KATY, Texas — For the fifth straight season, Central Arkansas finds itself in Katy, Texas chasing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as the Sugar Bears begin postseason play in the Southland Conference Tournament at the Leonard E. Merrell Center.
The Sugar Bears (17-13, 10-8 Southland) enter the tournament seeded 7th, and will face 6th-seeded Northwestern State (15-14, 10-8 Southland) at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Lady Demons won last season's tournament as the 4 seed, defeating No. 5 Nicholls, No. 1 Lamar and No. 2 Stephen F. Austin to advance to the NCAA Tournament, where the Lady Demons fell 70-46 to perennial power Tennessee in the first round.
By qualifying for the tournament for the fifth consecutive season, the Sugar Bears continue their streak of being a part of the eight-team tournament in each season since gaining Division I postseason eligibility in 2011 after the four-year reclassification period.
The Sugar Bears will be looking to end a four-game losing streak in Katy, having gone one-and-done in each of the last three years after losing the championship game to McNeese State in 2011. UCA's last Southland Tournament win came on March 10, 2011 when they defeated 2nd-seeded Lamar 68-60 in overtime.
In each of the last two seasons, the Sugar Bears have narrowly missed notching a win, dropping last year's meeting with McNeese by just four points and the 2013 game against Stephen F. Austin by five.
To snap the skid, the Sugar Bears must defeat a Lady Demon team they have split the season series with. UCA won 63-46 in Conway, getting 28 points from 2nd team all-conference guard
Maggie Proffitt who hit a season-high six 3-pointers. The Sugar Bears held first team all-conference guard Janelle Perez without an assist as the rest of the Lady Demons combined to shoot just 12 of 33 (36.4 percent) overall and 1 for 10 (10 percent) from 3-point range.
In the rematch in Natchitoches, the Lady Demons escaped with a 54-52 win thanks to a pair of free throws from Perez with 2.9 seconds left. NSU held Proffitt to just four points on 2-for-3 shooting, with third team all-conference guard
Brianna Mullins getting 18 points and
Jameka Watkins getting 9 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Sugar Bears shot 13 of 27 (48.1 percent) from 3-point range this season while holding the Lady Demons to just 26.9 percent (7 of 26) from beyond the arc. The Sugar Bears also held a 32.5-28.5 rebounding advantage over NSU. The Lady Demons averaged just 50 points in the two games, but did outscore the Sugar Bears at the free throw line.
The 2015 tournament will be the third year of the current format with the top two seeds receiving a double bye to the semifinals and the No. 3 and 4 seeds receiving a bye to the quarterfinals. The 5th and 8th seeds and 6th and 7th seeds square off in the first round. Under the current format, 7 seeds have a 3-2 record with two of those wins bringing an end to the Sugar Bears' season the last two years. McNeese State won twice as a No. 7 last year and SFA once in 2013. In all, 7 seeds are 4-14 in Southland tournaments.
