UCA's Sugar Bears in furthest postseason run in their Division I history

Deep into the furthest postseason run in its Division I history, the University of Central Arkansas women’s basketball team hosts Nevada today at 5 p.m. at the Farris Center in Conway in the Women’s Basketball Invitational semifinals.

The only other time the Sugar Bears reached the semifinals in a nonconference, postseason tournament was 2005, when UCA lost 69-67 to Washburn in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

This year, the Sugar Bears (24-9) reached the WBI semifinals after earning their first Division I nonconference, postseason victories over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Weber State.

“Just playing in the postseason’s a big deal,” sixth-year UCA Coach Sandra Rushing said. “This team has had a different kind of drive in the postseason. Ever since they heard we were going into this tournament.”

Continued play was uncertain when UCA lost 70-60 to Stephen F. Austin in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals.

Seven UCA players had been on the Southland championship teams of the previous two seasons, which led to consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

Winning the conference was “of course the ultimate goal,” Rushing said, but when the WBI announced March 12 that UCA would be a hosting site in the opening round, the players realized they “still have an opportunity to play in the postseason.”

“I think they realize they’ve got a bitter taste in their mouth,” Rushing said. “They’ve won a lot of basketball games here. They’ve made history. They want to continue to make history. This could bring great recognition to our university, our program.”

Nevada (19-16) was one step away from the NCAA Tournament.

The Wolf Pack lost 62-60 to Boise State in the Mountain West Conference championship March 9, and they have since beaten UC Irvine 70-60 and Fresno State 86-74 in the first and second rounds of the WBI.

Nevada’s 70.2 points per game ranked second in the Mountain West and 75th nationally. Rushing is wary of 6-2 senior forward Teige Zeller

(14.1 ppg, 8.6 rebounds per game) and 6-3 junior forward Terae Briggs (8.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg).

“This is probably the biggest team we’ve seen this year,” Rushing said. “We have to limit them to one shot. We cannot let them get second chances.”

Second chances doomed UCA in the Southland semifinals, when Stephen F. Austin scored 13 second-chance points with an additional 17 points off turnovers.

Rushing will rely on 6-1 senior center Kierra Jordan and 6-0 senior forward Taylor Baudoin to combat Nevada’s size. Both players were selected to this season’s All-Southland second team and were a part of the nation’s second-ranked scoring defense that gives up 50.6 ppg.

“We have to play the best defense we can,” Rushing said. “We’re going to be true to what we’ve been doing all year. It’s not like we can put in anything new at this point and time. We’re just going to have to play hard and continue to play together.”