HOUSTON — The Sugar Bears return to play with the first of two road games this week when they visit Houston Baptist at 1:00pm Wednesday in the opening leg of their road trip, with a meeting at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to follow on Saturday.

Following a loss at Abilene Christian on Saturday, the Sugar Bears (9-4, 1-2 Southland) will look to get back on track this week against a pair of struggling teams in the Huskies (3-11, 1-3) and Islanders (5-10, 1-3).

Up first are the Huskies, who have just one Division I win to their credit – over winless Sam Houston State – and have been outscored by an average of 31.8 points per game in their 11 losses, which includes a non-conference schedule that featured the likes of Baylor, Texas, Rice, Oral Roberts, UTEP, ULM and Arkansas.

In Southland play, the Huskies have losses at Stephen F. Austin and McNeese along with a home loss to Southeastern Louisiana by an average of 22.7 points in addition to their 61-51 win over Sam Houston State.

The Sugar Bears, meanwhile, are 1-2 in conference play for the first time since 2010 after suffering setbacks to Lamar and ACU – two of the three teams undefeated in the Southland standings, along with SFA – and a win over Northwestern State.

Last year's meeting with the Huskies was a tight 45-44 affair in which the Sugar Bears needed three Olivia McWilliams free throws with 3.3 seconds left to pull ahead before keeping HBU from getting a final shot off to seal the win.

The Sugar Bears lead the series 5-2, but are 1-2 in games at Sharp Gym, having lost the last meeting at HBU 58-37 in 2015 after escaping with a 57-55 win the year before.

Lisa Zderadicka leads the Huskies in scoring at 9.5 points per game, while Taylor Kollmorgen is second at 8.2 while pulling down a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game, the sixth-highest total among Southland players this season.

The Sugar Bears are getting 15.4 points per game from Kierra Jordan, including 17 per game in conference games. Jordan and Raquel Logan are tied for 2nd in Southland games with a 66.7 field goal percentage, while Logan ranks 5th in blocks at 2.0 per game. Brianna Mullins is 5th in conference play with 4.3 assists per game, and is 2nd for the season at 4.5 per game. Maggie Proffitt (13.2 points per game – 10th) and Taylor Baudoin (10.7, 17th) also rank among the Southland's top scorers for the season.

After Wednesday's game, the Sugar Bears will travel to Corpus Christi to face the Islanders on Saturday before returning home to take on McNeese in the Farris Center on Jan. 18.