Feb 23rd, 2007 01:18AM
by:

By JOSH GOFF
UCA SID ASSISTANT

CONWAY — Though Senior Night isn't officially until Saturday for the University of Central Arkansas, the Sugar Bears' three elder statesmen seized the limelight and the game on Thursday as UCA led wire-to-wire in defeating Southland Conference East-leading Southeastern Louisiana 69-58 in the Farris Center.

Seniors Renita Dobbins, Shannon Oden and Caronica Randle combined for 36 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists in their next-to-last home game as the Sugar Bears (12-14, 6-8 SLC) exacted their revenge on a Lady Lions (17-9, 9-4) squad that won 55-50 in the teams' first meeting in a game where UCA shot just 25.5 percent.

"We challenged the team to do this for the seniors and challenged the seniors to do it for themselves and their team," said UCA coach Checola Seals-Horton. "Our seniors really stepped up tonight. You look up and see Caronica had 20 points, Shannon had seven points and eight rebounds, Renita had 11 assists ... they had such a great game together. They communicated, talked and did everything they had to do to get a win."

The Sugar Bears jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead early in the contest, and built the lead to double digits with 7:40 to go in the first half on a Meaghen Kelleybrew free throw. The lead grew to as much as 12 on an Allyson Sample 3-pointer before SLU went on an 8-0 run in the half's waning moments to go into the locker room down just 33-31.

Coming out of the locker room, UCA exploded for the first eight points of the second half in 1:25 to push the lead to 10 once again. Another 8-0 SLU run capped by a Kristy Carlin jumper made it 41-39 UCA with 14:02 to go.

UCA answered back a few moments later with a 9-0 run of its own, getting scoring from Sample and the three seniors, including a 3-pointer by Oden to go ahead 14 with 3:58 to play and put the Lions away for good.

Though they took care of the bulk of the work in the win, the senior trio didn't do it alone. Sample, a junior, scored 12 points and grabbed three rebounds in 18 minutes, knocking down four of eight 3-point attempts. Sharece Love, UCA's junior power forward, had five points and seven rebounds — but made an even more significant contribution on the other end.

"Sharece Love did a great job," Seals-Horton said of Love's work on SLU leading scorer Brenita Williams, who was limited to 10 points on 5-of-20 shooting. "We challenged Sharece to step up and play Brenita hard, play her strong. I don't think Sharece came out in the second half. We just kept her in there and told her to keep laying on her and keep pushing on her, and she did that."

It didn't stop there for UCA, which Seals-Horton said played its most balanced game in some time. Mariesha Piggee contributed 11 points and four rebounds, and in nine minutes of play and Kelleybrew added three points, two rebounds and two blocks.

"I applaud our kids," Seals-Horton said. "This was a complete team effort. It seemed like everything was clicking and we were hitting on all cylinders. You look at what the seniors did, and then Mariesha had a great game tonight. Allyson gets in the game and she knocks down a 3 and you know she's going to make something happen. And to know she's out there playing with a bad foot, you have to applaud her every night for what she does. Everybody was ready to play tonight. When you've got balanced scoring and rebounding and it's not all on Caronica, and everybody's contributing – it makes for a great win."

The Sugar Bears were able to win by improving on the poor shooting that haunted them last time out against SLU. After a 37-percent first half, UCA came back out and shot 40 percent in the second half and hit 41.7 percent (10 for 24) of its 3s on the night.

On the other end, the Lady Lions struggled in the second half by hitting just 25 percent (8 for 32) and were a mere 14.3 percent on 3-pointers.

"Our fans finally got a chance to watch us play defense," Seals-Horton said. "Our kids felt really good coming into this one. They were very comfortable. We played SLU at their place that we only lost by five and only shot 25 percent. We knew if we came out and played that we could take care of business. I think the kids realize we could have been playing like this all season long and that we can beat anybody on our side."

The Sugar Bears return to action for Dobbins, Oden and Randle's final home game Saturday night at 6 p.m. when they take on Nicholls State.