Senior center Courtney Duever set a career high 36 points in UCA’s 62-54 win over Oral Roberts University at the Farris Center on Feb. 22.
The game looked close early on as the Sugar Bears (17-8, 11-3 SLC) started to pull away and gain a solid lead. The Golden Eagles (7-17, 6-8 SLC) found a way to come back.
UCA wasn’t able to pull ahead by double digits during the game.
Neither team had the best first half shooting the ball. The Sugar Bears shot 34.5 percent and ORU shot 30.8 percent.
UCA had a big edge in rebounding, winning the battle 23-16 in the first half.
Duever set the pace for the Sugar Bears with 12 points and five rebounds in the first half.
Freshman guard Alexus Wilson led the charge for the Golden Eagles with 10 points, one rebound, one assist and one block.
UCA started out slow but was up by eight points with 10:34 left in the first half.
ORU didn’t back away and drew within four points at the end of the first half.
The Golden Eagles had a higher three point percentage than the Sugar Bears with 40 percent compared to UCA’s 25 percent.
The Sugar Bears led in second chance points with nine while ORU had none.
The Golden Eagles had better production out of their bench in the first half, scoring 12 bench points while UCAs bench didn’t score in the first half.
The Sugar Bears led at the end of the first half, 28-24.
The game’s second half didn’t start out in UCA’s favor with four players picking up fouls in the first two and a half minutes.
After two pairs of free throws and a jump shot by Duever, the Sugar Bears were up by nine, but the Golden Eagles didn’t go away.
ORU went on a 9-0 run and tied it up with 12:32 left in the game.
A battle followed, with both teams playing hard.
It wasn’t until 5:52 left in the game that things turned in favor for the Sugar Bears.
Duever was put back in the game and completely took over. She scored 13 points, had five rebounds and added a steal.
Coach Sandra Rushing talked about Duever’s play in the last five minutes.
“She wanted to take over and that’s what you want your senior to do,” she said. “She played like a senior and this was a huge win for us.”
In the second half, Duever shot 60 percent from the field and went 12 for 15 from the free throw line, adding up to 24 points.
Seven of her 12 rebounds also came in the second half.
Duever said her teammates did a good job of finding her and she was open at the end of the game.
“Our guards did a good job getting the ball and seeing what was open. No one was on me, I just had one girl at my back and that’s what we had to do,” she said.
Both teams increased their field goal percentage in the second half. UCA shot 44.0 percent from the field and ORU shot 45.5 percent.
The Sugar Bears still didn’t shoot well from three-point range in the second half, only making 20 percent.
The Golden Eagles shot 40 percent from three.
UCA came out on top, winning the game 62-54.
The Sugar Bears play the Lamar University Lady Cardinals at 2 p.m. March 1 in the Farris Center.
This game could decide the No. 1 seed for the Southland Conference tournament.
UCA is first place in the conference at 11-3 in conference play and Lamar is 10-4, currently in second.
The Sugar Bears scoring defense is No. 11 in the nation at 56.2 points per game.
The Lady Cardinals are averaging 70.8 points per game.
Neither team has the advantage in size.
Duever is 6-1 and Lamar’s senior center Chantelle Brockett is also 6-1.
The Sugar Bears have two guards who are 5-8 in freshman Kelsey McClure and senior Micah Rice.
The Lady Cardinals have senior guard Gia Ayers who is 5-7.
Lamar junior forward Dominique Edwards is scoring 15.6 ppg and Ayers is scoring 15.4 ppg.
UCA’a leading scorer is Duever at 15.5 points per game.
The Bears are out-rebounding opponents 888-767, which is a plus-five rebounding margin per game, Lamar is negative in the rebounding margin by almost six rebounds per game.
The Sugar Bears are on a two-game winning streak and the Lady Cardinals are on a one-game winning streak.
This game could determine the No. 1 seed in the conference, who goes straight to the semi-finals of the Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas on March 14.
The No. 1 seed will play the lower seed teams, while the No. 2 seed will play the higher seed.