Courtney Duever put Central Arkansas on her back in the second half Saturday afternoon.
The senior center scored 24 of her career-high 36 points in the final 20 minutes of the Sugar Bears’ 62-54 victory over Oral Roberts at the Farris Center in Conway.
Duever also had 12 rebounds and three steals. The Austin, Texas, native shot 11 of 19 from the field and made 14 of 19 free throws.
Duever’s 36 points tied the school record for most points scored by a player against an NCAA Division I team. Megan Herbert, a three-time Southland Conference player of the year, had 36 points against Tulsa in 2009 as a freshman.
UCA (17-8, 11-3) remained in first place in the Southland with the victory. The Sugar Bears are one game ahead of Lamar (15-10, 10-4), which beat Sam Houston State 81-64 on Saturday.
“I’m very happy with the win and very proud of Courtney and how she played at the end of the game,” UCA Coach Sandra Rushing said. “This team is playing with a lot of heart and pride, and I’m very proud of the way they’re fighting. they’ve got some fight and pride to them and I’m happy with where we’re at. But we’ve still got several games to play and a lot could happen, so we need to finish the deal and not relax. We’re not going to let them relax.”
Freshman guard Brianna Mullins had 11 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Junior forward Brittany Agee added six points.
Alexus Wilson led Oral Roberts with 20 points. Atoe’ Jackson, Christian Key and Bernadett Balla each had eight points.
Oral Roberts led 48-44 with 6:48 remaining. Duever tied the game at 48-48 with 6:13 remaining with two free throws. She gave UCA a 51-48 lead on a three-point play at the 5:11 mark.
Balla’s jumper pulled the Golden Eagles within 52-50 with 3:39 left, but UCA went to Duever again. Her three-point play with 3:10 remaining made it 55-50.
Duever scored 15 of UCA’s final 16 points in the final 6:13. Oral Roberts (7-17, 6-8) was held to two field goals in the final six minutes as UCA finished the game on an 18-6 run.
UCA shot 20 of 51 (39.2 percent) from the field. The Sugar Bears out rebounded the Golden Eagles 37-34, forced 13 turnovers and made 19 of 27 free throws.
UCA led 28-24 at halftime despite holding the Golden Eagles to 30.8 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes. The Sugar Bears shot 34.5 percent in the first half.
UCA finishes its regular-season home schedule this week, playing Sam Houston State on Thursday and Lamar on Saturday in Conway.
SOUTHLAND MEN ORAL ROBERTS 63, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 50
Korey Billbury had 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead Oral Roberts (14-13, 8-6 Southland Conference) past Central Arkansas (6-19, 3-11) at the Farris Center in Conway.
After taking a 28-25 halftime lead, the Golden Eagles held the Bears to just 23.3 percent shooting (7 of 30) in the second half and pulled away for the victory, completing a season sweep of the series. UCA’s first field goal of the second half came at the 12:54 mark on a jumper by Daouda Berete. To that point, UCA had made only four free throws.
The Bears never got the deficit under 10 points the rest of the way as the Golden Eagles shot 46.2 percent from the field and made 10 of 14 free throws (71.4 percent) in the second half.
Shawn Glover finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.
LaQuentin Miles led the Bears with 16 points, while DeShone McClure added 11.
SWAC MEN ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 76, PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 61
Marcel Mosley scored 20 points as Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8-17, 6-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference) beat Prairie View A&M (8-17, 6-7) at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff.
Davon Haynes finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Tevin Hammond added 13 points for the Golden Lions, who shot 45 percent (27 of 60) from the field.
UAPB, which led 33-20 at halftime, made 7 of 19 from three-point range. The Golden Lions out rebounded the Panthers 46-40.
Demondre Chapman led Prairie View with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
SWAC WOMEN PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 80, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 67
Jeanette Jackson scored 25 points to lead Prairie View A&M (9-14, 9-4 Southwestern Athletic Conference) to a victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-21, 2-12) at H.O. Clemmons Arena in Pine Bluff.
Shamiya Brooks had 16 points for the Lady Panthers.
Amber Haggie led the Lady Lions with 12 points. Carlisha Walker scored 11 points and Mollie Campbell added 10.
Sports, Pages 32 on 02/23/2014