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February 13, 2001
Ouachita teams fall on the road to UCA
By Mac Sisson
CONWAY-The Ouachita Baptist University Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball teams succumbed to poor performances in different halves Monday night as they dropped Gulf South Conference games to the University of Central Arkansas at the Farris Center in Conway as the OBU women lost 71-57, and the men fell 90-66.
The Sugar Bears swept the regular season series with the Lady Tigers, 2-0. With the win, the UCA women went to 17-6, 9-4, while OBU ladies fell to 16-6, 8-4. On the men's side, the UCA Bears advanced to 12-11, 9-4, and the Tigers dropped to 5-17, 3-9.
The Lady Tigers demise came in the form of a horrendous final 20 minutes of field goal shooting in which only seven of 26 attempts swished the nets. Up to the half, OBU and UCA were playing in the same league with the home team holding a precarious four point lead, 32-28.
The wheels then fell off the wagon for OBU as the Lady Tigers lost concentration in the face of the UCA attack and encountered 26 turnovers. UCA made 13 points off steals.
While the Lady Tigers were shooting themselves in the foot, UFA was hitting 11 of 28 from the field in the second half for 39 percent.
For the game, OBU was 19 of 55 for 35 percent from the field, while the Sugar Bears shot 25 of 59 for 42 percent. Both teams made four three-pointers. OBU was 15 of 19 from the line, while UCA hit 17 of 25.
Sophomore transfer Crystal Allen scored 19 points to pace her team, while Jennifer Edwards added 10. Point guard Tracy Denney grabbed seven rebounds. UCA was led by Kristin Frase and Genai Walker, both with 16 points. Frase led both teams in rebounds with nine.
The loss by Garry Crowder's OBU team dropped it from a second place to a fourth place standing in the Gulf South Conference. Delta State, Arkansas Tech and UCA all are ahead of the Lady Tigers as the conference race spirals to a conclusion. The top four teams in each of the two GSC divisions go to the post season tournament, March 1-4 at the BancorpSouth Center in Tupelo, MS.
In the men's late game, UCA set the pace for most of the evening with only two ties and four lead changes in the contest.
Ouachita's Mauricio Watson and Tim Lane both had good nights scoring 20 and
19 points, respectively. Senior guard T.J. Jones and guard Jarris Kentle were credited with 10 points each. Watson was the team's leading rebounder with nine boards.
The Bears had four players in double figures with Cedrick Nickelberry topping the charts with 17 points, followed by Kyle Lyons with 14, Brian Glass scored 11, and Karelius Paul ended the night with 10 points.
UCA led at halftime 45-25. At that point, the Tigers were morbid in their shooting hitting only seven of 27 from the field fir 26 percent. The Bears, meantime, were hitting at a 54 percent clip (21 of 39).
The second half finally saw OBU regain a certain amount of composure and connect on 15 of 30 from the field for 50 percent, but UCA kept up with the pace and hit identically the 53 percentage they shot in the opening stanza of play.
A strong inside game, enabled the Conway team to dominate the paint, scoring 46 points down low, while the Tigers were held to 32 points. An attentive UCA defense also stole the ball 11 times from Ouachita and scored 17 points off the thefts.
The OBU Lady Tigers and Tigers will try to re-group on Thursday as they host ravine rival Henderson State University in Bill Vining Arena in the Roy and Christine Sturgis Physical Education Center. The Lady Tigers and Lady Reddies will tipoff at 6 p.m., followed by the Tigers and Reddies at 8 p.m. On Saturday, OBU will travel to Magnolia to face the Southern Arkansas University Riderettes at 6 p.m. and the Muleriders at 8 p.m. at Mulerider Fieldhouse.
Ouachita Baptist University• Lady Tigers
