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University of Central Arkansas Athletics

University of Central Arkansas
Sugar Bears

Women's Basketball

AFTER LOSS, SUGAR BEARS TAKE TITLE CHASE TO SAN ANTONIO

SAN ANTONIO — After having their 11-game winning streak snapped at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Central Arkansas will try to regroup and take its second stab at securing a piece of the Southland Conference regular season title and the No. 1 seed in next week's conference tournament when the Sugar Bears take on the UTSA Roadrunners Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The game can be heard on 91.3 FM The Bear and on ucagameday.com.

The Sugar Bears (22-5, 12-2 Southland) maintain a one-game lead over McNeese State heading into the final week of the regular season, but would need two wins or one win and a Cowgirl loss to claim the title outright.

The first hurdle facing UCA is UTSA (8-19, 4-10), which has already been eliminated from tournament contention after its 87-67 loss to Texas State on Saturday.

The Roadrunners, who were picked to win the Southland's West Division by both the league coaches and sports information directors in the preseason polls, have been without all-conference guard Whitney York for the second consecutive season. In 2009-10, York averaged 15 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

In York's absence, 5-foot-6 freshman guard Kamra King has taken the role of the leading scorer for the Roadrunners at 10.6 points per game. Third-year sophomore forward Judy Jones, who also missed last season after an all-conference season as a freshman in 2010, is second on the team at 9.8 points per game and is the team's leading rebounder at 6.9 per game.

The Roadrunners have five Arkansas natives on the roster, including Arkansas Baptist College transfers Ashley Gardner (North Little Rock), Jalisa Montgomery (Little Rock), and Simone Young (Marion); along with freshmen Mannasha Bell from Fort Smith Northside and Ashley Spaletta of Magnolia.

UTSA has won just once in its last nine games, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 72-58 last Wednesday in San Antonio. The Roadrunners' other Southland victories this season were at Corpus Christi and home victories over Stephen F. Austin and Texas State.

Last season UCA defeated UTSA 81-59 in the Farris Center, outscoring the Roadrunners 53-28 in the second half. Megan Herbert had 28 points and 10 rebounds in that game, and Nakeia Guiden poured in a career-high 23 points. Courtney Duever had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 assists in 18 minutes off the bench. Gardner had 15 points to lead the Roadrunners.

UCA has yet to win at UTSA, going 0-2 here since joining the Southland Conference. Wednesday's game will mark the Sugar Bears' last chance to do so as conference foes with UTSA leaving for the Western Athletic Conference next season. UCA fell 66-59 in 2007, then dropped the 2010 game 71-66 after being tied at 66 with under a minute to go. Then freshmen, Herbert had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Britney Gowans had 12 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals. Guiden had 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals.
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