CONWAY, Ark. — The Bellarmine University women's basketball team made multiple second-half comebacks, but the Knights ultimately could never overtake Central Arkansas in falling 65-58 Thursday night to the Sugar Bears in ASUN action in the Farris Center.

Junior guard Jaela Johnson led three Knights (3-21, 0-13 ASUN) in double figures with a game-high 18 points and added seven rebounds. Senior guard Bailee Harney followed with 14 points while senior guard Presley Brown chipped in 10 points and five assists. Senior forward Sheniqua Coatney returned from injury to haul in seven rebounds against UCA (9-15, 4-9).

Lucy Ibeh notched a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds to pace Central Arkansas, which pushed its lead to double digits on five occasions in the second half. Contests in conference play have frequently gotten away from the Knights after halftime, but that didn't happen in the year's second meeting with the Sugar Bears.

With roughly seven minutes left in the fourth, Bellarmine trailed by 10 before Harney and Johnson buried consecutive 3-pointers and Brown sank a jumper to cut the deficit to two. Central Arkansas responded to go back up nine with about three minutes remaining, but the Knights once again answered.

Brown canned back-to-back jumpers and Johnson sank a pair of free throws as Bellarmine raced back to within 59-56 with 41 seconds left. The Knights quickly fouled and Hannah Langhi followed by hitting the two free throws.

Johnson converted a drive to again make it a one-possession game at 61-58, but Randrea Wright bumped UCA's lead back to five with 22 seconds left after knocking down a pair from the charity stripe. The Knights missed on the other end, and the Sugar Bears grabbed the rebound to effectively seal the win.

"We scrapped, we fought, but if the ball is on the floor, you have to go down and get it," Knights Coach Chancellor Dugan said. "We missed six hustle plays in the fourth quarter alone. We get those and we have six more possessions. …We made some shots and had some tough defensive stops. We held them to four 3-pointers, but those four 3-pointers (all in the second half) were daggers."

Bellarmine's succession of comebacks began at the outset, as Central Arkansas jumped out to a 12-2 lead less than four minutes into the game. The Knights settled in after a 6-0 run and trailed 16-11 after the first quarter and 25-22 at halftime. When they trailed by 11 in the third quarter, sophomore guard Mackenzie Keelin and Johnson bookended an 8-0 run with 3-pointers.

Central Arkansas ranks third in the ASUN in rebounding margin, but the Sugar Bears outrebounded the Knights by just one board, 33-32.

"I was really proud of the way we rebounded," Dugan said. "We had some pluses tonight."

Bellarmine will host Jacksonville State at 2 p.m. (ET) Sunday in Freedom Hall. The Knights will celebrate Senior Day.

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