Fresh off a win over the NCAA Division II South Region's fifth-ranked team, the University of Montevallo, the Clark Atlanta University Lady Panthers get back into Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action tonight when they visit East Division foe Albany State.

The Lady Panthers (6-12, 4-5 SIAC) are in fifth place out of six teams in the SIAC East Division race, just ahead of Albany State (3-15, 1-9 SIAC).  But only one game separates fifth place from second place in the division as CAU is tied with fourth-place Savannah State with 4-5 conference records, Fort Valley State in third has a 5-5 record, and second-place Paine has a 5-4 record.   CAU's next opponent on Saturday will be first-place Benedict.

That makes tonight's game very important for the Lady Panthers as they head towards the back end of the regular season schedule.

"One game at a time, first off," said Lady Panthers Head Coach Tony Bailey.  "But it's two big for us that I think can determine what direction that we finish.  These are two tough teams.  Albany State's record may be 1-9, but typically it's always hard to beat Coach Robert Skinner's teams.  They just play with a different level of confidence and tenacity.  So it's going to be a test tonight and then we turn around and play Benedict."

CAU faces a team that has six of their last seven games, including a 75-67 loss to Fort Valley State Saturday.  Alexandria James, who had 26 points against Fort Valley State, leads the Golden Rams in scoring with 16.3 points per game, while Ciera Norman contributes 15 points per game.

Reyana Miller leads the Lady Panthers into Albany as she is averaging11.5 points per game while Autum Morings averages nine points and nine rebounds per game.  Against Montevallo, the Lady Panthers outrebounded the Falcons 50-38 and saw CAU outscore Montevallo 24-10 in the paint. 

"It's big in terms of confidence," Bailey said of the Montevallo win.  "But, as I told the girls, enjoy that one, but we had one day to prepare for Albany State.  You try to keep that momentum going.  I told them that we can't get too high because we beat the fifth-ranked team in the region.  We have to keep building on that.

"For us, if we do what we're supposed to do and take care of the things we do, I have confidence that we always have a chance," he said.