The cell phone of Central Arkansas women's basketball coach Sandra Rushing buzzed last week with welcome news.
"Coach, Abilene lost," the messages from her players read.
News of Southland Conference leader Abilene Christian losing to Lamar last Thursday was the next best thing to UCA beating Abilene Christian, which UCA won't get an opportunity to do during the remainder of the regular season.
UCA (19-2, 9-1) is tied with Abilene Christian (19-3, 10-1) in the loss column despite losing to Abilene Christian 61-49 on Jan. 2 and trailing by a half game in the standings. But UCA can do no worse than a first-place tie in the Southland if it wins its final eight conference games.
"Believe me, I'm happy that they lost," Rushing said. "But, young people have a tendency to overlook things, and it's our jobs to keep reminding them to stay on track."
The Sugar Bears will take a nine-game winning streak, which equals a streak from earlier this season, into tonight's game against Northwestern (La.) State in Conway. A victory would give UCA its first 10-game winning streak in four years as well as keeping it on pace with Abilene Christian.
Rushing said a team meeting last week centered on whether the Sugar Bears were feeling pressure as they keep on winning.
"They said 'No,' " Rushing said. "I feel like they've been locked in the whole time, but that [Abilene Christian's] loss adds a little more to it, absolutely."
ASU WOMEN
Making adjustments
Arkansas State women's basketball Coach Brian Boyer had to alter his starting lineup on the fly over the wekend.
Instead of having five seniors in the starting lineup, as had been the case in the first 20 games, Boyer inserted junior guard Dominique Oliver to replace forward Amanda Lawson, who missed Saturday's victory over Troy with an ankle injury.
The result: ASU (18-3, 12-0) beat Troy 94-80 while shooting 45.5 percent from the floor to extend its lead in the Sun Belt standings to three games over Louisiana-Lafayette.
"It's not only our starters, but our rotations on the bench, we've been so consistent," Boyer said. "When you take players out, it changes everybody's role a little bit. That's why I was pleased to be able to get the win."
Boyer said Tuesday that Lawson, who is averaging 10.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, is unlikely to play Thursday at Louisiana-Lafayette (16-5, 9-3) but could play Saturday at Louisiana-Monroe (3-9, 9-12).
The Red Wolves have won 12 in a row and are on track to be the first team to sweep the Sun Belt's regular season since Middle Tennessee in 2012.
"We can certainly help ourselves if we're able to get another win," Boyer said. "But, at the same time, it's that far away, too, if you're not consistent with it."
UALR MEN
On the way back
Daniel Green is healthy and ready to contribute to the UALR men's basketball team.
Now, Green, a 6-10 junior forward, needs to find a spot in the playing rotation for the Trojans (21-2, 11-1).
Green played eight minutes in victories last week over South Alabama and Troy last week, the most he's played in his five games back since recovering from a November knee scope.
Green, who is averaging 1.0 point and 1.9 rebounds in 6.6 minutes, could see increased minutes this week against Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette, which feature two of the Sun Belt's best forwards in Majok Deng and Shawn Long, respectively.
"He's earning his minutes," UALR Coach Chris Beard said. "I just don't think there's anyone necessarily not earning their minutes. So, it just becomes a mathematical deal where there are only so many minutes in the game."
UALR WOMEN
Familiar spot
The UALR women's basketball team was still struggling to find an identity three weeks ago after a 67-57 loss at Texas State dropped the Trojans to 5-11 overall, 3-4 in the Sun Belt.
UALR followed with a 59-55 road victory at Texas-Arlington on Jan. 23 and returned home for four consecutive games. Two weeks at home meant more on-court practice time, translating into better scoring from its guards and a five-game winning streak, capped by Saturday's 74-43 victory over South Alabama.
UALR Coach Joe Foley called the stretch "exactly what we needed" and it has allowed the Trojans (10-11, 8-4) to go from middle of the pack to third place in the conference with eight games remaining, starting with Thursday's game at Louisiana-Monroe.
A weekend sweep of Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette would pull the Trojans into no less than a tie for second with Lafayette.
"I'm not worried about that," Foley said of conference standings. "I'm just worried about playing our best basketball when we're supposed to."
Sports on 02/10/2016