CONWAY — The Sugar Bears will wrap up a historic regular season on Saturday when they host McNeese State at 2:00pm to kick off a doubleheader in the Farris Center with the Bears and Cowboys to follow.

It has been a season that has brought new program records for regular season wins (25), Southland Conference wins (15), overall and road (11) wins in a season as a Division I program, and the first time to go undefeated on the road in conference play in program history. It has also brought statistical superlatives as the Sugar Bears rank 8th nationally in scoring defense at 51 points per game – well on their way to a program record (currently 54.0 ppg allowed) and within reach of a Southland record (51.6) – and are tied for 10th of 349 Division I teams with an 89.3 win percentage.

It has also brought the top seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament in Katy, Texas, the second time for the Sugar Bears to hold the top spot, putting them two wins away from their first NCAA Tournament berth.

But first, there's one more bit of business to take care of.

The Sugar Bears (25-3, 15-2 Southland) get their final test before Katy in the form of the Cowgirls (19-10, 11-6) on Senior Day in the Farris Center, with seniors Taya Novokreshchenova, Kendara Watts and Jameka Watkins to be recognized prior to tip.

Novokreshchenova and Watts are both in their second season with the Sugar Bears after transferring in prior to last season from Frank Phillips College and Shelton State Community College, respectively. Watkins is in her fourth year in a Sugar Bear uniform and will finish her career among the Top 15 in program history in minutes played.

The game pits two of the Southland's most successful programs in recent history against one another, with the programs averaging a combined 42 wins per season during the past six seasons with each having won one regular season title. The Sugar Bears are the only Southland program with four 20-win seasons since 2009-10, while the Cowgirls are a win away from joining them.

Since that 2010 conference season, the teams have matched up pretty evenly with the Sugar Bears holding an 8-6 advantage including three overtime wins (one being double OT), but with the Cowgirls winning both meetings in Katy in the conference tournament, including the 2011 championship game.

After dropping the last three to the Cowgirls, the Sugar Bears had little trouble in handling McNeese earlier this season with a 70-56 win in Lake Charles on Feb. 17 in a game the Sugar Bears never trailed and led by double digits for the final 25 minutes.

In that game, Brianna Mullins had 24 points, Taylor Baudoin had 20 points and 9 rebounds, and Watkins had 12 points and 7 assists. The Sugar Bears shot 46.4 percent from the field and were 93.3 percent (14 of 15) at the free throw line, while holding the Cowgirls to 34.3 percent shooting overall and 27.3 percent from 3-point range.

Since that game, the Cowgirls have won their last three, including a 96-62 rout of Nicholls last Saturday in McNeese's most recent game. In those three wins, they have averaged 88 points, also topping 90 in a 92-84 win over Lamar. McNeese has come away victorious in its last two trips to the Farris Center, winning both last season and in 2013 (the teams met just once in the 2014 regular season, in Lake Charles). The Sugar Bears last defeated the Cowgirls in Conway in 2012, a 71-70 double-overtime classic.

It will be the final time in the Farris Center for McNeese senior Allison Baggett – the 3rd-leading scorer in Cowgirls history (1,717), sandwiched between twin older sisters Ashlyn (2nd - 2,051) and Caitlyn (4th - 1,674), whose careers ended in 2013. In all, 314 of that trio's career points have come against the Sugar Bears, with Ashlyn averaging 17.3, Caitlyn 12.6, and Allison 9 – including an average of just 6 over the last two meetings on 6 of 19 shooting. In last season's meeting in the Farris Center, however, the younger Baggett had a team-high 18 in leading the Cowgirls to a 65-63 win.

A win on Saturday would give the Sugar Bears 26 wins in a season for just the fourth time in program history, joining teams from 1982-83 (26-4), 2002-03 (28-6) and 2004-05 (28-7). After Saturday's game with the Cowgirls, the Sugar Bears will await their opponent in the semifinals of the Southland tournament on Saturday at 1:00pm.