CONWAY — It's been a fun couple weeks for Central Arkansas with the Sugar Bears winning their last three games in dominating fashion – winning by an average of 21.7 points in getting their first-ever win against perennial league power Stephen F. Austin, going to Northwestern State for a big road win and routing Nicholls for UCA's most lopsided Southland win.

Things have been going so well of late that the Sugar Bears have been rated as the nation's No. 1 Team On The Rise by OmniRankings.com, a Web site that utilizes a mathematical model to provide rankings and predictions for every Division I men's and women's basketball team.

Two weeks ago wasn't nearly as enjoyable for the Sugar Bears as they kicked off conference play with a 77-67 defeat in Beaumont, Texas to defending league champion and preseason favorite Lamar.

The Sugar Bears' chance at redemption comes Saturday at 2 p.m. as the Lady Cardinals come to Conway for the rematch between the teams picked 1-2 in the east division in the Southland preseason polls. Lamar is currently ranked No. 22 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.

While the Lady Cardinals (13-4, 2-1 Southland) are hoping for a repeat of their showing in Beaumont, the Sugar Bears (11-6, 3-1) will be looking for a replay of Lamar's last visit to Conway.

Last season the Sugar Bears outscored Lamar 35-7 at the free throw line and held a 46-28 rebounding advantage in a 92-77 victory, sending the Lady Cardinals to their first conference loss of the season.

Things didn't go quite as well for the Sugar Bears in this year's first meeting with Lamar shooting 42 percent from 3-point range, 90.5 percent from the free throw line and holding UCA to just 37.1 percent shooting and 25.8 percent from 3-point range.

Monique Whittaker, a Nebraska transfer, led all scorers with 21 while Jasmin Henderson came off the bench to score a season-high 17 – hitting 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. Micah Rice had 18 for the Sugar Bears and Megan Herbert had 15 points and 17 rebounds.

Senior guard Jenna Plumley, the Southland Player of the Year last season, was limited to six points on 1-of-7 shooting in the game.

With Plumley, sophomore guard Kalis Loyd – a preseason second-team all-conference pick – and senior forward Trashanna Smith – an All-Southland honorable mention pick last season and the school's blocked shots record-holder – the Lady Cardinals come to town with no shortage of ammunition.

At 73.3 points per game for the season, the Lady Cardinals are the second-highest scoring team in the league. Whittaker leads the way at 14.4 points per game, with Loyd (13.8) and Plumley (12.9) not far behind. Henderson is averaging 13.3 per game off the bench in league play.

If any team in the league is comfortable keeping pace with Lamar it'd be the Sugar Bears, the only team to score at a higher rate than the Lady Cardinals. UCA averages a Southland-best 74.5 points for the season, including a league-high 76.5 in conference play.

At 19 and 17.3 per game, Megan Herbert and Micah Rice come into Saturday's game as the No. 2 and 3 scorers in Southland play behind McNeese State's Ashlyn Baggett (19.5 ppg).

Rice has a league-best 16 3-pointers and has connected on nearly 60 percent of her 3-point shots (20-34) in UCA's last six games. She hit four against Lamar in the opener, and has since followed with two games where she hit five – going 5-for-8 against SFA and 5-for-6 against Nicholls. As a team, the Sugar Bears are 5th in the nation in 3-point field goals made per game at 8.3.

Despite a career-low two rebounds in 20 minutes in the Sugar Bears' rout of Nicholls on Wednesday, Herbert still leads the Southland at 11 per game including an average of 12.5 in four conference games. She has made 64.3 percent of her shots over the last four games and leads the league with a .558 field goal percentage for the season.

After recording eight assists and no turnovers in Wednesday's win over Nicholls, Destinee Rogers sits at 9th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio.