CONWAY — After a pair of wins over Nicholls and Lamar last week, Central Arkansas holds steady at No. 17 in this week's Mid-Major Top 25 poll.

The Sugar Bears (14-4, 4-1 Southland) will have a chance to directly affect one of the teams ahead of them on Saturday when they host defending Southland Conference champion McNeese State, which is No. 11 in this week's poll.

But before the Sugar Bears can worry about the Cowgirls, they must first contend with the Lady Lions of Southeastern Louisiana tonight in the Farris Center at 7 p.m.

The Lady Lions are the lone Southland team yet to record a conference win this season, coming into tonight's game 0-4 and 5-12 overall. Though they have yet to score a league victory, they haven't missed by much in three of those losses, falling by nine at Nicholls, eight against Stephen F. Austin and just five at A&M-Corpus Christi in a game in which they trailed just one with under a minute to play. They are looking to avoid their first 0-5 start to Southland play since 2001-02.

Southeastern has won just once in its last nine games – an 81-30 drubbing of New Orleans.

There will be much at stake for the Sugar Bears tonight, as they will be aiming to run their home winning streak to 11 this season and keep their spot as one of two Southland teams remaining with unblemished home records, sitting at 10-0 thus far. A win would also be key in keeping within striking distance of league-leading McNeese, which is 6-0 in league play heading into Saturday's game in the Farris Center. The Sugar Bears, who are second in the East Division, are tied with Sam Houston State for second overall. A victory would also make the Sugar Bears the first Division I team in Arkansas to reach the 15-win mark this season.

UCA leads the series with Southeastern La. 6-4 since joining the league, though Southeastern won the only previous meeting 132-50 back in 1977. The Sugar Bears swept the Lady Lions last season, winning 79-61 in Conway and 69-65 in Hammond, La.

Two seasons ago, the Sugar Bears won by 20 in Conway, but a month later went to Hammond and fell 77-50.

The Lady Lions are led by 6-foot-1 sophomore Aja Gibson, who averages 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Senior guard Kelli Jenkins averages 9.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists, and 5-11 junior Brandi Simmons contributes 8.5 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game.

UCA comes into the game shooting a league-best 34 percent from 3-point range in Southland games, and have made a league-best 7.2 per game.

In league play, Nakeia Guiden tops UCA at 12 points per game with Megan Herbert (11.8) and Micah Rice (11.4) just behind her. Those three have combined to shoot 41-of-47 (87.3 percent) from the free throw line in the five Southland games, and Rice has made nearly 50 percent (13 of 27) of her shots from beyond the arc. Destinee Rogers is averaging 4.6 assists per game and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 3-to-1.

The Sugar Bears are fifth in the country in 3-point percentage defense, holding opponents to 23.5 percent for the season, and are eighth in scoring defense as they have limited their opposition to just 50.2 points per game. The team is also 14th in scoring margin (+18.0), 27th in 3-point field goals per game (6.8) and 28th in field goal percentage defense (34.8). Most importantly, they are 32nd in the country in won-lost percentage, having won 77.8 percent of their games.

The game can be heard online, and free live video and live stats are all available at ucagameday.com