Sugar Bears runners-up in WBI to end historic year
CONWAY — Central Arkansas came up just short in its goal to claim both the program’s and Southland Conference’s first-ever national postseason tournament championship, suffering a 54-50 defeat to Yale in the championship game of the Women’s Basketball Invitational tournament Thursday in front of a season-high 3,526 fans in the Farris Center.
The Sugar Bears (25-10) had a chance in the final minute, with the game tied, 50-50, and
56 seconds remaining after a Taylor Baudoin jumper, but a layup and pair of free throws from Yale’s Jen Berkowitz would be the only points of the final 55 seconds as the Bulldogs (19-13) escaped with the win and the WBI championship.
After Baudoin’s tying shot, Berkowitz scored and was fouled, but she missed the accompanying free throw. The Sugar Bears were down by two points with 29 seconds remaining.
After a timeout with 25 seconds left, the Sugar Bears worked for a final tying shot, but lost the ball out of bounds with five seconds remaining to turn it back over to Yale. The Sugar Bears instantly fouled Berkowitz on the ensuing inbound and she sank two foul shots.
Central Arkansas led throughout the first half, but saw the lead slip away in the third quarter. The team went ahead briefly in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by senior Angel Williams before Yale reclaimed the lead 19 seconds later.
The Sugar Bears only scored six points in the final 7:10 – all by Baudoin – as the Bulldogs held Central Arkansas to just
30 percent shooting in the second half and 35.8 percent for the game.
In her final game for Central Arkansas, Baudoin scored a game-high 21 points. It was her 10th 20-point game of the season and 30th game of the season in double figures, tying the program’s Division I record set by Megan Herbert in 2010-11.
Baudoin finished her threeyear career at Central Arkansas with 1,226 points and 628 rebounds. She is the 18th-leading scorer in program history and fifth in the school’s Division I era. Baudoin is also 15th on the program’s career rebounding list and third in the Division I era.
Senior center Kierra Jordan closed out her career with 10 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Williams finished with three points and two rebounds in the final game of her four-year career.
The loss was just the Sugar Bears’ sixth in 47 games on their home floor over the last three seasons. They were 8-4 in postseason play during that same period.
By holding Yale to 54 points, the Sugar Bears finished the season with a Southland Conference record for lowest scoring average allowed, giving up just
50.9 points per game – beating the old mark of 51.6 set by former member UT-Arlington in
2006, and second in the nation this season.
The Sugar Bears also finished with 25 wins for the third consecutive season, just one of
17 Division I programs out of
349 to do so over the last three seasons. The team averaged 26.3 wins during that time and 21.3 over the last nine years.