THIBODAUX, La. — The last time Central Arkansas and Nicholls State met, the eighth-seeded Colonels shocked the top-seeded Sugar Bears to bounce the Southland Conference’s regular-season champions from last season’s conference tournament in the first round.

In the 2013 conference opener for both teams Thursday night, the Sugar Bears (8-4, 1-0 Southland) answered in convincing fashion, never trailing and leading by more than 20 points for much of the second half en route to a 72-56 victory over the Colonels (8-4, 0-1).

“I’m happy with our effort and performance, and I’m happy to start off conference play with a road win,” firstyear Central Arkansas coach Sandra Rushing said after her Southland Conference debut. “The team played extremely hard, and I am really proud of the way we played defense. Any time you can win on the road, especially in this conference, is huge. Now we’ve got one more game we’ve got to finish on this road swing.”

Senior forward Megan Herbert notched her 71st career game with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds with a season-high 33 points and 11 rebounds to lead all players. She also made eight free throws to give her 554 for her career to break the Southland career record held by Texas-San Antonio’s Angel Singleton since 1998.

Herbert, who has averaged 23.3 points and 15.8 rebounds in her four games at Nicholls State, had 22 points in the second half to help the Sugar Bears pick up their 11th victory in 14 tries against the Colonels.

“We felt like we definitely owed them, coming off last year’s tournament when they beat us by 20,” said Herbert, the nation’s active career leader in both double-doubles and rebounds.

The Sugar Bears built a 16-point lead in the first half, holding the Colonels to 36.4 percent shooting and forcing them into 12 turnovers. UCA held a big advantage at the free-throw line, making 17 of 24 compared to just 4 for 6 for the Colonels.

Courtney Duever had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Britney Gowans added six points and seven assists. Desiree’ Rogers, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament 10 minutes into the teams’ last meeting, had five points and four assists.

SOUTHLAND MEN

NICHOLLS STATE 83,

CENTRAL ARKANSAS 79

Fred Hunter scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Nicholls State (2-9, 1-0) past Central Arkansas (5-6, 0-1) in the Southland Conference opener for both teams at Stopher Gymnasium in Thibodaux, La.

The Bears cut a nine-point deficit to 81-79 with 2.7 seconds left, but T.J. Carpenter made two free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining to seal the victory and end a seven-game losing streak.

Guard Robert Crawford led the Bears with 21 points, making 4 of 7 shots from three-point range. Forward Jarvis Garner added 18 points but was 0 for 7 from beyond the three-point line as UCA made just 7 of 23 three-pointers (30.4 percent). The Bears were also hurt by 22 turnovers.

Freshman Daouda Berete finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

The Bears led by as much as six points midway through the first half, but the Colonels found the range down the stretch and outscored UCA 26-12 over the final 10 minutes to take a 38-30 lead into halftime.

Sports, Pages 20 on 01/04/2013