Courtesy UCA Athletics Department
THIBODAUX, La. — Last season, after winning the Southland Conference regular-season championship, top-seeded University of Central Arkansas Sugar Bears entered the conference tournament with hopes of a tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance. But those dreams were quickly dashed as the Sugar Bears ran into a buzz saw in the form of 8th-seeded Nicholls – suffering a surprising 79-59 loss in the tournament’s opening round.
The teams meet again on Thursday at 5:30 (radio broadcast on ucagameday.com and 91.3 FM The Bear beginning at 5:10) as the 2013 Southland Conference season opens, and once again the Colonels are arguably the league’s hottest team. Entering league play, the Colonels enter with the best non-conference record of any Southland team at 8-3, the best start to a season in program history. The Sugar Bears are just behind at 7-4, tied with Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana.
Thursday night’s game will be just the third at home this season for the Colonels, who are 2-0 in Stopher Gym with victories over ULM (85-60) and Louisiana-Lafayette (71-62). Both the Colonels and Sugar Bears have beaten ULM this season, and both have lost at Arkansas State in their only other game against a common opponent. The Colonels fell 66-58 in Jonesboro on Dec. 19, while the Sugar Bears came up short 58-51.
Junior guard KK Babin is the catalyst for the Colonels, averaging 12.7 points (10th in the league), 4.5 assists (3rd) and 1.9 steals (tied for 6th). Senior forward Alisha Allen is the team’s leading scorer and seventh in the league at 13.7 points per game, scoring a team season-high 28 in the win over Lafayette.
Junior forward LiAnn McCarthy, who hit 7 of 10 3-pointers en route to 32 points in last season’s tournament matchup, is averaging 8.4 points per game this season despite shooting just 8-for-35 (22.9 percent) from 3-point range.
The Sugar Bears come into the game ranked 7th in the nation in scoring defense (48.2 points per game) and 11th in field goal percentage defense (32.2 percent), and are the Southland’s top rebounding team with an average margin of +11.9 for the season.
The two teams are virtually even offensively, with the Sugar Bears averaging 65.9 points and the Colonels 65.5. Central Arkansas is shooting 41.7 percent for the year, 3rd in the league, with Nicholls just ahead in 2nd at 42.2. The Colonels are the league’s top free throw shooting team at 71.4 percent.
Senior forward Megan Herbert, the two-time reigning Southland Conference Player of the Year, will begin her final tour through the league with a number of records and achievements within reach. Herbert needs to make just eight free throws to become the league’s all-time leader in that category. She ranks 9th in scoring and 5th in rebounding in Southland history, and is just 76 points away from becoming just the third player in league history to reach both 2,000 points and 1,200 rebounds. She will also be aiming to become just the fourth player in league history to be a four-time 1st team all-conference selection.
Herbert, already the league’s double-doubles career record holder, is the Division I active career leader in that category with 70, and also leads all active Division I players in career rebounds (1,224) and rebounding average (11.8), is 8th in scoring (18.5 points per game) and 4th in free throws made with 546.
The Sugar Bears own a 10-3 advantage in the series, and won 66-59 in Stopher Gym last season after trailing by as many as 17 in the second half, outscoring the Colonels 43-20 in the final 20 minutes to escape with the victory. Herbert had 18 points and 17 rebounds in that game, and Desiree’ Rogers – who missed most of the tournament meeting after tearing her ACL 10 minutes in – added 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
Loading ...
