League-Leading Sugar Bears Travel to Texas for Two

Courtesy UCA Athletics Department

After surviving the first two weeks of Southland Conference play as the last team remaining unscathed in league play, Central Arkansas will look to remain atop the standings as the Sugar Bears take back to the road this week, traveling to Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Up first for the Sugar Bears is a meeting with the Bearkats, one of four teams just behind the Sugar Bears with one league loss. The Bearkats (7-9, 3-1) started Southland play 3-0 with wins over A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State and Lamar before dropping their last game 62-58 at McNeese State.

The Sugar Bears will then travel to Corpus Christi to face the Islanders, who are 1-14 overall and 0-4 in Southland games. The Islanders’ lone win was a 52-49 victory over Cornell on Dec. 18, and they are currently riding a five-game losing streak with an average margin of loss of 18.6 points per game in league play.

Four games into the conference slate, Megan Herbert leads the league in scoring at 24 points per game in conference play and is second overall behind Kevi Luper (19.5) at 18.9 per game. Courtney Duever, who averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds while shooting 66.7 percent from the field and perfect from 3-point range and at the free throw line last week, is ninth overall in the league in scoring at 13.1 per game and fourth in rebounding at 8.3 per game. In conference games she is averaging 15.3 points and 8.0 rebounds, leads in three-point percentage at .800 and is second in field goal percentage at .667. Tracey Parsons is third in conference play with 6.3 assists per game.

The Bearkats are led by a pair of preseason first team All-Southland selections in seniors Britni Martin and Sequeena Thomas. Martin is fourth in the league in scoring at 19.3 points per game in conference play and is averaging 17.3 per game for the season, fifth in the league.

Thomas is the league’s top rebounder and fifth in the nation at 12.4 per game for the season and 13 per game in conference play, and is also the league’s seventh-leading scorer at 13.8 points per game. She is fourth in the nation with 11 double-doubles this season, and is second on the Southland career list with 44 – trailing only Herbert’s 72. She has recorded double-figure rebound totals in 14 of the team’s 16 games with a high of 17 against Texas A&M-Commerce.

The Sugar Bears lead the series with the Bearkats 4-3, with the teams having swapped wins on their home courts the last four seasons. The last road win in the series came in 2008, when the Sugar Bears won 87-69 in Huntsville. Last season, UCA won 61-55. Two years ago the Bearkats won 66-54 in Huntsville. 

Thursday’s game will begin at 5:30, and the Sugar Bears will tip off at Noon on Saturday.