KATY, Texas — After two days of waiting to see who their opposition will be in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament on Saturday, the top-seeded Sugar Bears now know who they will face.

And it's a familiar one.

For the third time in their six consecutive trips to the Southland Tournament in Katy, the Sugar Bears will meet up with the Cowgirls of McNeese State, who defeated 8th-seeded Lamar 88-78 on Friday to earn a spot in Saturday's 1:00pm semifinal that will be broadcast on ESPN3.



The Sugar Bears (26-3) and Cowgirls (20-11) have squared off in Katy in 2011 and 2014, with the Cowgirls coming away victorious in both meetings. The first clash came in the championship game in 2011, a 71-50 Cowgirl victory for the first of their back-to-back tournament championships. They met again in the second round of the 2014 tournament, with McNeese escaping with a 66-62 victory.

This season the Sugar Bears swept the Cowgirls in the regular season, winning 70-56 in Lake Charles on Feb. 17 before a 76-52 rout in Conway last Saturday. In those two games, the Sugar Bears held the Cowgirls to 38 percent shooting while connecting at a 50-percent clip themselves, and also had a decided advantage both at the free throw line (outscoring the Cowgirls 36-10) and on the boards, with a +14 rebound margin.

Each team's leading scorer for the season has been held in check during this season's meetings, with the Sugar Bears limiting McNeese senior Allison Baggett – who had a career-high 30 points against Lamar on Friday – to just 8 points in each game and over her last three against the Sugar Bears has averaged 6.7 points on 30 percent shooting. On the other side, Central Arkansas' first team all-conference guard Maggie Proffitt has been held to 4.5 points per game this year against the Cowgirls, shooting just 4 of 17 from the field. Senior guard Jameka Watkins has thrived against McNeese, averaging 10.5 points, 7.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds in the two games.

The Sugar Bears will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak in Katy, sporting a 2-5 record overall after winning their first two games in the 2011 tournament en route to the championship game appearance. It is the second time Central Arkansas has been the tournament's No. 1 seed, having also held the top spot for the 2012 tournament where the short-handed Sugar Bears were upset by 8th-seeded Nicholls. 

A win Saturday would put the Sugar Bears in Sunday's 11:30am title game against the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between No. 2 Northwestern State and No. 7 Sam Houston State, which upset No. 3 Stephen F. Austin on Friday.