Note: This was supposed to be published around 4:15 in the morning, but in my delirium I must've failed to hit "save". Okay, back to bed.

I'll write more later when not suffering from sleep deprivation and the effects of going to the tropical locale of Cleveland, Miss. and back in the same day. However, before I pass out for the next 98 hours, I would just like to say that if the pollsters watched tonight's games, the Bears would move up. They didn't get the W, but if Delta is the best or second-best team in the region, UCA isn't terribly far behind. The Bears have shown they can play with the No. 2 team, and have beaten the No. 5 team. Really they should be 2-0 against the Statesmen, but it's darn near impossible to hold a team that good down for 40 minutes. If the Bears can figure out how to close games out, they could make some noise in the conference tournament. And, they're going to have to, to have a shot at the regional and to keep Chappell's 20-win season streak alive.

The Sugar Bears sure didn't catch any breaks tonight. They were behind the 8 ball basically from the outset with all the foul trouble early on – some of it warranted, much of it not.

The game went from 8-6 to 17-9 in a hurry and the snowball effect took over from there. Loved the fight Caronica showed when she was inserted again late in the half. Without going to dig out my notes, I think she had 11 or so points there in the last five or six minutes to get UCA back into it. Allicia Kellogg had a 3-point attempt that came about two inches from falling that would've made it a four-point game ... that likely would've been the halftime score and the Sugar Bears would've had all the momentum. Alas, it fell short and so did the comeback attempt as the second half was more whistles and all Delta.

I don't know if the Sugar Bears could have pulled that one out anyway, but it's hard to compete when your right hand and left leg are tied behind your back.

The foul situation kept key players out of the game for key stretches and, with so much of it coming at the beginning, gave Delta the early edge and it's tough to play from behind against a team like that.

But, that being said, the Sugar Bears still didn't get stops. It seemed like every time you turned around, the Lady Statesmen were getting gimmees underneath the basket. Sometimes it was penetration where there was no help, sometimes it was just a breakdown in communication on D, other times it was something off an offensive rebound. And, they hit some tough ones down there and on the perimeter, too. Basically, they hit every shot they needed to. After Caronica's exhibit in the first half, they made sure they came out and squashed that comeback dream.

Right now I'd say I'm much more impressed with Delta than I am Henderson. I am also much more impressed with my bed than this blog.