Southland Women's Showdown
2/17/2012 4:09:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Bears host the Bearkats, Saturday at 2 p.m.
Sam Houston (13-9, 8-3) is riding a three-game winning-streak after knocking UT-Arlington and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last week.
The Bearkats lead the West Division by a game and a half over Stephen F. Austin and could inch closer to claiming their second consecutive division title.
Central Arkansas (20-4, 10-1) is a perfect 13-0 at the Farris Center this season and is currently on a nine-game winning streak. The Sugar Bears hold a two-game lead in the East and could separate themselves from Sam Houston in claiming the Southland Conference title.
To stop UCA, the Bearkats must find an answer for the Bears All-Southland Conference forward Megan Herbert.
The junior leads the NCAA in career double-doubles among active players. Herbert currently has 60 career double-doubles while the next closest active player is Sacred Heart senior Callan Taylor with 51.
Herbert is the first women's player in conference history to record more than 30 double-doubles. A native of Rogers, Ark., Herbert set the single-season record as a freshman with 27 double-doubles. With 60 career double-doubles, Herbert has now more than doubled the previous Southland record of 29.
"Central Arkansas has an outstanding basketball team and, obviously, they are especially tough on their home floor," Sam Houston head coach Brenda Nichols said. "To have a chance to win, we have play with focus and intensity for 40 minutes buzzer to buzzer."
The contest matches up two of the top scorers in the league. Hebert ranks second in the Southland with 17.1 points while Sam Houston leading scorer Britni Martin is putting up 16.4 points per game.
The Bearkats other forward, Sequeena Thomas, leads the Southland and ranks fifth in the nation in rebounds per game. Thomas pulls down 11.9 boards for the Bearkats. In 22 games this season, she has a total of 261 boards. Central Arkansas' Megan Herbert is 12th in the country with 10.9 boards
Thomas and Herbert rank sixth in the nation in total double-doubles with 13 so far this season.
Sam Houston defeated UCA 66-54 in Huntsville last year. The Bears lead the all-time series between the two teams three victories to two. Both SHSU wins have come at Johnson Coliseum. The Kats are 0-2 in Conway.
Both squads appeared headed for high seeds in the annual Southland Conference post-season tournament to be held Tuesday, March 6, through Friday, March 9 at the Leonard E. Merrell Center in Katy, Texas
The 2011-12 tournament will be the 13th in league history to be played at a neutral site. The tournament was played in Shreveport, La., from 1995-01 and was held in Houston in 2007 before moving to Katy in 2008.
Following the trip to Conway, the Bearkat women will return to Huntsville to host Northwestern State Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum. Saturday, February 25, the Kats head to Lamar in Beaumont for a 7 p.m. game that will be televised regionally by the Southland TV Network.
