CONWAY — After a successful road swing with wins at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin, the Sugar Bears return to the Farris Center for a pair of games this week, looking for their first Southland home victory of the season after dropping the conference opener to Abilene Christian on Jan. 2. The week starts Monday at 5:30 against Lamar and concludes on Wednesday at 7:00 with Houson Baptist before a weeklong break from play.
In the Cardinals (6-8, 2-1 Southland), the Sugar Bears (12-2, 2-1) face the only Southland program with more wins since the start of the 2009-10 season, with Lamar having 130 to the Sugar Bears' 128. The Cardinals were picked to win the Southland in both the conference's preseason coaches and sports information directors polls, garnering five first-place votes in each. They have won three of their last four, including their last two with home wins over New Orleans (79-52) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (75-70). The Cards are still searching for their first road win of the season, having come up empty in trips to Oklahoma State, Utah, Northern Arizona, Loyola Chicago, Prairie View A&M, Missouri and Nicholls with an average margin of loss of 17.7 points.
Lamar is led by preseason first team All-Southland selection Jameisha Edwards, who averages 16 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 35.5 percent from 3-point range and 95.5 percent at the free throw line. Edwards, a 5-foot-5 senior guard, was a first-team All-Southland pick last season after averaging 18.2 points per game in conference play and was also named to the league's All-Defensive team. She had 24 points in 29 minutes last year against the Sugar Bears, a game the Cardinals won 82-46 in Beaumont – the Sugar Bears' most lopsided Southland Conference loss.
Senior Addesha Collins averages 14.1 points per game, and 5-7 freshman Chastadie Barrs averages 9.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 4.2 steals per game, which ranks second in the nation. As a team, the Cardinals lead the Southland and are 15th nationally in steals with 167, an average of 12 per game.
The Sugar Bears counter with the nation's No. 2 scoring defense, giving up just 47.4 points per game which trails only Virginia Tech's 46.0 and is the Southland's best by nearly 11 points per game (Abilene Christian - 58.2). Through three conference games, the Cards are the Southland's highest-scoring offense, averaging 71 points per game and are 2nd for the season behind ACU, averaging 69.4.
UCA enters Monday's game on the heels of a 55-53 win at SFA, the program's first-ever win in Nacogdoches and the first time for SFA to drop a home conference game in 700 days. In that game,
Maggie Proffitt had a season-high 28 points, bringing her season average to 13.4 , including 15.0 in conference games.
Brianna Mullins is averaging 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in league play, and is shooting 93.8 percent (15 of 16) at the free throw line. She and Proffitt are a combined 23 of 25 (92 percent) at the line.
The Sugar Bears will be looking to snap a three-game skid to the Cardinals, having last defeated Lamar on Jan. 26, 2013 in Conway, a 67-62 overtime win. The teams have gone to overtime three times in their 15-game series, with the Sugar Bears winning all three.
After Monday's game, the Sugar Bears host Houston Baptist on Wednesday, then resume play with a road trip to New Orleans and Nicholls on Jan. 21 and 23.
