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CONWAY — After having what was the nation's third-longest home winning streak snapped on Thursday night in a 77-61 loss to McNeese State, the Sugar Bears will look to begin anew on Saturday at 2 p.m. as they host another team coming off a loss in the Lamar Lady Cardinals.
Both teams were tied atop the league standings with Sam Houston State heading into Thursday night's games, but the Lady Cards (12-5, 5-2 Southland) joined the Sugar Bears (12-6, 5-2) in slipping down into a three-way tie for second place as Oral Roberts, the third 5-2 team, beat Lamar 77-48 in Tulsa.
Over the past four seasons, the two programs have not had much experience with losing, being the league's two winningest teams in that time and combining to go 157-69 – a .695 winning percentage.
Lamar is the only Southland program to win more games than the Sugar Bears over the past four seasons with 79 wins to the Sugar Bears' 78. McNeese State is next on the list with 68. The Sugar Bears do own the best winning percentage, however, with a 78-33 (.702) record compared to Lamar's mark of 79-36 (.687).
The Sugar Bears will be going up against one of the league's most prolific scorers in 6-foot-2 senior guard Kalis Loyd, who averages 18.3 points per game and is seven points shy of the Lamar career record with 1,724.
Loyd has scored 89 of those points against the Sugar Bears, averaging 14.8 points and six rebounds per game in six career games. While Lamar holds a 6-5 series lead, the Sugar Bears have won the last three meetings and four of the last six.
Megan Herbert has averaged 13.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in six games against the Lady Cards, Desiree' Rogers 7 points and 7.3 rebounds, and Courtney Duever 8.4 points and 5 rebounds.
Last season the Sugar Bears won 62-37 in Beaumont on Jan. 7, and followed with a 63-53 win in Conway two weeks later. The Lady Cards swept the regular-season series in 2011, but the Sugar Bears answered with a 68-60 overtime win in the semifinals of the Southland Conference tournament.
The Sugar Bears' first-ever Southland victory came against Lamar, a 74-71 overtime win in Conway on Jan. 18, 2007.
