BAUDOIN'S BIG NIGHT LIFTS SUGAR BEARS TO WIN, SOUTHLAND TOURNEY BERTH

[Seminole Indian]

LAKE CHARLES, La. — Entering Wednesday night's game at McNeese, Central Arkansas senior forward Taylor Baudoin needed eight points to reach 1,000 for her career.

She got a career-high 30.

Baudoin was 12 of 27 from the field and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the Sugar Bears' offensive output as Central Arkansas held off McNeese for a 51-45 win in Burton Coliseum to clinch a spot in next month's Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas – their 8th straight tournament appearance.

With her 30 points, Baudoin finishes the night with 1,020 for her career at Central Arkansas – making her the 27th player in program history and the 8th in the Sugar Bears' 12-year Division I era to reach the milestone.

In the first quarter, Baudoin was the only player to score for the Sugar Bears (17-7, 10-3 Southland) as they trailed the Cowgirls (11-13, 7-6) 18-12. After limiting the Cowgirls to just seven second-quarter points and finishing the half on a 9-2 run, the Sugar Bears trailed by just one – 25-24 – at the half.

The Sugar Bears took control of the game early in the second half, starting the third quarter with an 11-0 run behind 7 from Baudoin to go up 35-25 and would lead the rest of the way.

The Cowgirls would get as close as two midway through the quarter, but the Sugar Bears would hold McNeese scoreless for the next 6:11 – building the lead back up to seven with under a minute to play on a layup and a free throw from Baudoin on back-to-back possessions.

A Caitlin Davis 3-pointer would draw the Cowgirls back within one possession with 22 seconds left, cutting the Sugar Bear lead to 48-45, but an Alanie Fisher free throw and a pair from Baudoin pushed it back to six, and the Cowgirls missed their last two shots and Baudoin corralled the final rebound to run the clock out in the Sugar Bears' final game in Burton Coliseum.

The win is the sixth overall in the series for the Sugar Bears, who improve to 8-3 in Lake Charles and 6-3 in Burton Coliseum, and now lead 17-8 all-time against the Cowgirls.

The Sugar Bears come away with the victory despite shooting just 30.3 percent from the field (20 of 66), 5 percent (1 of 20) from 3-point range and 52.6 percent (10 of 19) from the free throw line, benefiting by outrebounding the Cowgirls – the league's best rebounding team at +6.8 per game in conference play – by 11, including a 21-7 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Sugar Bears would turn that into a 22-8 advantage in second-chance points, and outscored the Cowgirls 16-0 off of turnovers, forcing 11 while committing a season-low four.

In addition to Baudoin's career-high 30 points and season-high 12 rebounds, her third double-double of the season, the Sugar Bears got 9 points and 4 rebounds from Alanie Fisher, and Fisher had 5 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals in 15 minutes.

QUOTES
Head Coach Sandra Rushing
"I'm really happy and proud of Taylor tonight – 1,000-point club, as a coach that really makes you proud. We got her as a sophomore and she's really had a great career here. She's won two championships and we're still trying to get that third one. What she did tonight, that's what you want your seniors to do – say 'come on, I'll put y'all on my back and y'all need to follow.'"

"I've loved being around these young ladies, but they've been very, very difficult at times coaching them because we don't understand the game, we're still learning the game. There were some things that happened on the floor tonight that could have gone the other way, but did we fight it? Yes. I'm happy for this win, we've just got some improving to do."

"Alanie did a great job – she absolutely came in and sparked us. I was hoping we would meet TB's intensity early, and I thought she had an unbelievable amount of intensity. What I liked about Alanie tonight was that she would go to the boards. She's strong enough and tough enough to get a rebound and go back up with it and put it in. That's what we need, because some of our guards aren't tough enough with the ball at times."

"It goes back to combinations. I tell the players all the time – I may not have the best five players on the floor, but the five who work the best together. You look at the end of the game, and I didn't have my best free throw shooters in, but they were working so well together."

"Tonight they had four people on KJ at one time, and we're shooting 1 of 20 from 3. We've got to stop doing that. If you're not going to get in the gym and work on your shot, you don't come in here and have shooting practice. We were 1 for 20 and we were wide open. That's the issue I'm having – we're getting the shots. If I was scouting us, I would collapse on TB and KJ and say 'shoot it'. We've not proven ourselves shooting outside, and again we do not get in the gym extra and work on it. To be a great basketball player you've got to put the work in."

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2018/2/14/womens-basketball-baudoins-big-night-lifts-sugar-bears-to-win-southland-tourney-berth.aspx