CONWAY — After beginning the season in grand fashion on Friday with their first-ever win over a major-conference opponent in Indiana out of the Big Ten, the Central Arkansas women's basketball team will look to make it two in a row on Tuesday when the Sugar Bears welcome the Alabama Crimson Tide to the Farris Center.
"Friday night was a great night for us with a good win in front of a large crowd – but that was Friday night," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. "None of that means a thing Tuesday night when we tip it off against the University of Alabama at 7 p.m. We have to come back and do it all again – all of us. Our team has to play extremely well, and we need that same crowd we had Friday to come out and continue to build on the environment we had against Indiana."
The game will be the second meeting between the teams, with Alabama overcoming an eight-point first-half deficit to win 87-76 last season in Tuscaloosa. The Tide went on to finish last season with an 18-15 record and advanced to the round of 16 in the WNIT.
"They're a very talented and athletic group," Daniel said. "We saw that first-hand last year. We battled with them for quite awhile, but eventually their athleticism and depth caught up to us. In addition to what they've brought back from last year, they've added some highly sought-after kids – both freshmen and junior college transfers – and will present plenty of challenges for us. But we'll be as prepared as we can, play as hard as we can, and see where we stand after 40 minutes."
In last year's meeting, Megan Herbert had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Sugar Bears, with Micah Rice pitching in 14 and Westin Taylor 12. Nakeia Guiden, who had 12 points and a game-high three steals against Indiana, missed last year's meeting with the Tide due to injury.
Alabama comes to Conway for its second straight game against a Southland Conference opponent, having opened the season with a 72-51 win over Nicholls on Saturday. The Tide features a trio of junior college transfers who were named WBCA All-Americans last season in 6-foot-1 forward Kyra Crosby, 5-8 guard Jessica Merritt and 5-11 guard Meghan Perkins, who led the team with 13 points and four assists against the Colonels.
Alabama figures to come into a hostile environment in the Farris Center (where the Sugar Bears have won 28 of their last 34), which has seen school-record women's basketball crowds in each of the Sugar Bears' last two games in the building. After drawing 2,953 against UAB in last season's Women's Basketball Invitational, the Sugar Bears played to 3,450 against Indiana on Friday.
"I'm beyond proud," junior Westin Taylor said of the crowd and atmosphere against Indiana. "I'm sure I saw at least every team on the UCA campus here. I saw Hendrix players, CBC players, people who hadn't been in a gym in 10 years. There were a lot of people ready to see the Sugar Bears take on a team of notoriety and it was amazing. The WBI game was incredible, but [Friday night] everybody was behind us every play good or bad, the fans were cheering as hard or harder than the bench was and it was just a great basketball environment."
One the Sugar Bears would like to see duplicated against 'Bama.
"We've made a lot of progress in creating a good atmosphere in our gym," Daniel said. "But our work there is not done. We need to take it and build on it and keep improving. Our spirit groups, students and the community were all great on Friday. Now let's do it again. We can have a really nice home-court advantage and a big-time environment, but it's going to take everybody."
NOTES
Matt Daniel is shooting for his 50th win at UCA, with a record of 49-43. He is 43-20 since the start of the 2009-10 season.
Megan Herbert, who had a team-high eight rebounds in Friday's win over Indiana, now has 758 for her career -- placing her 10th on the UCA career list, just ahead of current Sugar Bears assistant coach Caronica Randle (755).
Westin Taylor, who is 6th on the UCA career list with 119 3-pointers made, has had seven games in her career with at least five 3-pointers made after Friday's 5-for-7 performance against Indiana.
The Sugar Bears are 28 of their last 34 (.824) inside the Farris Center.
Alabama is the first SEC team to visit the Farris Center. The Sugar Bears are 0-2 against the SEC, with losses at Alabama last season and Ole Miss in 2006.
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