CONWAY, Ark.  – For the second straight game, the Northwestern State women's basketball team will take on a team atop the Southland Conference standings when it travels to Central Arkansas to open a two-game road swing on Thursday at 5:30 in the Farris Center.
 
NSU (10-7, 3-2 SLC) knocked off Stephen F. Austin who was previously unbeaten in league play on Jan. 16.  Central Arkansas (10-6, 4-1 SLC) will tip with the same conference record with the Ladyjacks for a share of the conference-lead.
 
"We have to turn the page quickly to face to difficult opponents on the road," said second year co-head coach Brooke Stoehr. 
 
The Lady Demons will play Oral Roberts on Saturday.
 
"Both teams have size and both teams play different styles," said Stoehr.  "Both places are tough to play.  We're going to have to completely refocus and live by the 24-hour rule."
 
Courtney Duever leads the Sugar Bears in both scoring (13.6 per game) and rebounding  (8.9 pg).  UCA has one other player in double-figures, Maggie Proffitt with 10.3 points a contest, and Brianna Mullins averages 9.9 points a game.
 
Duever is a tough, tough matchup with her ability to step out and shoot the jumper," said Stoehr.  "She's so active in and around the paint and always around the ball.
 
"[UCA] defends really well, and what has made them so good is that they don't allow many second chance opportunities," she said.  "We're going to have to shoot the ball very well, and also going to have to stop the transition."
 
Central Arkansas only allows 58 points a contest, which ranks as the top-scoring defense in the Southland Conference.   NSU's defense ranks fifth in the league at 64.4 points allowed.
 
The Sugar Bears average 64.5 points per game and Northwestern State averages 64.2, which rank eight and ninth in the league, respectively.
 
NSU has three players who average 10 or more points a game.  Keisha Lee leads the way with 15.1 per game, and Trudy Armstead (14.2 pg) and Janelle Perez (10.0 pg) follow close behind.
 
Perez is second in the conference in assists with 4.4 a contest and tied for tops in the league with a 1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
NSU has a positive turnover margin of two per game.  It averages 13.7 miscues a game and forces opponents into 15.7 a contest.
 
UCA both averages and forces 15.8 turnovers a game.
 
After the ORU game on Saturday at 12:30, the Lady Demons will return home for a four-game home stand that features Incarnate Word (Jan. 30), Abilene Christian (Feb. 1), McNeese State (Feb. 6) and Nicholls (Feb. 8).