CONWAY, Ark. – HBU led Central Arkansas, 32-29, at the break, but the Sugar Bears used a 12-0 late in the second half to defeat the Huskies, 67-54, Saturday afternoon at the Farris Center.

Shanice Steenholdt and Erin McGarrachan each scored 10 points for HBU (4-9 overall, 0-2 SLC). Steenholdt led the team with six rebounds and had half of the team's four blocks. Tayler Jefferson played in a team-high 31 minutes and scored eight points, with three assists, one rebound, one block, and one steal. She was perfect from beyond the arc, going 2-for-2.

Central Arkansas' (8-5 overall, 2-0 SLC) leading scorer, Courtney Duever, was held to just four points in the first half, but scored 10 second-half points to finish with 14 points and six rebounds. Jameka Watkins led the Sugar Bears with 17 points, while Terai Sadler pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

HBU scored the game's first four points, on back-to-back buckets from Monet Neal and McGarrachan. With 13 minutes remaining in the first half and UCA leading by one, Maggie Proffitt and Jefferson exchanged three-pointers to make the score, 12-11, in favor of the Sugar Bears.

With the score tied at 14-all, UCA scored five unanswered for its largest lead of the game, 19-14. Still leading by five, 21-16, HBU closed out the final 10:16 outscoring UCA, 16-8, to take a three-point lead at halftime, 32-29. The final lead change of the opening half came on a defensive rebound by Meghan Shank and then a fast-break layup by McGarrachan at the 3:31-mark.

McGarrachan scored all 10 of her points in the first half to lead all players, while Watkins led UCA with eight.

It took just nine seconds for UCA to tie the game at 31-31, with an and-one play by Brianna Mullins. The teams battled hard, with the largest lead for UCA being three points and the closest the Huskies coming was one. Leading 43-42, UCA used a 6-0 run to lead HBU by seven, 49-42, with 12:05 remaining in regulation.

A layup by Steenholdt at the 8:18-mark cut the deficit to three, 53-50, but UCA used a 12-0 run in six minutes to blow open a close game. Rachel Arthur's jumper with 2:02 remaining in the game stopped the dry spell and made the score, 65-52.

HBU hosts its first Southland Conference games next weekend. The Huskies play Stephen F. Austin on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 5 pm, then Northwestern State on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3 pm.