It was a tough week for the Sugar Bears basketball team as they lost two games on the road against the Lamar University Cardinals and the Houston Baptist University Huskies.

Before the games, senior forward Brittany Agee said she felt confident in the team’s strategy to try to rebound and gain wins after coming off a loss the previous week.

Agee said the most important thing for the team to do is sticking to playing defense.

“That’s what we do and how we win games,” she said. “Our coaches do a good job of scouting other teams and drilling us on the reports so as to have a solid game plan for the week. We just need to play our defense and let that dictate our offense.”

The Sugar Bears (9-8, 2-3 Southland Conference) lost 82-46 to Lamar University (8-9, 5-1 SLC) in the first road game of the week Jan. 13 in Beaumont, Texas.

UCA struggled from the game’s beginning, failing to put more than a free throw on the board while Lamar broke out to a considerable lead.

The Sugar Bears found themselves in an 18-1 hole and did not score their first field goal until 9:50 into the game.

Lamar pushed UCA into 17 first-half turnovers and left the Bears with little scoring opportunity, forcing the Sugar Bears to shoot 23.8 percent from the field by the end of the first half as Lamar built a 45-20 halftime lead.

In the second half, UCA committed 12 more turnovers, leaving the team with a season-high 29.

Sugar Bears junior guard Jameka Watkins finished the game with 12 points, her third time in double figures for her career.

Sophomore forward Raquel Logan was also a silver lining to the game, adding eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks, though UCA wasn’t able to claw its way back after halftime.

The Sugar Bears then made their way to Houston, Texas on Jan. 15 they play HBU (8-9, 2-4 SLC).

Unfortunately, the end result was not much different for the Sugar Bears, as they fell 58-37.

UCA had its lowest-scoring half of the season in the first half, putting up 16 points and trailing by 12 at the break.

After two quick baskets to start the second half, the Sugar Bears were unable to keep the train going as their offense stalled.

HBU held UCA to just one field goal over the next six minutes and outscored the Sugar Bears 13-5 over that span to extend its lead to 18.

Though unable to pull out a win, there were still positives from the two games.

Sophomore guard Brianna Mullins led the Sugar Bears with 11 points, three rebounds and three steals. She and Watkins had two assists, leaving Mullins with the team’s third.

The Sugar Bears committed more than 20 turnovers for the second straight game, following 29 turnovers at Lamar on Jan. 13 with 21 turnovers Jan. 15.

UCA finishes its road trip at 7 p.m. tonight against the University of New Orleans before returning home for a two-game home stand, starting with the Nicholls State University Colonels on Jan. 24.

The Sugar Bears lost the matchup with the Cardinals last season 69-60 in Thibodaux, Louisiana.