Maggie Proffitt never imagined the difference a month could make.
In her first two seasons as a member of the Central Arkansas women’s basketball team, Proffitt and her teammates regrouped in July to begin preparations for the upcoming. The final months of summer were filled with conditioning and skill work for basketball, classes, and time to bond with teammates to build chemistry.
Prior to the 2015-16 season, Proffitt and her UCA teammates tried something new. Instead of waiting until July to return to the Conway, Arkansas, campus, they opted to reconvene in June. Proffitt and the rest of the Sugar Bears are reaping the rewards from that decision.
“The extra month gave us time to be here together and bond and figure each other out,” Proffitt said. “The extra month gave us time to know our teammates better, to know what roles we were going to play, and to believe in each other. We knew everybody was going to give it their all for the team.”
On Sunday, UCA defeated Sam Houston State 69-62 to win the Southland Conference tournament title and secure that league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It is the first NCAA tournament bid for UCA (28-3), which has matched a school record for wins in a season, as a Division I program. The last time UCA advanced to a NCAA tournament was 2005, when it was a Division II program and a member of the Gulf South Conference.
UCA earned a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament on Monday and will face No. 3 seed Louisville (25-7) at 1:30 p.m. Friday (ESPN2) at Louisville, Kentucky. The winner of that game will advance to face the winner of the game between No. 6 seed DePaul (25-8) and No. 11 seed James Madison (27-5) at time to be determined Sunday.
Proffitt, a former standout at Starkville Academy and Columbus High School, and Taylor Baudoin, a former standout at New Hope High and Columbus Christian Academy in Steens, have been driving forces behind the Sugar Bears’ success.
Proffitt, a junior guard, leads UCA in scoring (14.3 points per game), 3-point field goals (68), and free-throw percentage (90.4 percent). She has started all 31 games and has had seven games in which she has scored 20 or more points. Her exploits earned her first-team All-Southland Conference honors
Baudoin, a sophomore forward, transferred from Jones County Junior College in Ellisville after earning honorable mention All-America honors. She is averaging 9.2 points and 6.1 rebounds and is shooting 46.7 percent from the field in 22.8 minutes per game. She has started 17 games. Her exploits earned her honorable mention All-Southland Conference honors.
Proffitt said it has been “amazing” to be a part of a history-making run that has UCA in the NCAA tournament for the first time in its 10 years as a Division I program. The No. 14 seed equals the best seed for a Southland Conference team since UT Arlington was a No. 13 seed in the 2007 tournament. UCA joins Buffalo, Duquesne, Jacksonville, and Iona in making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
“I feel like we are all on cloud nine,” Proffitt said Monday night following the NCAA tournament Selection Show. “We have worked extremely hard. Like coach (Sandra Rushing) has been saying, we have been battle tested. Going into the (Southland Conference) tournament, we knew what we could accomplish. We just had to come out confident and play hard and play for each other and leave it all on the court.”
Proffitt said being the team’s leading scorer has put a little more pressure on her compared to her first two seasons, but she credits her teammates for giving the team plenty of other options. She feels the team has so many scoring threats and such good chemistry that it can keep opponents honest.
“Maggie has had a tremendous season,” UCA coach Sandra Rushing said. “She came in as a great shooter. The thing I am most proud of is she is no longer a one-dimensional player. She plays on both ends of the floor and has worked on creating her own shot. She has stepped her game up and matured and a leader on the floor. ”
Baudoin is another weapons. At 5-foot-11, she has provided a solid presence in the paint and someone who is willing to mix it up and do the blue-collar work that every team needs.
“Taylor brings some toughness,” Rushing said. “She is very physical and can play inside and out. She is a competitor, and like Maggie they refuse to lose. … Taylor has come in and added another dimension to our team.”
Baudoin credits the coaches for “not letting anything slide” and staying on the players. She admits it has been a hard road to get to 28-3 and earn a NCAA tournament bid, but she feels this is just the start of something special for the Sugar Bears. She said UCA won’t be intimidated against a Power 5 Conference opponent like Louisville, which is from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“To be able to play with these amazing people is hard to describe,” Baudoin said. “The people around me have helped me be able to accomplish what I have been able to accomplish. At first it was a little tough to adjust, but I have really had to grow mentally. When I got here, I became mentally tough to push through adversity when everything is going my way.”
Rushing, a former coach at Division II Delta State in Cleveland, said Proffitt and Baudoin have been great leaders on a team filled with individuals who have been committed to winning a championship. She said she had a feeling in the summer when she saw the players return early that the 2015-16 season could be special.
“They committed to the weight room, conditioning, individual workouts, and it became a domino effect,” Rushing said. “When you have leaders coming in and doing extra and putting in the time, their teammates see that. This team is very special. It is not necessarily because it is going to the NCAA tournament, but they have laid the foundation and stamped their mark in history of being the first team in history. They are special young ladies and good people. They have worked hard. It has been a joy to coach them.”
Proffitt said she didn’t recall talking specifically about being a part of a program that advanced to the NCAA tournament. Still, she admitted she liked the potential she saw in her classmates when she arrived as a freshman. One of the highlights to her first season was a victory against Ole Miss in Oxford. The Sugar Bears’ accomplishments this month, though, have trumped that victory and set the team’s focus on even bigger goals.
“It has been a great three years,” Proffitt said. “It definitely has been a ride, but we’re on cloud nine. This is what we have been working for and what we wrote down on the (dry erase) board in June. It is a great feeling to see all of the hard work paying off.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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