NATCHITOCHES, La. — After stumbling at home against Lamar on Saturday, Central Arkansas will take to the road for a pair of games this week looking to secure at least a share of their second Southland Conference regular season championship in three seasons. The Sugar Bears will first visit Northwestern State on Thursday before concluding the regular season at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.
The Sugar Bears (18-9, 12-4 Southland) enter the week with a one-game lead over SFA and Lamar, which are each 11-5 in the league standings. One win will guarantee the Sugar Bears a piece of the crown, while two would give them the title outright.
Tournament seeding is also at stake, and with many tiebreaker scenarios still potentially in play, the Sugar Bears are in contention for the double bye to the semifinals awarded to the No. 1 and 2 seeds, or could at least receive a bye into the quarterfinals reserved for the 3 and 4 seeds. Nicholls and McNeese, which have also punched their tickets to Katy for the Southland tournament, are two games back at 10-6.
LINKS
NORTHWESTERN ST VIDEO
KUCA RADIO BROADCAST (pregame begins 5:10)
LIVE STATS
Central Arkansas Game Notes
Northwestern State Game Notes
THE SERIES
The Sugar Bears have won 7 of the last 9 against the Lady Demons, though lost last year's meeting in Natchitoches 52-47, breaking UCA's three-game winning streak in Prather Coliseum. In this season's first meeting, NSU's Trudy Armstead had a game-high 29 points, while UCA's Courtney Duever had 19 points and 10 rebounds and freshman guard Brianna Mullins had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
Last Meeting Box Score
LAST TIME OUT
UCA
Courtney Duever had 21 points and 15 rebounds but it was not enough as the Sugar Bears allowed Lamar to come back from a six-point deficit in the final 2:30 for a 56-53 Lady Cardinal win to keep the Sugar Bears from clinching a share of the league title on its home floor on Senior Day. Lamar's Gia Ayers was 5 of 7 from 3-point range en route to a game-high 23 points and JaMeisha Edwards had six of her 12 points in the last 2:26.
NORTHWESTERN STATE
The Lady Demons battled back from 17 points down in the second half to escape New Orleans with a 51-48 victory on Saturday. Sophomore guard Janelle Perez put NSU ahead 49-48 with a three-point play on a layup and free throw with 49 seconds remaining, then made a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to secure the win for the Lady Demons and keep the Privateers winless on the season. Trudy Armstead had 14 points and 6 rebounds for the Lady Demons, while Keisha Lee had 12 points, Kourtney Pennywell 11 and Perez 9.
SCOUTING THE LADY DEMONS
Trudy Armstead, who had 29 points in the first meeting against the Sugar Bears this season, leads NSU at 14.2 points per game, just ahead of Keisha Lee at 14.1. Janelle Perez adds 10.3, along with 4.1 assists per game. Armstead's 6.1 rebounds per game leads the team, with Kourtney Pennywell adding 5.7 and Chelsea Rogers 5.1. Perez is tied with UCA's Maggie Proffit for 2nd in Southland games with a 44.3 3-point percentage.
The Lady Demons rank 12th in the Southland in 3-point defense, allowing 34.4 percent, and are also 12th in rebounding at 34.9 per game. They rank 4th in turnover margin at +1.6 and lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, just ahead of the Sugar Bears.
STATS OF NOTE
- Duever is the only player to rank among the top 15 in Southland conference play in points (3rd - 17.6), rebounds (3rd - 10.1), blocks (6th - 1.3) and steals (11th - 1.6)). For good measure, she is also in the top 15 in both field goal (8th - 51.2) and free throw percentage (12th - 76.7).
- Duever has 9 of her 13 double-doubles this season in conference play, with 7 of them coming against teams currently in position to qualify for the conference tournament. In those 9 games against the league's top 8 teams, she is averaging 20.2 points and 11.2 rebounds.
- The Sugar Bears are the Southland's 3rd-ranked 3-point shooting team with a 33.5 percentage for the season, while Northwestern State has the 12th-ranked 3-pt. defense in the league, allowing 34.4 percent.
- UCA features two of the league's top freshmen in Brianna Mullins and Maggie Proffitt. Mullins is 3rd among freshmen in Southland games with an 11 points per game average, and is 7th for the season in free throw percentage at 78.7. In conference play she is averaging 11 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 45.6 percent from the field, 40.7 from 3-point range and 80.6 on free throws. She leads the Sugar Bears in assists and is 2nd in rebounding in conference play. Proffitt is the Southland's 3-point percentage leader for the season at 42.1 percent, including 44.3 percent in conference games. She is tied for most 3-pointers made by a Southland player in a game this season with 8, and has 10 games with at least three 3-pointers made.
