THIBODAUX, La. — Two of the longest winning streaks alive in the Southland Conference will be at stake on on Saturday when the Sugar Bears meet up with Nicholls at Stopher Gym at 5:30 in a game broadcast on ESPN3 as the second part of a doubleheader with the Bears and Colonels.

Off to their best start to a season in their 10 years of Division I play, the Sugar Bears (15-2, 5-1 Southland) are riding a five-game winning streak – second only to Abilene Christian's 11-game streak – but come to Thibodaux facing a hot Nicholls team that that has won three straight to improve to 4-2 in league play while sitting at 6-10 overall.

The Colonels got their streak started on the road with a 67-64 win at Sam Houston State and a 64-62 overtime win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before coming home to knock off Northwestern State (then 5-1 in league play) 70-61.

In conference play, the Colonels are averaging 68.2 points per game – 2nd best in the league – and shooting 37.1 percent from 3-point range, making a league-leading 7.7 per game. They knocked down 14 from long range in their win over Northwestern State, tying the program record – matching their performance in the 2012 Southland Conference Tournament when the 8th-seeded Colonels ousted the top-seeded Sugar Bears 79-59. 

Sixth-year senior LiAnn McCarthy – who was 7-of-10 from 3-point range en route to 32 points in that 2012 game – leads the Colonels at 11.7 points per game for the season including 17.2 per game in conference play. McCarthy has been in double figures in six of the Colonels' last seven games, getting a season-high 25 at Sam Houston State last week. In her last four games, she is 10 of 23 (43.5 percent) from long range.

Marina Lilly, a 6-foot-3 sophomore center, averages 11.3 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game in league play, including beginning league play with a pair of double-doubles that was part of a stretch of four straight games where she reached double figures in both points and rebounds, averaging 15 points and 11.5 rebounds.

The Sugar Bears will be looking to not only continue their current winning streak and remain near the top of the Southland standings, but also to end their drought against the Colonels, having dropped the last four and five of the last six against Nicholls. The Sugar Bears last defeated the Colonels on Jan. 13, 2013 with a 72-56 win in Thibodaux. Despite dropping the last two, the Sugar Bears lead the series in Thibodaux 5-4.

With Virginia Tech giving up 72 to North Carolina State on Thursday, the Sugar Bears enter Saturday's game once again as the nation's No. 1 scoring defense, allowing just 47.1 points per game, including a league-leading 51.0 per game in conference play. In their last three games, the Sugar Bears have allowed just 45.7 points per contest. The Sugar Bears also sport the nation's No. 5 field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 33.4 percent for the season and 37.4 percent in league play.

Coming off an 18-point, 12-rebound, 5-steal game at New Orleans on Thursday, junior guard Brianna Mullins is averaging 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game in conference play for the Sugar Bears. Last season she averaged 11 points per game against the Colonels, second on the team behind Kendara Watts' 12 per game.

Maggie Proffitt, who had 13 points at UNO on Thursday, is the Sugar Bears' leading scorer at 14.2 points per game for the season and 16.5 per game in conference play. She leads the nation in free throw shooting at 93.3 percent for the season and 95 percent (19 of 20) in conference play – topping the list of three Sugar Bears who rank among the league's top six with Mullins 4th at 91.3 percent and Jameka Watkins 6th at 90 percent. As a team, the Sugar Bears are shooting a league-best 82.4 percent in conference games and are 2nd among Southland teams at 72.9 percent for the season.

Saturday's game will be the second of three straight on the road for the Sugar Bears, who wrap up their road swing on Wednesday at Northwestern State before returning home for their next three, beginning Feb. 3 with Southeastern Louisiana.