CONWAY — The Sugar Bears open the 2015-16 season tonight when they host crosstown foe Hendrix at 7:00pm in the Farris Center, just the third meeting between the programs in the modern era. It will be the first time the two teams have met since 2010, when the Sugar Bears opened the season with a 93-66 win. The Sugar Bears also defeated the Warriors 79-57 in January of 1995.

The 2015-16 season marks the 4th at Central Arkansas for veteran head coach Sandra Rushing, who has 453 wins to her credit as she enters her 27th season as a collegiate head coach.  She comes into the season with a team featuring four returning starters and the top three scorers from last year's 17-14 team that was 10-8 in Southland Conference play and qualified for the league tournament for the 5th straight season. Leading the way are all-conference junior guards Brianna Mullins (11.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.1 apg last season) and Maggie Proffitt (13.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 69 3pt FG), along with senior forward Kendara Watts (11.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg). 

The Warriors are coached by Drew Gaeng, who is 25-28 at Hendrix entering his third season at the helm. After taking over a 5-win team, he has guided the Warriors to consecutive 4th-place finishes in the Division III Southern Athletic Association, going 7-7 in the league a year ago. The Warriors are led by senior guard Caitlin Kriesel-Bigler, who averaged 13.7 points and 5.4 assists per game last season en route to All-SAA honors; and junior forward Anna King who averaged 13 points and 9.5 rebounds and was an All-SAA honorable mention.

Tonight's game can be seen online at ucasports.com/watch and heard on ucasports.com/kuca or on The Bear 91.3 on TuneIn, with pregame beginning at 6:40.