CONWAY — The Central Arkansas women's basketball team returns to action on Tuesday when the Sugar Bears host Austin Peay at 2 p.m. in the Farris Center in the final non-conference matchup of the season. League play begins for UCA on Jan. 3 at Abilene Christian with the home opener on Jan. 6 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Sugar Bears (6-5) will be looking for their third straight win after defeating NAIA foes Williams Baptist and Blue Mountain on Dec. 16 and 19. It will be the 4th meeting of the season for the Sugar Bears against a team from the Ohio Valley Conference, with losses to Eastern Kentucky (56-55), Jacksonville State (63-54) and Southeast Missouri State (48-46).
The Lady Govs (3-9) enter the game with an 0-5 road record, having most recently suffered an 83-62 setback at Montana on Dec. 20. That loss came a day after the Lady Govs defeated Saint Louis 86-81 in Missoula, Mont. at the Lady Griz Holiday Classic. Peay also has wins over Brescia (99-63) and Grand Canyon (84-77).
In the lone game against a common opponent, Peay lost 91-68 to Western Kentucky in Clarksville, Tenn. while the Sugar Bears took a 93-57 loss at WKU in the season opener.
The two teams met last season at Austin Peay, with the Lady Govs winning 81-60.
Terai Sadler had 16 points and four rebounds for UCA, and
Maggie Proffitt had 13 points and three steals. Tiasha Gray had a career-high 28 points for Peay in that game, Tearra Banks had 10, and Kristen Stainback had 10 points and seven rebounds.
That trio leads the Lady Govs again this season with Gray, a 5-foot-8 junior guard, leading the way with 20.7 points, 6.3 assists, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.6 steals per game. Banks, a 6-3 sophomore center, averages 13.3 points and 6.0 rebounds and Stainback, a 5-9 senior guard, averages 12.3 points.
Proffitt leads the Sugar Bears and is 9th among Southland players in scoring at 13.6 points per game, tops the league in 3-point field goals per game (2.8) and is second in 3-point percentage at .378.
Kendara Watts ranks third in the league with a .524 field goal percentage and is 15th in scoring at 12.5 points per game.
The Lady Govs are scoring 71.8 points per game and giving up 76.8, and shoot .374 as a team from 3-point range. The Sugar Bears allow just 54.4 points per game while scoring 59.5, and are allowing opponents to shoot just .271 from long distance.
