Kelsey McClure scored 18 points and the University of Central Arkansas improved to 2-0 in the Southland Conference with a 63-59 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday night at the Farris Center in Conway.
The Sugar Bears (9-5), who beat Abilene Christian in their conference opener Sunday, overcame a 19-of-50 shooting performance (38.0 percent) and a 44-29 rebounding deficit to hold off the Islanders.
"It feels great to win," said UCA Coach Sandra Rushing, whose team made 21 of 28 from the free-throw line. "Corpus is an athletic team that is extremely well-coached, and we're very fortunate to get out of here with this win today.
"You look at the rebound margin, and most of the time when you rebound that bad you're not going to win. But what I like is that we only had five turnovers, and our free throw percentage was great, and that might've been the difference."
Brianna Mullins scored 12 points and Maggie Proffitt had 11 points, six of which came from the free-throw line.
Olivia Fouty led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-8, 0-1) with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Shay Weaver had 12 points, while Camesha Davis and Ashanti Plummer added nine points each.
The game was tied 34-34 at halftime but the Islanders took a 50-43 lead with 9:12 left.
UCA cut the lead to 50-49 with two free throws from Terai Sadler, but Fouty's three-pointer gave the Islanders a 53-49 lead with 5:15 left.
Proffitt tied the game at 54-54 with two free throws at the 2:42 mark, and Mullins' jumper gave UCA a 56-54 lead with 2:16 left.
The Sugar Bears finished the game by making 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to seal the victory.
UCA hosts Stephen F. Austin on Thursday night.
SOUTHLAND MEN
TEXAS A&M-CC 77, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 70
CONWAY — John Jordan scored 23 points, hitting 13 of 16 free throws, and dished out six assists to lead Texas A&M-Corpus Christi over Central Arkansas in a Southland Conference game before 752 at the Farris Center on Tuesday night.
The Islanders were in control for the much of the game, using a 16-4 run to build a 43-27 halftime lead. However, a late charge by Central Arkansas in the final five minutes, instigated by a 9-0 run capped by freshman Jordan Howard’s four-point play, cut the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi lead to six points. But two free throws by Jordan and a layup by Ehab Amin quickly pushed the Islanders’ lead back to 10, effectively ending the comeback bid.
Brandon Pye added 13 points for the Islanders (6-7, 1-0), and Rashawn Thomas finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Junior Jake Zuilhof had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead Central Arkansas (0-13, 0-2). Freshman also had 17 points, hitting 3 of 8 three-pointers. Junior Mike Martin had 13 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. Howard added 12 points. No other UCA player had more than three points.
Sports on 01/07/2015