Central Arkansas returns from a nine-day layoff on Tuesday when the Sugar Bears host Chicago State at 7 p.m. in the Farris Center for their final game of 2010.
The Sugar Bears (6-4) will be seeking their fifth consecutive win as they take on the Cougars (4-7) in their final Division I game before the beginning of Southland Conference play on Jan. 8. The Sugar Bears will play Oklahoma Wesleyan on Jan. 1 and Ecclesia on the 4th.
CSU, which enters the game losers of three of its last four, has had a six-day layoff following a narrow 67-63 defeat against Auburn on Dec. 21. The Cougars are 2-5 in road games for the season, having scored wins at Western Michigan and Valparaiso. The Cougars and Sugar Bears have one common opponent this season in Eastern Kentucky. The Cougars lost 74-61 at EKU, and the Sugar Bears defeated the Lady Colonels 61-52 in Conway.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams, with CSU having defeated the Sugar Bears 78-62 in Chicago on Dec. 29 of last year. In that game the Cougars shot 62 percent from the field in the second half and outscored UCA 42-28 after leading by two at halftime to pull away for the win.
Courtney Waldon, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, had 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists to lead CSU in the win. Megan Herbert had 29 points and 13 rebounds, and Micah Rice had 10 points and a career-high nine assists in the loss for UCA.
This season the Cougars are led by 6-foot senior forward Tressa Beckel, a McDonald's All-American coming out of Waseca (Minn.) High School where she was also an all-american in track & field as a national outdoor champion in the high jump. She is averaging 18 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game to lead CSU. Waldon averages 14.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.3 steals. Waldon also leads the team with 24 3-pointers made this season, shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc.
The Cougars have played only nine players this season, with four starting every game and Caila Desroches replacing Beckel in the lineup for one. Four CSU players average more than 31 minutes per game, with three others averaging at least 15.
Both teams rank among the national Top 50 in steals per game, with CSU coming in at No. 27 with 12.2 per game. The Sugar Bears are tied with UConn at No. 37, averaging 11.7.
Herbert, who leads the Sugar Bears at 16.7 points per game, is the nation's 10th-leading rebounder at 11.5 and is eighth in the country at 5.2 offensive rebounds per game. She is tied for fourth in the nation with seven double-doubles so far this season. Junior point guard Destinee Rogers is 8th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.91.
The Sugar Bears will be looking for their 20th win inside the Farris Center since the beginning of last season, having gone 15-1 last year and beginning this season 4-1. UCA was just 8-18 at home in the two previous seasons.
