NACOGDOCHES, Texas — After starting their trip with one road win on Tuesday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Sugar Bears will look to make it a sweep tonight when they face Stephen F. Austin.
And if the Sugar Bears are to get that second win, it'll be a first.
Central Arkansas (11-2, 1-1 Southland) steps into William R. Johnson Coliseum for tonight's 7:00 tip winless in the building, having come up empty-handed in each of its last six trips to Nacogdoches with an average margin of loss of 9.5 points per game, including a 61-41 setback in their last trip in 2014. The Ladyjacks have won four of the last five in the series, with the Sugar Bears last winning 65-42 in Conway in 2014. Beginning with that game, each of the last three meetings between the teams have been lopsided affairs, with no game closer than 20 points and the average margin of victory being 23.3. The five previous meetings were decided by just 6.2 points per game.
The Ladyjacks (7-6, 1-1) are currently riding a 14-game home winning streak in Southland play, a streak spanning 700 days. They last fell at home to a conference foe on Feb. 6, 2014 in a double-overtime loss to Nicholls. Since the start of the 2014 season, the Ladyjacks are 18-1 at home in league games.
This season, SFA is 5-1 inside Johnson Coliseum with wins over UT-Tyler, LSU-Shreveport, Rice, Texas A&M-Commerce and an 80-55 win over McNeese State in the Southland Conference opener. Their lone loss at home game at the hands of former Southland member UT-Arlington, which won 67-63 on Dec. 1. The Ladyjacks come into Thursday night's game fresh off a 65-56 loss on Monday at Southeastern Louisiana.
SFA has been led this season by preseason all-Southland guard Taylor Ross, who has averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Brentney Branch, who had a career-high 23 points in last year's meeting, is second on the team at 11.4 points per game and 6-foot forward Stevi Parker, a Tulsa transfer in her first season of action with SFA, averages 10.8 and a team-high 8.4 rebounds.
The Sugar Bears are 3-1 in road games so far this season, the lone loss coming at the hands of No. 4 Tennessee. Since then, UCA has defeated Murray State 61-51, Southeast Missouri 63-54, and A&M-Corpus Christi 66-55. In road games, Brianna Mullins is averaging 12 points per game, including a season-high 17 on Tuesday against the Islanders.
The Ladyjacks are in their first season under head coach Mark Kellogg, hired to replace Brandon Schneider who left for the University of Kansas following last season. Kellogg came to SFA from West Texas A&M, where he was 62-6 in two seasons.
In addition to the radio broadcast on 91.3 The Bear with pregame beginning at 6:40, tonight's game will be available on ESPN3 via SFA's institutional broadcast.
The Sugar Bears return home for a pair of games next week, hosting Lamar on Monday at 5:30 and Houston Baptist on Wednesday at 7:00.
