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CONWAY — A pivotal week awaits Central Arkansas this week as the Southland Conference-leading Sugar Bears return to the Farris Center to host league co-leader Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State, the only team to defeat SFA in conference play.
The Sugar Bears (10-6, 4-1 Southland) begin with Northwestern State on Thursday at 5:30. The Lady Demons (10-7, 3-2) are a game behind the Sugar Bears and Ladyjacks after defeating SFA 66-54 in Natchitoches last Thursday.
Winners of five of their last six, including a sweep in Texas last week, the Sugar Bears are in the midst of their most successful stretch since the beginning of the season and will be looking for their third straight win over the Lady Demons in the Farris Center, having won 60-44 last season and 84-43 in 2012.
The Lady Demons, in their second season under co-head coaches Brooke and Scott Stoehr, have gone 1-5 in road games this season with the lone win coming at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a 65-59 victory on Jan. 9.
NSU is led in scoring by 5-foot-5 sophomore guard Keisha Lee at 15.1 points per game, followed by 6-1 senior forward Trudy Armstead at 14.2 and 5-2 sophomore guard Janelle Perez at 10.0. Armstead is the team's leading rebounder at 5.9 per game while Perez leads the way with 4.4 assists per game.
The Lady Demons top the Southland with a 49.0 field goal percentage in conference play, while the Sugar Bears are third at 44.5 percent. NSU has been the most accurate 3-point shooting team in Southland games at 39.7 percent, while the Sugar Bears are last – connecting on just 21.6 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc in their five conference games. The Lady Demons have struggled on the boards, last in the league at 31.6 rebounds per game and 12th in rebounding margin at -4.6 per game. The Sugar Bears, holding opponents to 27.2 rebounds per game in conference play, are second behind only SFA with a +11.2 margin.
For the Sugar Bears, senior Courtney Duever has been on a tear of late, coming into Thursday's contest ranked 3rd in scoring in conference games at 16.6, 2nd in rebounding at 10.4, 1st in blocks at 2.6 and 10th in steals with 1.8 per game. Freshman Brianna Mullins is coming off her best two-game stretch as a Sugar Bear, averaging 19.5 points and 4 rebounds per game in last week's road sweep, including a season-high 25 in Saturday's win at Abilene Christian.
On Saturday the Sugar Bears welcome Southland co-leader Stephen F. Austin, which got off to a 4-0 start before falling to the Lady Demons last Thursday. SFA presents the league's stingiest defense in conference play, surrendering a league-best 34.9 field goal percentage through five games and 55.8 points per game, just a tenth of a point behind league leader Abilene Christian. The Ladyjacks are the league's top rebounding team as well, grabbing 44.8 per game with a margin of +13.4 per game.
Porsha Roberts, a 6-2 junior center, is averaging 15.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game for the Ladyjacks. Brittney Matthew, a 5-7 junior guard, averages 12.2 points per game, while 5-10 junior forward Daylyn Harris contributes 10.5, and 5-11 junior forward Tierany Henderson is averaging 9.1 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game, including 11.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game in conference games.
