CONWAY — After Monday's 74-49 win over Lamar, the Sugar Bears will wrap up their home swing at 7:00pm on Wednesday when they host Houston Baptist, looking to sweep a second straight week of Southland Conference competition and extend their winning streak to four games.
The Sugar Bears (13-2, 3-1 Southland) have won their last three conference contests after beginning the league season with a loss to Abilene Christian. They'll look to make it four against a Huskies team that is 7-7 overall and 2-2 in Southland play, having won their last two against Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.
It will be the third straight game in which the Sugar Bears will look to avenge a loss of 20 or more points from last season, having already toppled Lamar and Stephen F. Austin, who combined to beat the Sugar Bears by 63 points in back-to-back games last season. The third game of that stretch was a 58-37 loss to HBU in Houston, a game in which UCA shot just 27.5 percent, was outrebounded by 14 and committed 21 turnovers.
The win was the first against UCA in five tries for HBU, with the Sugar Bears having won the previous four by an average of 22 points per game – including two wins by more than 30.
Seeking their first-ever win in Conway, the Huskies are led by 6-foot-1 senior forward Anna Strickland who averages 13.1 points and a Southland-best 13.1 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth nationally. Strickland is also tied for fifth nationally with 10 double-doubles on the season, and has been in double-digit rebounds in 13 straight games with a season low of 8 in the season opener at New Mexico. She also averages 2.2 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.
Monet Neal, a 5-10 senior forward, averages 12.4 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Huskies, with 5-7 senior Rachel Arthur adding 12 points per game while shooting 41.7 percent from 3-point range. In all, the Huskies have five seniors who have combined to play nearly 60 percent of the team's minutes this season.
In four conference games, the Sugar Bears have gotten 17.8 points per game from
Maggie Proffitt, who has averaged 27 in the last two.
Brianna Mullins has averaged 11.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists. That duo has combined to shoot 28-30 from the free throw line in league play, good for 93.3 percent.
Raquel Logan, who had 14 rebounds on Monday, leads the team at 7.5 per game in league play and has shot 64.3 percent from the field, while
Taylor Baudoin – who had 13 rebounds against Lamar – has averaged 6 points and 6.3 rebounds. They both rank among the top 10 in the Southland in offensive rebounding, each grabbing 2.8 per game. Strickland leads the league at 4.0 per game.
The Sugar Bears are 7-1 this season in the Farris Center, while HBU is just 1-4 on the road, the lone win being a 77-65 win across town at Texas Southern.
