shots weren’t falling. But our team just stuck with it to get the win.”

Entering the game, Octave needed nine points to eclipse the 1,000-point barrier. She reached the mark on a putback with 9:52 remaining in the first half, and was honored during the under-eight minute media timeout. She scored nine of Nicholls’ first 11 points and finished with 12 points in the first half as the teams entered halftime tied at 33.

Foul trouble limited Octave’s impact for much of the second half. With less than 16 minutes to play, she picked up three fouls in a span of 15 seconds guarding SLC leading scorer Caronica Randle. Octave sat down at the 15:26 mark, after picking up her fourth foul, and didn’t return until the 6:54 mark.

“It’s like you can’t even be aggressive anymore,” Octave said about the foul calls. “It’s like high school now. This is college.”

Initially, Octave’s absence didn’t hurt Nicholls. The Lady Colonels went on a 10-3 run to take their largest lead, 50-43, with 12 minutes remaining.
But just as it seemed like Nicholls had taken control, Central Arkansas exploded on a 3-point rampage. Allyson Sample (13 points) and Randle each hit a pair of 3’s as the Sugar Bears turned a seven-point deficit into a 55-50 lead. It was a lead the visitors never relinquished.

Randle, who entered the game leading the SLC with 18 points per game, scored a season-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Both she and Octave, who entered second in the SLC in scoring, fouled out. But whereas Octave picked most of her fouls up in one cluster, Randle picked her fouls up gradually.

“We have to have Caronica to win these ballgames,” Seals-Horton said. “And she knows that. She stepped up and gave us a huge lift tonight.”

Both Nicholls and Central Arkansas shot 44 percent for the game, but the Sugar Bears outshot the Lady Colonels 50 percent to 39 percent in the second half. The Lady Colonels, who came into the game worst in the SLC in rebounding margin, outrebounded Central Arkansas, 36-32.

In addition to Octave, center Funaki Kefu scored 16 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Katherine Plummer and Kelli Johnson each added 12 points. Plummer led Nicholls with eight assists....

ORIGINAL:
http://www.ucasports.com/sport.asp?action=news&sportid=5&article=1674

...Coming out of the timeout, the Sugar Bears found their stroke as Allyson Sample hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Caronica Randle followed with a pair of her own as UCA tore out on a 14-2 run to go ahead 57-52 – a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
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The not so original, but this time with a by line...
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/012807/spo_0128070034.shtml

... THIBODAUX, La. - The University of Central Arkansas's Allyson Sample and Caronica Randle hit six 3-pointers during a 14-2 run in the second half Saturday to lead the Sugar Bears to a 74-72 victory over Nicholls State.

Sounds like a good win, and it is nice to finally pick up a road win!

it was a gret win. Nicholls played over their head at home, I dont think we'll see that same type of effort when they visit here. But once our shotting got going in the 2nd half, we were tough. The girls had a lot of people step up in different roles and knock down shots. Had they hit their shots in Hammond, they would have swept the road trip, that was the only thing lacking in the 55-50 loss to SELA was the shooting, and nothing more.

Sounds like they are finally starting to come around and get over that hump! Keep it up ladies!

for the better part of 3 weeks they have played much much better. They are healthy as they have been since November, and their confidence is growing. They are playing fairly well right now. Hopefully they can keep it up.

Watching some of the players after the first win, you could tell they got a big boost of confidence after just getting one.

They made a steady progression, loss by 7, loss by 2, win in OT, win by 12.
Now they've won three of their last four.

really they got a lot of confidence from their loss at TAMCC, just only one or 2 people there to see it. But once they were within a shot of winning that one, something seemed to click and since that game at Corpus, they have really been on, except for the shots not falling in Hammond La. Thursday night.

The team coming in to the Farris Center on Saturday night, Northwestern St. is tied with us in the Eastern Division standings, so whoever wins that one moves into 3rd outright. It should be a good one.

BTW, Nicholls is not much to look at facilities wise, and I'm talking all the way around the board, we are blessed to have what we do at UCA!