CONWAY -- After eight straight victories, including a 6-0 start to Southland Conference play, the Sugar Bears finally suffered a setback on Wednesday as they fell 52-48 to New Orleans, their first loss in the Farris Center in 382 days.
The loss was the first for the Sugar Bears (13-5, 6-1) in their 24 games against Southland opponents and first ever to the Privateers (8-10, 4-3) in seven meetings.
After holding a slim 28-26 halftime lead when an apparent basket by the Privateers at the buzzer was waived off, the Sugar Bears hit a lull in the third quarter as they shot just 1 of 12 from the field. In the fourth, New Orleans got back-to-back baskets in the first minute to push the lead to 1, and still led by 11 midway through the quarter when the Sugar Bears went on an 8-0 run to draw within three with 4:15 to play.
The teams then traded baskets, and turnovers, over the next 1:21 until Halie Matthews pushed the New Orleans lead back to five with 2:54. The Sugar Bears struggled from the free throw line, going just 1-for-6 in the final two minutes, and came up empty on a pair of shots in the final 10 seconds as the Privateers built the lead to six with five seconds remaining. A Kierra Jordan putback at the buzzer closed the final margin to four, representing the Sugar Bears' lone field goal over the final 3:30.
"It was not a good night," said UCA head coach Sandra Rushing. "They outplayed us -- they were a better basketball team tonight. I hope that we haven't lost sight of team first. Tonight, we didn't play as a basketball team.
"We shot ourselves in the foot tonight. We got outplayed, and I'm disappointed in our performance. They did exactly what they wanted to tonight. People have figured us out by now -- if they haven't, something's wrong."
Jordan had nine points and four rebounds in the quarter to finish the game with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Taylor Baudoin had 11 points on 5-for-10 shooting and nine rebounds. Kamry Orr, the reigning SLC Player of the Week, added 11 points, all in the first half.
The Sugar Bears shot just 33.3 percent, 17 of 51, their lowest percentage since making 27.9 percent in a loss at South Alabama on Dec. 16, and committed 18 turnovers, their second-highest total of the season behind 24 at Tennessee.
At 1 p.m. on Saturday, UCA will host Abilene Christian (12-5, 6-1), which also went into Wednesday undefeated in league play before falling 66-55 at Stephen F. Austin (14-3, 6-0).
Sports on 01/20/2018