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MONROE, La. — Fresh off a 33-point victory over Division II Southern Arkansas, Central Arkansas will step back into Division I play on Thursday as they square off against former Southland Conference member ULM, which departed the league to join the Sun Belt Conference following the 2005-06 season – the year before UCA joined the Southland.
Thursday's game (7 p.m.,
radio broadcast beginning at 6:40) will mark the second meeting between the programs, with the Sugar Bears winning 73-55 last season in a neutral-site matchup at Texas Tech.
The Warhawks (2-8) have dropped their last two games, falling 77-49 at No. 18 Texas last Tuesday and 76-56 at SMU on Monday. Their last win was a 73-55 victory over Southern Miss, a team the Sugar Bears (5-3) will play on Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The Sugar Bears will be the fourth Southland team the Warhawks will have faced this year, with ULM having suffered lopsided losses to Stephen F. Austin (80-55), Nicholls State (85-60) and Lamar (72-50) – an average margin of 24.
ULM has a strong history in the Southland, having gone 228-135 in the league and won the second-most championships (five) of any program – trailing only Stephen F. Austin's 15.
Only three players in Southland history have been named 1st Team All-Conference four times, and two of them are former Warhawks – Lisa Ingram and Eun Jung (Lee) Ok, the latter of whom is the Warhawks' associate head coach. UCA's Megan Herbert has a chance to join that group, having earned 1st Team All-Southland honors in her first three seasons. Herbert recently passed Ingram for 5th in Southland history in career rebounds, and passed Ok for 2nd in career free throws made.
The Warhawks are led in scoring by a pair of 5-foot-10 junior guards in Jasmine Shaw at 10.1 points per game and Alexar Tugler at 9.8. Ashleigh Simmons, a 6-1 junior forward, is the team's leading rebounder at 7.1 per game and is the third-leading scorer at 8.4 per contest. ULM is shooting 36.2 percent from the field this season, while their opponents have connected at a 41.2 percent clip. The Warhawks have committed 58 more turnovers than their opposition this season, turning it over 23.2 times per game.
While Herbert has team-high averages of 16.8 points and 11.8 rebounds per game for the season, over her last four games she has checked in below her season averages with 14 points and 7.8 rebounds per game – playing just an average of 21 minutes in blowout wins over Central Baptist and Southern Arkansas during that time.
Junior center Courtney Duever has averaged 15 points and 10.3 rebounds over her last three games in 24.3 minutes per, making three straight starts after getting just 11 minutes off the bench at UT Martin, where she had just four points and five rebounds.
Senior forward Desiree' Rogers has averaged 13.5 points and 13 rebounds over her last two games, posting double-digit rebounds in consecutive games for the third time in her career.
