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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Central Arkansas will look to continue its hot start to the season as the 5-1 Sugar Bears play their final non-conference road game at Austin Peay tonight at 7 at the Dunn Center.
Coming off a 58-54 win at Jacksonville State on Tuesday night, the Sugar Bears look to make it two in a row against Ohio Valley Conference foes when they face the Lady Govs (2-3) for the second time in program history.
The first meeting came at the University of Memphis on Nov. 25, 2006 in Central Arkansas' first Division I season, with the Sugar Bears winning 67-61 for their first win against a D-I team after making the move up from Division II.
The Lady Govs are 1-2 at home this season, losing 65-50 to Evansville and 79-69 to Arkansas State around a 98-77 win over Trevecca. The Lady Govs won 71-69 on the road at Southern Illinois – a team that comes into the Farris Center on Monday night.
Austin Peay, which features five freshmen and five sophomores on its roster, is led by 5-foot-8 sophomore guard Tiasha Gray, who has led the Lady Govs in scoring in four of their five games, including a season-high 22 at Western Kentucky. She is averaging 16.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2.8 steals in 36 minutes per game. Tearra Banks, a 6-3 freshman center, averages 9.6 points and 5 rebounds per game.
UCA is led by senior center Courtney Duever at 14.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Duever has scored in double figures in all six games this season and has three double-doubles. Freshmen Brianna Mullins and Maggie Proffitt are each scoring 11.2 points per game, while senior guard Micah Rice is averaging 8.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.3 steals.
As a team, the Sugar Bears have scored just 58 points per game over their last three games, but are 2-1 with wins over Jacksonville State and ULM with a loss at Indiana. In their six wins, the Sugar Bears are allowing just 41.3 points per game, with only Ole Miss (63) topping 60.
The Sugar Bears are off to their best start through six games since 2002-03 when they went 28-6 and advanced to the Division II Elite Eight. Following tonight's game with the Lady Govs, the Sugar Bears will be home for six straight in the Farris Center with non-conference games against SIU, Southern Miss, Arkansas State and Philander Smith before beginning conference play on Jan. 2 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and on the 4th against Houston Baptist.
