NEW ORLEANS — After a week away from competition, Central Arkansas returns to the floor Thursday as the Sugar Bears kick off a three-game road swing at New Orleans, looking to extend their winning streak to five games. 

The Sugar Bears (14-2, 4-1 Southland) enter their road trip just behind 5-0 Abilene Christian  at the top of the Southland standings.

The Privateers (5-9, 2-3) last played on Saturday, suffering a 71-51 defeat at home to Houston Baptist. For the season the Privateers are 5-2 at Lakefront Arena, having gone 2-1 at home in Southland play with wins over Stephen F. Austin and Incarnate Word.

UNO is led by 5-foot-7 sophomore guard Randi Brown, who averages 16.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. In 14 games, Brown has attempted 242 shots (17.3 per game), 152 more than the next closest Privateer – 5-10 junior forward Bria Platenburg, the team's second-leading scorer at 7.4 points per game. Brown is shooting 32.6 percent from the field and 21.4 percent (22 of 103) from 3-point range. The rest of the Privateers have combined to attempt just 65 3-point shots, making 13 – good for 20 percent. As a team, the Privateers shot 37.1 percent from the field, 20.8 percent from 3-point range, and 68.5 percent from the free throw line, but in conference play are hitting just 35.8 percent from the field and only 18.4 percent from 3-point range, including just 2-for-16 (12.5 percent) outside of Brown's 7 of 33 (21.2). 

The Sugar Bears have won both their previous Southland road games this season, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 66-55 and Stephen F. Austin 55-53 two weeks ago. They will be looking for their fourth straight win against the Privateers, having won the previous three meetings while holding UNO to 40 points per game on 33.5 percent shooting. The Sugar Bears swept the Privateers last season, and scored a 53-46 win in New Orleans. The matchup pits two of the Southland's lowest-scoring offenses against one another as the Sugar Bears rank 10th at 57.8 points per game in conference play and the Privateers 13th at 53.6. In the previous three meetings, the teams have combined to score an average of just 95 points per game, with the Sugar Bears' 62 in the first meeting in 2014 the highest total for either team in the series thus far. 

Central Arkansas junior guard Maggie Proffitt – who has averaged 21 points per game over the last four games – is 8th in scoring in conference play, averaging 17.2 points per game, and is the nation's leading free throw shooter at 93.3 percent for the season  having made 42 of her 45 attempts. In conference play, she is shooting 95 percent from the line (19 of 20). Brianna Mullins, averaging 10.8 points per game in Southland games, has also been nearly automatic at the free throw line in conference play, knocking down 19 of 21 (90.5 percent). Led by Proffitt and Mullins combining to connect on 92.7 percent of their attempts, the team as a whole has converted 80.7 percent of its free throw attempts in league play, with no Sugar Bear missing more than three attempts thus far.

After holding Houston Baptist to 44 in last week's win, the Sugar Bears have made up ground on Virginia Tech for the country's top position in scoring defense. The Sugar Bears currently rank 2nd behind the Hokies at 47.3 points per game to 47.0 for VT. The Sugar Bears' opponent field goal percentage of 33.1 is also 5th in the nation behind only Virginia Tech, Oregon State, Stanford and Oklahoma State. In conference games, teams are shooting 36.9 percent against the Sugar Bears.

In last year's meeting at Lakefront Arena, the Sugar Bears got 16 points and 4 rebounds each from Proffitt and Kendara Watts with Proffitt hitting 4-of-9 from 3-point range and Watts also adding a team-best 4 steals. Brown was held to 5 points in 12 minutes for the Privateers, who got 11 points and 7 rebounds from Yasmin Taylor.

After Thursday night's game, the Sugar Bears will travel to Thibodaux, La. to take on Nicholls on Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the Bears. The men's game will open the doubleheader at 3:00pm with the women to follow at 5:30. After a brief return to Conway, the Sugar Bears will turn around and head back to Louisiana for a Wednesday meeting with Northwestern State before returning to action in the Farris Center on Feb. 3 against Southeastern Louisiana.