LAKE CHARLES, La. — Halfway through the conference season, the Sugar Bears take the Southland's longest winning streak on the road this evening when they face McNeese at the Lake Charles Civic Center for the second meeting of the season between the teams.
Winners of six in a row, the Sugar Bears (15-4, 7-2 Southland) will try to make it seven as they meet up with the Cowgirls (10-10, 5-4) in a rematch from their Jan. 18 meeting in Conway, a 67-52 Sugar Bear win. That victory was the fourth straight for the Sugar Bears over the Cowgirls, whose last win in the series came on March 7, 2015 in a 72-68 win at Burton Coliseum.
Today's game will be at the Civic Center due to the Southwest District Livestock Show and Rodeo being held at Burton Coliseum, McNeese's typical home arena. It's the first time the teams have met at the Civic Center since 2014, when the Sugar Bears won 65-50.
In this season's first meeting between the teams,
Olivia McWilliams led the Sugar Bears with 16 points and 5 rebounds, shooting 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
Maggie Proffitt had 15, going 7 of 9 at the free throw line and knocking down a pair of 3-pointers. For the Cowgirls, Mercedes Rogers had 15 p;points and 8 rebounds, Caitlin Davis added 11 points, and Frederica Haywood had 7 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
The Sugar Bears outrebounded the Cowgirls 45-31 in that game, and held a 19-7 advantage in 2nd chance points as they pulled down 16 offensive rebounds, led by four each from
Raquel Logan and
Kierra Jordan.
It will be the sixth road game of the Southland slate for the Sugar Bears, who are 4-1 this season and 13-1 (.929) in conference road games since the start of last season. During the conference season, Jordan has led the Sugar Bears with 14.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game. Proffitt has averaged 13.9 points while knocking down 34.7 percent of her 3-point attempts and shooting better than 90 percent from the free throw line.
With Saturday's win over Incarnate Word, the Sugar Bears reached the 15-win mark for the 8th straight season – the only Southland team to do so. Over the last eight seasons, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin and McNeese have won 15 or more six times – though Lamar needs one more win and McNeese five this season to make it seven. No other Southland program has more than four.
The Cowgirls enter today's game having dropped their last two, falling 77-65 at Abilene Christian on Saturday and 71-59 to New Orleans in Lake Charles last Thursday. At 5-4 in conference play, the Cowgirls are tied with New Orleans for 5th in the Southland standings, while the Sugar Bears at 7-2 are tied for third with Lamar behind SFA and ACU, both 7-1.
Today's game can be heard on
91.3 FM The Bear with Steve Owens, with pregame beginning at 5:10.
