CONWAY — Revenge will be on the minds of the Sugar Bears when they play their first home game of the 2012 Southland Conference season on Saturday, taking on the Lady Demons of Northwestern State at 2 p.m.
Last season, the Lady Demons came into the Farris Center and upset the Sugar Bears 76-72 in overtime – a result UCA hopes to avoid this time around as the Sugar Bears try to extend their perfect home record this season.
"Every game is important, but you absolutely have to protect your home floor," said UCA head coach Matt Daniel. "You always want to win every game at home and then go steal a few on the road. So while we want to win this one and stay undefeated on this floor, they are coming in here looking to steal one – as they did last year – and we know it's going to be a battle, and we better be prepared."
The Sugar Bears (11-4, 1-1 Southland) and Lady Demons (4-11, 0-2) both come into Saturday's contest off of a loss – UCA by nine at Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State by 14 at home to Nicholls. The Lady Demons have dropped six of their last seven, and began Southland play with a 70-68 loss at Texas State. NSU is 1-5 on the road this season, winning 79-69 at Prairie View A&M on Nov. 29.
The Sugar Bears' home record this season is unblemished at 8-0, and UCA has won those games by an average of 32.8 points. In all, the Sugar Bears have won 34 of their last 40 games – an .850 winning percentage – inside the Farris Center.
"We've played well at home, and that's something we most definitely need to continue to do," Daniel said. "If we want to be a factor in the conference race and get into the conference tournament, there's no question we have to win at home. The environment we had early in the season was incredible, and hopefully now that it's conference play and everybody's back on campus we'll have that same type of energy in the building starting Saturday against Northwestern State."
In last year's meeting, NSU's Jordi James posted an impressive line of 23 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 42 minutes to lead the Lady Demons to the upset. Jessica McPhail, who scored 20, and Brittiany Houston, who had 10, completed their eligibility last season. Jasmine Bradley, who had 13 points in that matchup, suffered a torn ACL earlier this season and is out for the year.
Megan Herbert had 25 points and 16 rebounds in that loss, with Westin Taylor hitting four 3-pointers en route to 12 points and Nakeia Guiden and Destinee Rogers each adding 10.
Herbert (14.9) and James (14.3) are both among the Southland leaders in scoring, with Herbert third and James ninth. Herbert leads the league in rebounding at 10.0 per game and NSU's Trudy Armstead is third at 8.9.
The Sugar Bears and Lady Demons are the league's third and fourth-highest scoring offenses, respectively, with UCA at 67.6 and NSU at 67.3 points per game.
Scoring defense, however, is an entirely different matter as the two teams find themselves at opposite ends of the Southland spectrum. The Sugar Bears lead the league with an average of 49.9 points per game allowed, while the Lady Demons are last at 72.2, with 10 of their 15 opponents hitting the 70-point mark, including seven over 75.
"Our defense has mostly been pretty good," Daniel said. "We shot it about as poorly as we can at Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday and still had a chance with a few minutes left because our defense kept us in the game. Northwestern State has some kids who can really score and they're the best rebounding team in the league, so we're going to need another great defensive outing. And we've got to shoot it better. You're not going to win many games shooting 24 percent and scoring 45 points. This will be a tough test, as they usually are in league play, but we're happy to be back at home and hopefully we protect it and get out of here with a 'W'."
