CONWAY — After a hard-fought 69-65 win at Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday, Central Arkansas returns to action at home on Saturday – and all the Sugar Bears find waiting on them is the hottest team in the league.
After losing to defending league champ Lamar in their last game inside the Farris Center, the Sugar Bears (12-7, 4-2) come back to face the one team to beat the Lady Cardinals in Southland play this season – the McNeese State Cowgirls.
The game, which tips at 2 p.m., is the first part of a doubleheader with the Bears and Cowboys which follows at 4:30.
The Cowgirls (14-5, 6-0 Southland), the league's lone remaining unbeaten team in conference play, are off to their best start ever in Southland play and have their best overall record since 1996-97. Winners of seven straight, they have not lost since a 62-34 defeat at Memphis on December 29.
"They're the best team in the Southland Conference, and their record shows that," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. "They're very disciplined, understand their roles and know what they're looking for. They're well-coached, play good defense, and have good balance. They run their stuff until they get a good look and get the shot they want and they've been knocking down a pretty good percentage of them. The results speak for themselves."
Before needing a late comeback to escape Nicholls with a 72-71 win on Wednesday, the Cowgirls had won their previous six games by an average of 20.7 points – including the four-point win over Lamar. None of the other five games were closer than 19 points.
If the Sugar Bears, who are looking to avoid consecutive home losses for the first time since the '08-'09 season, are to end the Cowgirls' run, they'll need to find a way to do something few teams have done this season – slow down sophomore guard Ashlyn Baggett.
Baggett, who is coming off a career-high 27 points (including 22 in the second half) at Nicholls on Wednesday, leads the league at 21.2 points per game in conference games. She has scored in double figures 15 times and has reached 20 nine different times this season.
Baggett and twin sister Caitlyn, the Cowgirls' second-leading scorer at 8.4 ppg, are both back with the team after redshirting last season. In their last trip to Conway, a 71-69 UCA win, Ashlyn Baggett scored a game-high 25 points with four assists, three rebounds and a steal. Caitlyn Baggett came off the bench to add eight points and two rebounds.
"The twins are back with them and we're certainly familiar with them and how dangerous they are," Daniel said. "We had a pretty tough time with them two years ago in here. Add them in with the kids they had last year, and it's a tough bunch all around. But every team in this league is dangerous. Nicholls, who we handled pretty well here, McNeese had to come from behind to win by one. Anybody can pull one out on any given night, and hopefully Saturday is our day."
Having let a 15-point lead slip away in the loss to Lamar last Saturday, the Sugar Bears will try to avoid their second straight setback at home and their fourth home loss of the season. Last year the Sugar Bears were 15-1 at home, and haven't loss back-to-back games in the Farris Center since dropping a pair to Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern Louisiana in '09.
"We don't like to get beat, and certainly want to protect our home floor," Daniel said. "Our kids understand that sense of pride and urgency, so hopefully we'll step up to the challenge. They're undefeated and we've got two losses, so we need a win to be in the mix. The stakes are high, but every game is a big game and we're not approaching it any differently. I think we understand what's at stake, but don't adjust because of that. I hope our girls understand the moment and step up in it, but it's not something that changes our mentality or our approaching heading in."
Up and down the stat sheet, there's plenty to indicate Saturday's meeting will be pretty evenly matched.
The matchup pits the league's second- and third-leading offenses, with the Sugar Bears putting up 73.2 points per game and the Cowgirls 70.3. McNeese leads the league with a 13.9 margin of victory, with the Sugar Bears second at 11.9. The teams are also the two stingiest defenses in the league, with McNeese allowing 56.4 per game and UCA 61.3.
The teams are also the league's most dominant on the glass, with UCA leading the league with a rebounding margin of +6.5 in league play and McNeese trailing just behind at +6.2.
Trailing only Baggett, UCA's Megan Herbert is second in scoring in Southland games at 19.2, but leads the league for the season at 16.6 points per game. Herbert is also the league's leading rebounder at 11.2 per game and has the highest field goal percentage in the league at .565.
In Southland games, Herbert is shooting a league-best 63.5 percent with freshman teammate Courtney Duever second at 59.0 percent. McNeese's Raiyawna Gatlin (57.7) and Kendra Wells (56.8) are third and fourth.
Caitlyn Baggett and UCA's Destinee Rogers are tied for second in league play in assist-to-turnover ratio.
"I don't know what the result will be, but I would imagine it's going to be a pretty good basketball game to watch and be a part of," Daniel said. "It being part of a doubleheader, that's a little different for us. So far the only effect has been it's thrown off our practice time, but I don't know what effect it'll have on game day. I hope it helps the environment and the crowd, and it'll help create some excitement for what should be some pretty good basketball."
