UCA starts strong but falls short

Louisville forward Myisha Hines-Allen (2) shoots over Central Arkansas guard Olivia McWilliams (25) during the second half of Friday’s game in Louisville, Ky. Hines-Allen finished with 26 points.
Louisville forward Myisha Hines-Allen (2) shoots over Central Arkansas guard Olivia McWilliams (25) during the second half of Friday’s game in Louisville, Ky. Hines-Allen finished with 26 points.

Central Arkansas had a three-point lead at the end of the first quarter Friday afternoon against Louisville.

Then the second quarter happened.

The No. 3 seed Cardinals used a 17-0 run in the second quarter and rolled to an 87-60 victory over the No. 14 seed Sugar Bears in a Dallas Regional first-round game of the NCAA Women's Tournament. The game took place in front of an announced crowd of 5,823 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.

UCA, the Southland Conference Tournament champions, finished 28-4. Louisville (26-7) will play DePaul in a second-round game Sunday.

Louisville sophomore forward Myisha Hines-Allen, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, finished with 26 points and six rebounds to lead the Cardinals.

"Wow," UCA Coach Sandra Rushing said. "Everything that we saw on film, we got to live it today. We knew going in it was going to be a difficult matchup. I felt like we came out and had the energy and believed a little bit, but they cranked it up."

Mariya Moore, a sophomore forward, had 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for the Cardinals. Freshman forward Sam Fuehring added 12 points.

Sophomore forward Taylor Baudoin led UCA with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Senior forward Kendara Watts had 12 points. Junior guard Maggie Proffitt scored 11 points, and classmate Sandy Jackson added nine points.

The Sugar Bears led 25-22 entering the second quarter, but they couldn't overcome Hines-Allen and the Cardinals, ranked No. 8 in The Associated Press women's Top 25 poll.

The game was tied at 32-32 with 6:29 left in the second quarter after Jackson hit a jumper. From there, it was all Louisville, as the Cardinals went on a 17-0 run to take a 49-32 lead.

Hines-Allen scored eight of Louisville's 17 points during the run. Her layup with 3:29 left in the first half forced Rushing to take a timeout. Mariya Moore's three-point play capped the run with 1:21 to play in the half.

Baudoin ended Louisville's run with a jumper, but the Cardinals led 51-34 at halftime.

"I thought the first quarter was great basketball, one of the best we've played all year" Rushing said. "Then they kind of punched us and we didn't really respond."

Hines-Allen had 19 of her game-high 26 points in the first half.

"We tried to get transition points, get the ball out of our hands and up the court," Hines-Allen said. "We started taking advantage of our advantage in the post. We started scoring better in the transition points."

Louisville continued to dominate in the second half.

The Cardinals pushed their lead to 68-43 with 3:26 left in the third quarter on Fuehring's layup. Louisville led 73-49 going into the fourth quarter.

Louisville's largest lead was 30 points, 87-57, with 33 seconds remaining.

Early on, UCA hung with Louisville. The Sugar Bears went on a 7-0 run to take an 18-12 lead with 2:25 left in the first quarter. During the run, Baudoin and Watts scored on layups, and junior guard Brianna Mullins, who was held to five points, hit a three-pointer.

Louisville cut the lead to 20-18 with 1:15 left in the first quarter, but Baudoin's three-pointer extended the lead to 23-18 with 54 seconds to play in the quarter.

UCA's first-quarter performance was not lost on Louisville Coach Jeff Walz, whose team went on to hold the Sugar Bears to 14-of-53 shooting the final three quarters.

"They came out, I thought, for a first period and punched us in the nose," Walz said. "I was just really impressed with them.

"You know, it was a very, very good basketball team, and there is a reason they won their league, and you can see that."

It was UCA's first NCAA Tournament appearance on the Division I level. The Sugar Bears' 28 victories were their most since moving up to Division I in 2015-2016.

"This was our first time on the big stage, but we sure would like to get back here," Rushing said. "This is great for our program that we can go back and we'll break down the film and compare. We know where we want to be at Central Arkansas, and it takes time. But these players have laid the foundation. They've been here. We've got to continue to work.

"I think UCA is a great place and a great school. If we can get people on campus, we can sell it. These young ladies right here are just so wonderful to be around. They bleed purple."

Sports on 03/19/2016

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