HOUSTON – The 13th-ranked defense in the nation lived up to it in the second half, as Central Arkansas held HBU to 22 percent shooting and 23 points, as the Sugar Bears erased a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat HBU, 57-55, Saturday afternoon from Sharp Gym.

Monet Neal was the only player to score in double figures, as she scored 11 points for HBU (11-14 overall, 7-7 SLC). Rachel Arthur scored nine points and Shanice Steenholdt added eight and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Anna Strickland came off the bench to grab seven rebounds.

Central Arkansas (16-8 overall, 10-3 SLC), who entered this afternoon's contest tied for first place in the conference standings with Lamar, was led by Courtney Duever with game highs of 16 points and nine rebounds. Maggie Proffitt scored 12 points, and Brittany Agee chipped in with 10.

Tied 4-4 at the 17:48-mark, HBU used a 16-5 run to take an 11-point lead, 20-9, with 11:12 remaining in the first half. Steenholdt and Erin McGarrachan combined for 12 points and two steals in the run.

The Sugar Bears cut the lead to seven following a jumper by Duever at the 5:58-mark, but a jumper by Wiebke Bruns and two free throws by Heidi Sihvola brought the Huskies' lead back up to 11, 28-17, with 4:48 to go in the first half. The teams exchanged baskets before UCA's Kelsei Ewings hit a three-pointer with 32 seconds remaining to bring the deficit back down to single digits, 32-23.

Steenholdt led all players with eight points, while Strickland had seven rebounds. UCA was led by Agee with six points. Duever was held to just three points in the first half on 1-of-5 shooting. As a team, HBU shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half, compared to UCA's 36 percent.

The second half started much differently, as UCA used a 16-7 run in the first 8 ½ minutes of the second half to tie the game at 39-all.

Bruns' jumper at the 8:14-mark was the first field goal for HBU in the second half and made the score, 46-43, in favor of the Sugar Bears. HBU relied on the free throw line to stay in the ball game prior to that point, as the Huskies went 13-of-14 from the charity stripe in the second half.

Bruns' jumper awoke the Huskies' offense, as they used a 6-2 run to take the lead right back, 49-48, with 4:49 to go in regulation. Monet Neal's jumper at the 3:31-mark gave the Huskies a three-point advantage.

UCA battled back to tie the game at 52. HBU took a one-point lead on a pair of Neal free throws, but Proffitt hit a trey with 59 seconds to go to give the Sugar Bears a two-point lead, 55-53. Sihvola tied the game with a jumper with 13 seconds to go, but UCA went down the floor and Duever went inside and banked the shot off the backboard and through the hoop for the go-ahead bucket, 57-55, with three seconds remaining. After a timeout, Neal's long two-point attempt narrowly missed at the buzzer.

HBU hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi next Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 pm.