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KATY, Texas – Central Arkansas finally exorcised its Merrell Center misery, as the top-seed Sugar Bears received a huge contribution off the bench from Sandy Jackson and advanced to the finals of the Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament with a hard-fought 72-64 victory over fourth-seed McNeese State Saturday afternoon, putting the program a game away from an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
One week after scoring 13 points and grabbing five rebounds against the Cowgirls, Jackson racked up a season-high 18 points and pulled down seven boards en route to helping Central Arkansas (27-3) to complete a season sweep of McNeese State (20-12). Jackson was at her most clutch at the free throw line, where the junior knocked down all four of her attempts in the final nine seconds to help the Sugar Bears fend off a late rally from the Cowgirls.
While McNeese State held first-team all-conference selection Maggie Proffitt to just 10 points, it was the play of Jackson and the Sugar Bears’ bench which proved to be huge difference in the contest.
“The bench always has to stay ready,” Jackson, who sparked the Central Arkansas reserves to outscore McNeese State’s bench by a 30-14 margin, said. “Anything can happen in tourney time, so you have to stay ready.”
Saturday’s win snapped a three-year stretch of one and done for the Sugar Bears, which included a loss to McNeese State in 2014 that made their visit to Merrell Center far shorter than expected. The issue was something the team did not discuss, yet the ability to play one more game was proof positive there was a sense of relief.
“I’m very excited we’re going to have an opportunity to play for the championship,” Central Arkansas coach Sandra Rushing said. “That is something that we’ve talked about all year long.”
The game remained tight for much of the fourth quarter before McNeese State’s Jasymn Carswell missed an open layup, which eventually resulted in Central Arkansas’ Kendara Watts delivering a 3-pointer that gave the Sugar Bears a 62-54 lead with 2:45 remaining.
“I really thought that was a great play,” McNeese State coach Brooks Donald-Williams, whose team still hosts postseason aspirations, said. “It was a great hustle play. Nine times out of 10, Jas makes that shot. The shot Watts makes was a killer.”
Watts then hit a jumper with 1:50 on the clock that pushed the margin to 64-54, which provided the cushion Central Arkansas would need to hold off two late 3-pointers from Cowgirls guard Jayln Johnson, who finished with a game-high 27 points.
Central Arkansas led by as many as 12 points in the first quarter and took a 36-32 lead into the locker room, but McNeese State opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run to take a 40-38 lead at the 7:15 mark on a basket by Johnson, whose layup was a watershed moment in the contest. The Sugar Bears then kept the Cowgirls without a field goal until Johnson snapped the drought with 46 seconds left in the quarter.
Johnson was the only McNeese State player in double figures, as Central Arkansas held Allison Baggett to just eight points on 4-for-13 shooting.
Central Arkansas reaches the championship game of the first time since 2011. The Sugar Bears will take on the winner of second-seeded Northwestern State and seventh-seeded Sam Houston State Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on CBS Sports Network.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Central Arkansas Head Coach Sandra Rushing
On today’s game…
“I want to say that I’m very, very proud of this team and how hard they fought. You have to give credit to McNeese State for attacking and getting into the paint. They did a tremendous job and they’re very well coached. These players refuse to lose and we’re excited that we’re going to have the opportunity to play for a championship. That’s something we talked about all year long. I thought our bench was huge tonight. Maggie [Proffitt] didn’t get a lot of shots off and that’s okay because throughout the year we’ve had other people step up. This team is a very special team. It wasn’t pretty, but an ugly win this time of year is great.”
Playing McNeese State three times…
“They ran the same offense, I just thought they did a better job of attacking down the middle. They hit some shots. They had to opportunity to play yesterday, we’ve been off a week. They’re a very good team and well coached. Look at the guard play; they head to the rim. Their posts do a tremendous job of rebounding. I thought when we started attacking them, we did a better job offensively.”
Central Arkansas Junior Guard Brianna Mullins
On defense in the second half…
“Coach Rushing preaches defense every day. That’s basically what’s gotten us here. The team came together at the end of the basketball game. We knew we had to shut them down defensively and that’s something that we do.”
Central Arkansas Junior Guard Sandy Jackson
On coming off the bench …
“It’s very important for the bench to always stay ready and Coach Rushing tells us that every game. [Earlier in this tournament], we saw four starters foul out. In tournament play, you always have to stay ready.”
McNeese State Head Coach Brooks Donald Williams
On UCA’s defense…
“They have physicality. Obviously it affects some of the teams and it affected us. They really brought it down hard on us. That’s what great teams do, buckle down and get stops. Central Arkansas has consistently done that all year long and they certainly did that tonight.”
On Sandy Jackson…
“She just plays so tough, she really does. We all know she’s left handed and we all know she’s catching it and going left. Even knowing all her characteristics we still struggle to guard her.”
McNeese State Senior Guard Allison Baggett
On Central Arkansas’ defesnse…
“They just did a good job of stepping over and contesting all of our shots”