HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team will continue its road swing to open Southland Conference play, traveling to defending league champion Central Arkansas for a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday in the Farris Center.
 
The game between the Lady Lions (1-11, 0-1 Southland) and the host Sugar Bears (8-4, 1-0 Southland) will be the second of three straight road contests for SLU to start its conference slate. The matchup can be heard live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app. Links to live video, audio and stats will be accessible on the women's basketball schedule page at LionSports.net.
 
Southeastern could not overcome a 23-point halftime deficit in Thursday's league opener at Stephen F. Austin. SLU shot 60 percent (18-for-30) after halftime to pull as close as nine, but could not complete the comeback and ultimately suffered a 79-67 loss.
 
Senior guard Taylin Underwood led Southeastern with 21 points and was joined in double figures by junior forward Jyar Francis (12 points) and sophomore guard Charliee Dugas (11 points). The Lady Lions finished with a season-high 16 assists at SFA, as sophomore guard Tyler Morrison and junior forward Kyla Williams dished out four assists apiece.
 
The Lady Lions also finished with a 41-37 rebounding advantage. Kyla Williams and Dugas led SLU with seven boards each.
 
Underwood heads into Sunday's contest ranked second in the Southland Conference with 18.6 points per game. Her 1,264 career points are the 10^th-most in program history. Francis (10.0 ppg) and freshman forward Caitlyn Williams (8.2 ppg) are the other top scorers for the Lady Lions.
 
Southeastern is second in the Southland with 8.3 three-point field goals per game. Underwood tops the Southland with 3.5 treys per contest and her 213 career three-point field goals are the seventh-most in league history. She and junior guard Ashailee Brailey (21-for-52) have been the Lady Lions' most accurate long-range shooters.
 
On the boards, Caitlyn Williams paces the team and ranks eighth in the Southland with 6.9 rebounds per contest. Defensively, Morrison's 1.8 steals per game represents the Lady Lions' top output.
 
Central Arkansas opened league play with a 58-50 victory at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday. Senior forward Taylor Baudoin led UCA with 20 points. Junior guard Kamry Orr added 15 points, while senior center Kierra Jordan posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Thursday's leaders have been the standouts throughout the season for the Sugar Bears, who finished 16-2 in league play a season ago on the way to sharing the regular season and winning the tournament crown. Baudoin leads the team with 14.9 points per game, followed by Orr (13.0 ppg) and Jordan (9.0 ppg). Jordan and Baudoin also rank among the Southland rebound leaders with 6.5 and 6.3 rebounds per contest, respectively.
 
Southeastern is 7-15 all-time versus Central Arkansas and UCA has won the last seven meetings between the two league rivals. The Sugar Bears used a 29-0 first-half run to defeat Southeastern, 78-64, last Feb. 22 in Hammond. Dugas led SLU with 19 points, while Underwood chipped in 16 points in defeat.
 
SLU will close out its road swing next Saturday. The Lady Lions will travel to Abilene Christian for a 2 p.m. league contest. The game will be broadcast live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.