CONWAY — In what is shaping up to potentially be their best season ever on their home floor, the Sugar Bears are down to the final two games of the year inside the Farris Center.
With two of their remaining four regular-season games left at home, starting with tonight's 7 p.m. clash with Nicholls State, the Sugar Bears – who climbed to No. 11 in this week's Mid-Major Top 25 – have a chance to complete a run unparalleled in program history.
Only three times since the program's modern era began in 1976 has a Central Arkansas women's basketball team gone undefeated at home. At 14-0, this year's Sugar Bear team has a chance to become the fourth – and would do so with a record amount of wins.
The 2002-03 team finished 13-0 at home, the most wins of the undefeated teams. The 1982-83 squad went 11-0 inside the Farris Center, and the '90-'91 team was 10-0. This year's team has already eclipsed all those marks, and could surpass the record total of 15 regular-season wins at home set by the 2009-10 team (which was 15-1) and tie the 16 wins by the '04-'05 team – which was 13-2 in the regular season before going 3-0 in the NCAA Division II South Regional hosted at the Farris Center.
However, to get to that mark the Sugar Bears (21-4, 11-1 Southland) will first have to deal with a tough Lady Colonels (13-12, 6-6) team that had UCA down as many as 17 in Thibodaux, La. in the teams' first meeting this season. The Sugar Bears went on to win that game 66-59 and have followed with eight more as they enter tonight's game with a 10-game winning streak.
Extending that streak to 11 would bring the Sugar Bears one step away from guaranteeing themselves at least a share of the league crown. At 11-1 in league play, UCA holds a two-game lead over 9-3 McNeese State and has three games on 8-4 Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin.
It won't be an easy task against an upset-minded Nicholls team that has is seeking its first postseason berth since 2001. The Lady Colonels have won three of their last four, with home victories over Stephen F. Austin and UTSA and a road victory at Texas State. Their lone loss during that span came at Lamar. The Lady Colonels are enjoying their best season since joining the Southland in 1991, having reached double-digit wins for just the third time and getting 14 wins for the first time. Nicholls was forced this week, however, to forfeit their victory over UT Arlington after it was discovered they had unknowingly used an ineligible player – causing their record to dip from 14-11, 7-5.
Nicholls comes in as the second-leading offense in Southland play at 67.2 points per game, with the Sugar Bears fourth at 65.7. The Sugar Bears (40.7 percent) and Lady Colonels (40.2) are the league's top two shooting teams, and top two 3-point shooting teams as well with UCA at 33.6 percent and Nicholls at 32.6. The Sugar Bears, however, have the Southland's second-best 3-point defense – holding opponents to just 26.4 percent.
The Lady Colonels feature one of the league's top scorers in senior Sumar Leslie, who is scoring 18.1 points per game in Southland play – fifth in the league. Leslie also leads the league in free throw percentage (91.5 percent) and steals (2.9 per game).
Junior forward Megan Herbert leads the Sugar Bears at 17.2 points and 11.0 rebounds per game for the season, including 18.8 points and 12.0 rebounds in conference games – second in the league in both categories. For the season she is shooting 53.8 percent (21 of 39) from 3-point range with a 61.1 percent average through 12 conference games.
Senior guard Nakeia Guiden is averaging 11 points per game in Southland play and needs just 16 more points to become the 21st Sugar Bear in history to reach 1,000 career points. Guiden and fellow senior Destinee Rogers are tied for the team lead at 3.6 assists per game.
Following tonight's game, the Sugar Bears will play their final road games – at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday and UTSA next Wednesday – before returning to the Farris Center for the regular-season finale and final home game in the careers of Guiden, Rogers and Marci Moffitt.
They will then travel to Katy, Texas for the Southland Conference Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Sugar Bears are one of two teams, along with McNeese, to have already clinched spots in the tournament. UCA is currently in position for the No. 1 seed while Nicholls would be the No. 6 seed.
