CONWAY — A third of the way through the Southland Conference season, the Sugar Bears are in familiar territory – atop the league standings. At the same time, they find themselves in uncharted waters, remaining undefeated this late into the conference slate at 6-0.
They will continue their voyage at home this week with a pair of games in the Farris Center, hosting New Orleans Wednesday night at 7 with a potential clash of unbeatens on Saturday when Abilene Christian – which shared the Southland regular season title with the Sugar Bears last season and also sits at 6-0 this season – comes to town. The Wildcats face the third unbeaten Southland team in Stephen F. Austin (5-0) on Wednesday.
Off to the best Southland start in program history, the Sugar Bears (13-4, 6-0 Southland) will attempt to keep that streak going, along with their 23-game streak against Southland teams and 16-game streak at home.
The first hurdle to clear comes in the form of a Privateers team that is 7-10 overall and 3-3 in league play, coming off a 66-49 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday. They are just 2-7 on the road this season, though won their last 77-64 at McNeese.
UNO is led by 5-foot-7 senior guard Randi Brown, the second-leading scorer in Privateers history with 1,866 points, who was the Southland scoring champ last season at 22.7 points per game. This season, she again leads the league at 23.3 points per game for the season, including a 25.7 clip in conference play.
Through 17 games, Brown has attempted 356 field goals (20.9 per game) and 158 3-pointers (9.3). By contrast,
Taylor Baudoin's 199 field goal attempts is the most for a Sugar Bear while
Kamry Orr and
Angel Williams top Central Arkansas with 54 3-point attempts.
The bulk of Brown's help comes in the form of 5-8 senior guard Kayla Mundy – who averages 10.7 points with 17 per game in league play – and 6-1 junior center Shania Woods, who averages 10.6 points and a team-best 7.9 rebounds.
The Sugar Bears will be going for their 7th straight win over the Privateers, leading the series 6-0 – making them the lone Southland program UNO has yet to record a victory against. UNO came close last season at home, but the Sugar Bears escaped with a 55-51 victory in a game in which they held Brown to 12 points (her 3rd-lowest of the season) while
Kierra Jordan had 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Sugar Bears.
This season Jordan is one of just two players averaging a double-double in conference play, with averages of 11.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while leading the league in field goal percentage at 56.0.
Orr, this week's Southland Conference Player of the Week, is the 3rd-leading scorer in league play at 18.7 points per game and is 2nd to only teammate
Antonija Bozic in 3-point percentage at 56.0 (14 of 25), with Bozic at 60 percent (6 of 10). Baudoin ranks 14th in scoring and 10th in rebounding with averages of 14.0 and 7.7, and is 5th in field goal percentage, making 50.7 percent.
After this week's games in the Farris Center, the Sugar Bears will be on the road for four of their next five, the lone home game coming Feb. 7 against Houston Baptist.
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NOTES
• The Sugar Bears are 34-3 in the Farris Center since the start of the 2015-16 season, including 18-3 in Southland games
• In their 8-game winning streak, the Sugar Bears are allowing just 44.4 points per game
• In 8 home games this season, the Sugar Bears are surrendering just 36.5 points per game
• With Kamry Orr's selection as Southland Player of the Week this week, the Sugar Bears have won the award 4 times in the last 6 weeks. Their total of four, and three different players (Orr, Taylor Baudoin and Kierra Jordan) both lead the league
• Over her last 5 games, Orr is averaging 19.4 points and 2.8 steals per game
