CONWAY — In each of the last two seasons, Central Arkansas has benefitted from receiving a double bye to the semifinals of the Southland Conference tournament – claiming the championship both years to earn back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths.

As they chase a third straight championship, the Sugar Bears (18-7, 11-3 Southland) currently find themselves on the outside looking in for the double bye – which goes to the top two seeds in the Southland regular season standings – with four games remaining, sitting third in the conference title race. The third and fourth seeds receive a single bye to the quarterfinals.

They can take a big step in changing that on Wednesday night when second-place Stephen F. Austin (21-4, 13-1) visits the Farris Center for the teams' second meeting of the season.

The Sugar Bears, who fell 59-46 in the season's first meeting in Nacogdoches, can make up half the distance between themselves and the 'Jacks with a victory Wednesday night in the first of a three-game stretch for SFA that sees the 'Jacks face the league's No. 1, 3 and 4 teams. After Wednesday's game, SFA returns home to meet up with league-leading Lamar (14-1) – which defeated SFA 79-65 in Beaumont two weeks ago – before heading to 4th-place Abilene Christian (9-5) next Wednesday.

In Nacogdoches, the Sugar Bears held a 21-19 halftime lead but struggled in the second half – getting outscored 40-25 by SFA, including a 19-7 third quarter. The Sugar Bears shot 43.2 percent from the field to just 38.5 for SFA, but the 'Jacks knocked down 8 of their 24 attempts from 3-point range, while the Sugar Bears were just 1 for 6. SFA pulled down 15 offensive rebounds in that game, getting 16 second-chance points to the Sugar Bears' 9. And maybe the biggest achilles' heel for the Sugar Bears was turnovers, as they committed 21 which led to 29 Ladyjack points, while UCA had just 11 on 15 SFA turnovers.

Kierra Jordan had 15 points and 6 rebounds in that game, but committed 6 turnovers. Taylor Baudoin had 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 6 rebounds, and was the only Sugar Bear to connect from long range, hitting her only attempt while the rest of the team was 0 for 5. In four games against SFA going back to last season, Jordan has averaged 17 points and 8.5 rebounds and Baudoin 13.5 and 7.5.

That loss snapped the Sugar Bears' winning streak over SFA at 4, but they'll look to turn that back in their favor on their home floor where they have won 4 of the last 5 against the 'Jacks and are 38-4 over the last three seasons.

The 'Jacks come in with the league's second-highest scoring offense, averaging 71.4 points per game in Southland play. The Sugar Bears counter with the stingiest defense, giving up just 49.5 per game. The 'Jacks are 2nd in the league in 3-point shooting, making 34.8 percent with 114 made, while the Sugar Bears have surrendered a league-low 60 on just 29.6 percent.

After Wednesday's game, the Sugar Bears hit the road for their next two, traveling to Abilene Christian on Saturday and Sam Houston State (4-20, 1-14) next Wednesday before concluding the regular season in the Farris Center on March 3 against Northwestern State (7-18, 2-12).


NOTES
• The Sugar Bears are 23-4 (.852) in February games since 2015
• Since 2015, the Sugar Bears are 38-4 (.905) in the Farris Center
• After scoring 59 points in two games last week, Baudoin now sits at 1,051 for her career at Central Arkansas in 88 games, ranking her 23rd overall in school history and 6th in the program's Division I era. She needs 9 points to pass Micah Rice for 22nd overall and 5th in D-I, and is 59 points from cracking the career top 20. Her 11.9 career points per game is 18th in overall program history and 3rd in the D-I era behind only Megan Herbert's 18.9 and Maggie Proffitt's 13.3.
•SFA is one of just two Southland programs (Lamar) the Sugar Bears do not have a winning record against, trailing 8-12 in the series

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• Watch on the Bear Nation Network
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