NICHOLLS STATE 75,
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 72, OT
Nicholls State (8-10, 4-3 Southland Conference) scored on its final four field-goal attempts in overtime Saturday and came away with a victory over the the University of Central Arkansas (10-9, 3-4) at the Farris Center in Conway.
The Colonels hit 4 of 5 shots in overtime after the Sugar Bears had a chance to win the game in regulation but couldn't get a shot off in the final 20 seconds. Brianna Mullins scored to give UCA a 67-66 lead with 3:40 left in overtime, but the Colonels scored seven consecutive points to take control.
UCA pulled to within 73-72 with 30 seconds remaining on layups by Mullins and Terai Sadler and a free throw by Mullins, but Emani White hit two free throws to give the Colonels a 75-72 lead. The Sugar Bears' final two attempts missed the mark.
Proffitt's layup with 4:11 in the first half gave UCA its largest lead of the game at 33-20, but the Sugar Bears managed just one basket after that as the Colonels roared back to pull to withing 35-33 going into intermission.
UCA went ahead 61-56 with 3:52 left in the second half on a jumper by Proffitt, but the Colonels went ahead 63-62 on Tia Charles' free throw with more than a minute remaining. Kendra Watts hit two free throws to give UCA a 64-63 lead before Charles hit 1 of 2 at the free-throw line to tie the score 64-64 with 20 seconds left before the Sugar Bears' failed final possession sent the game to overtime.
McClure came off the bench to lead all scorers with 21 points. Mullins and Watts added 14 apiece for the Sugar Bears.
Four Colonels had at least 10 points, with Shay Amrick's 18 leading the way. Charles had 15, Marina Lilly 15 and Ekiya Gray 10.
The Sugar Bears outrebounded the Colonels 35-26, but Nicholls shot 58.3 percent (28 of 48) from the field to UCA's 46.6 percent (27-58).
Sports on 01/25/2015